Zootopia

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  Zootopia, the 2016 Disney animated film directed by Byron Howard and Rich Moore, started out as an international spy thriller. Its hero was an arctic hare named Jack Savage, a character meant to resemble James Bond. A rookie rabbit police officer was nowhere in that plan. So how did a secret agent hare turn into a buddy-cop story about a rabbit and a fox? What did animators have to learn before they could build a city for mammals of every size? And why did a court eventually have to decide who owned the idea?

  377381741

• 2. The Pitch Pivot

  ›

  Byron Howard once pitched six story ideas to John Lasseter, Disney Animation's chief creative officer. Three of them starred animals. One was an all-animal take on The Three Musketeers. Another was a 1960s tale about a mad doctor cat who turned children into animals. The third followed a bounty hunter pug in space. Howard said the common thread was his wish to make something like Disney's Robin Hood.

  Howard also wanted to avoid a familiar pattern in animal films, where creatures live either in nature or in the human world. His alternative was a modern world designed by animals for animals. Lasseter loved it. He responded by lifting Howard "in the air like a baby Simba".

  Lasseter then suggested mixing the 1960s theme with the space pug. That suggestion led Howard to pitch Savage Seas, the spy film. Screenwriter Jared Bush joined at this stage and was thrilled by the genre, because his father and grandfather had both worked for the Central Intelligence Agency.

  The Disney Story Trust, the studio's top creative staff who regularly review every project in development, helped shape the draft. They noticed that the best part of the spy film was its opening act, set in a city made by and for animals. Howard dropped the 1960s setting, the espionage and the international travel. What remained was a contemporary police procedural with Nick Wilde as the lead and Judy Hopps as his sidekick.

  Filmmakers stayed committed to that version for a while. Then, in November 2014, they realized the story worked better with Judy at the center. The switch cost the film several characters, including two "trust-fund gerbils that had nothing better to do than harass Nick", known as The Gerbil Jerks. In March 2015, Rich Moore, who had made Wreck-It Ralph, joined as a director, with Jared Bush as co-director.

  717383941

• 3. The Case of the Missing Predators

  ›

  Judy Hopps, a rabbit from rural Bunnyburrow, spends her first day on the Zootopia Police Department writing parking tickets. Chief Bogo has assigned her there because he doubts she can handle more. A red fox named Nick Wilde hustles her during that shift and tells her she will never be a real cop.

  Mrs. Otterton then begs Bogo to find her husband Emmitt, one of several predators who have vanished. Judy takes the case without permission. Bogo gives her 48 hours to solve it or lose her job. She blackmails Nick into helping, because he was among the last to see Emmitt.

  Their trail runs through a naturist club and the DMV, then ends with Mr. Big, an arctic shrew mafia boss. Mr. Big is ready to drown them until his daughter Fru Fru reveals that Judy once saved her life. He explains that Emmitt "went savage" in a limousine and attacked its driver, a black jaguar named Renato Manchas. Manchas mutters about "Night Howlers" and then turns savage himself.

  Nick confides in Judy that he was bullied as a child and has accepted that the world sees him as a "shifty fox". Traffic cameras from City Hall, shown to them by Assistant Mayor Dawn Bellwether, reveal that timberwolves took Manchas away. Judy and Nick follow the wolves to an asylum and find Emmitt and the other missing predators, all savage. Mayor Leodore Lionheart had locked them up to avoid citywide hysteria and to protect his career.

  Lionheart is arrested and Bellwether becomes mayor. At a press conference, Judy suggests that predator biology explains the savagery. Her words stir fear and discrimination, Nick walks away hurt, and a guilty Judy resigns and goes home.

  At her parents' vegetable stand, Judy learns that Night Howlers are flowers whose effects on anyone who eats them are severe and lasting. She returns to Zootopia and makes peace with Nick. Duke Weaselton confesses that a ram named Doug hired him to steal the bulbs. Doug is brewing a serum from them and firing it from a dart gun at predators.

  The chase ends at the Natural History Museum, where Bellwether reveals herself as the mastermind. She wanted power after the labor abuse she suffered under Lionheart. She traps the pair in an exhibit and aims to make Nick attack Judy. But the two had secretly swapped the serum for blueberries, and they had recorded her confession. Judy is reinstated, and Nick becomes the first fox police officer.

  1631343847

• 4. Building a City of Mammals

  ›

  Animators spent eight months studying animal walk cycles and fur color at Disney's Animal Kingdom, in Kenya and at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. They built eight hundred thousand forms of mammals for the film. To study fur itself, they visited the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and examined it under a microscope in many kinds of light.

  The city's look draws on New York City, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Paris, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Brasília. Its residents range from 2 inches to 27 feet tall and come from very different climates. To make such a place workable, the filmmakers consulted Americans with Disabilities Act specialists and HVAC designers. J Mays, the former chief creative officer of Ford, advised on vehicles suited to so many body types.

  Disney's last major fur project was the title character of Bolt in 2008, and that software could not handle Zootopia. Studio engineers therefore wrote a fur tool called iGroom, which gave designers precise control over brushing, shaping and shading. It also controlled an unseen "imaginary" under-layer that added plushness. That layer helped create Officer Clawhauser, whose big head is made entirely of spotted fur.

  The numbers were enormous. Judy and Nick each had around 2.5 million hairs. A giraffe had nine million strands, and a gerbil had 480,000. One rodent even had more strands than the 400,000 on Elsa's head in Frozen.

  The film was the second to use Disney's Hyperion renderer, after Big Hero 6, with a new fur paradigm added. Nitro, a real-time display tool dating from Wreck-It Ralph, let artists refine fur far faster than predicting results from silhouettes and poses. Bonsai, the tree and plant generator first used on Frozen, produced many detailed trees.

  All of this happened in makeshift quarters inside a giant warehouse in North Hollywood. The team shared the space with Moana while Disney Animation's Burbank headquarters was being renovated.

  3444454648

• 5. Voices and Music

  ›

  As early as May 2013, The Hollywood Reporter had linked Jason Bateman to the project. His casting as Nick Wilde was officially announced on the 6th of May 2015, along with Ginnifer Goodwin as Judy Hopps. The filmmakers wanted "a funny yet heartfelt side" and "a wily, dry-witted sort of voice". Bateman called Nick "a crafty, sarcastic schemer". He said the directors answered his question about what voice to use with a simple instruction: "Just do what you do. Just talk."

  Rich Moore said Goodwin brought "very centered sweetness, tremendous heart and a great sense of humor". He described Judy as "a little Pollyanna mixed with Furiosa". Goodwin offered her own view: "People mistake kindness for naïveté or stupidity, and she is a good girl through and through. But she's not a dumb bunny."

  Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan F. Horn contributed one line of guidance. He suggested that Nick should say aloud how crushed he is when Judy still fears him as a predator: "Just when I thought someone actually believed in me..."

  Michael Giacchino composed the score, his first feature for Walt Disney Animation Studios after short films, television specials and several Pixar films. An 80-piece orchestra conducted by Tim Simonec recorded it from the 16th to the 20th of November 2015. Shakira, who also voices the pop star Gazelle, contributed an original song, "Try Everything", written by Sia and Stargate. The soundtrack came out on the 4th of March 2016.

  The first teaser trailer reached the studio's YouTube page on the 11th of June 2015. A second, posted on the 23rd of November 2015, showed a Department of Mammal Vehicles run entirely by sloths. The full trailer arrived on New Year's Eve 2015. Figures of Judy and Nick reached Disney Infinity 3.0 on the 1st of March 2016. An ad agency hired by the studio also pitched the film to the furry fandom.

  810535456

• 6. Titles and Box Office

  ›

  Zootopia was officially announced on the 10th of August 2013 at the D23 Expo, with a March 2016 release date. It had its public premiere in February 2016 at the Brussels Animation Film Festival. The United States release followed on the 4th of March 2016, and it became the first Disney animated film in domestic IMAX theaters since Treasure Planet in 2002.

  In the United Kingdom and several other territories the film became Zootropolis. The name nods to a metropolis rather than a utopia. Disney could not trademark Zootopia there, partly because Denmark's Givskud Zoo had registered the name in 2010. Germany got Zoomania, since a 2010 children's book by Kay Fischer was titled Zootopolis. In China, it was Crazy Animal City.

  China's state regulator granted a rare two-week extension to a limited run of 30 days, which had been due to end on the 3rd of April. The extra time paid off. The film opened with $23.6 million, and on its ninth day it took $25 million, the biggest single day ever for an animated film. Its second weekend jumped 139% to $60 million. It became the highest-grossing animated film ever in China, with ¥1.530 billion.

  The American run was strong too. The film took $75.1 million in its opening weekend from 3,827 theaters, the biggest opening for a non-Pixar Disney animated film. A second weekend drop of only 31% to $51.3 million showed durable word of mouth. It stayed in the top ten for 13 consecutive weeks and left theaters on the 4th of August 2016 after 154 days.

  Japan opened on the 23rd of April with $4 million, second place, and the Kumamoto earthquakes may have held audiences back. Then it climbed. It reached first place in its third weekend and stayed there for four, helped by a popular Japanese version of "Try Everything" sung by Dream Ami. Russia made it the second-highest-grossing film ever in local currency, behind only Avatar.

  The worldwide total reached $341.3 million in the United States and Canada and $682.5 million elsewhere, or $1.024 billion against a $150 million budget. It crossed the billion mark on the 5th of June 2016, making it the fourth-highest-grossing film of the year. Deadline calculated its net profit at $294.9 million.

  3536686991

• 7. Praise and a Courtroom

  ›

  Metacritic gave Zootopia a score of 78 out of 100 from 43 critics, indicating generally favorable reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it an "A". A PostTrak survey found a 90% positive score, with 87% saying they would definitely recommend it.

  Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote that it "may be the most subversive movie of" 2016, and gave it three and a half stars out of four. Mark Kermode of The Observer called it "a delightfully well-orchestrated parable about trust and tolerance versus panic and prejudice". Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph likened the film to "Busytown by way of Chinatown". He compared Judy and Nick to Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy in 48 Hrs., only far cuter.

  Not every critic was fully persuaded. Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave it three stars out of four, but argued that the film's central metaphor undercuts its message. It asks characters to drop species stereotypes, yet the stereotypes are partly true, starting with predators eating prey. Rosa Prince, also in The Daily Telegraph, praised Judy for chasing a career in public service rather than romance or family loyalty.

  The American Film Institute named it one of 2016's top ten films. It won Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes, the Critics Choice Movie Awards and the Annie Awards. Only the BAFTA went elsewhere, to Kubo and the Two Strings.

  On the 21st of March 2017, Esplanade Productions, owned by Total Recall co-screenwriter Gary L. Goldman, sued Disney for copyright infringement. Goldman said he had pitched a live-action film called Looney in 2000 and again in 2009, about an animator who creates a cartoon called Zootopia. Disney rejected both pitches, and a spokesperson called the suit "ridden with patently false allegations".

  Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald dismissed the claims on the 8th of November 2017. He said the supposed similarities were themes, not plot points, and too general for copyright protection. Esplanade appealed, and the Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal on the 24th of April 2019.

  70478995100

• 8. Beyond the Film

  ›

  Disney released Zootopia on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD and Digital HD on the 7th of June 2016. The bonus material included "Scoretopia", an alternate opening and the music video for "Try Everything". Home media sales reached $89.6 million from 4.4 million units, the third best-selling title of 2016. A 4K Blu-ray followed on the 5th of November 2019.

  In June 2020, as theaters reopened during the COVID-19 pandemic, the film returned to 280 US theaters, mostly drive-ins. The re-release grossed $393,600. China brought it back on the 31st of July 2020, and Polish cinemas showed it again on the 22nd of October 2023 for Disney's 100th anniversary.

  Merchandise included a card game, Zootopia: Suspect Search, and a mobile game, Zootopia Crime Files. Dark Horse Comics published the graphic novel Disney Zootopia: Friends to the Rescue on the 25th of September 2018, written by Jimmy Gownley with art by Leandro Ricardo da Silva. Dynamite Entertainment announced Zootopia comic books beginning in January 2025.

  On the 22nd of January 2019, Disney announced a Zootopia land for Shanghai Disneyland. Construction began on the 9th of December 2019, paused briefly during the pandemic, and the land opened on the 20th of December 2023 with a trackless dark ride, Zootopia: Hot Pursuit. At Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida, a show called Zootopia: Better Zoogether! replaced It's Tough to Be a Bug! in the Tree of Life theater and opened on the 7th of November 2025.

  The Disney+ series Zootopia+ was announced on the 10th of December 2020 and arrived on the 9th of November 2022 with six shorts. Trent Correy and Josie Trinidad directed. Episodes parodied action films, musicals, reality television and film noir, starring the shrew mobsters, the tiger dancers and the sloths. Judy and Nick appear in cameos, and the whole film cast returned. Curtis Strong and Mick Giacchino, Michael's son, composed the music.

  Howard and Moore discussed a sequel as early as June 2016. Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed one on the 8th of February 2023, with Jared Bush writing and directing and Josie Trinidad co-directing, her first feature as a director. Goodwin hoped to see roles reversed, with Nick convincing Judy the world is worth fighting for. Bateman pictured the pair as new cops cleaning up the streets.

  The sequel was titled Zootopia 2 on the 7th of February 2024 and set for release on the 26th of November 2025. Ke Huy Quan was announced to voice a new character named Gary, with Yvett Merino producing and Bush as sole writer and director.

  5674757778