Zootopia 2

• 1. Introduction

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  Zootopia 2, the 2025 animated sequel from Walt Disney Animation Studios, once contained a four-minute scene lifted word for word from The Silence of the Lambs. The scene recreated a famous prison encounter from that thriller. It was cut down because children were unlikely to understand the reference and because it slowed the pacing. That a family cartoon ever flirted with such a moment says something about the ambitions behind it. The film follows two police partners, Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, as they chase a pit viper through a city built for animals. Why does a snake that has not been seen in town for years matter so much? Who really founded Zootopia? And how did a sequel to the 2016 original find an audience around the world?

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• 2. The Frame-Up

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  One week after Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde become partners in the Zootopia Police Department, their clashing personalities are already causing trouble. Chief Bogo warns that he will separate them unless they sort out their differences.

  During a raid on a smuggling ring, Judy finds a scrap of snake skin. That is startling, because no snakes have been seen in Zootopia for years. She suspects a snake may turn up at the Zootennial Gala, held to celebrate the city's centennial. The host is Milton Lynxley, whose grandfather Ebenezer founded Zootopia.

  At the Gala, Judy befriends Pawbert, the youngest son and black sheep of the Lynxley family. Then a hooded creature crashes the party and reveals himself as a pit viper. He kidnaps Milton and uses Milton's eye to open a digitally locked glass case. Inside is an old journal documenting how the weather walls were created. Those walls regulate the climate zones of the city.

  Judy corners the viper, who confesses that the journal holds evidence that could clear his family. Milton, determined to protect his family's reputation, demands that the journal be burned and the viper killed. Judy refuses, and the room ends up ablaze. Then ZPD Captain Hoggbottom sees the viper accidentally bite Bogo. The Lynxleys seize the moment and frame Judy and Nick for the crime. The pair escape with the journal, while an unknown motorcyclist retrieves the viper.

  Milton next turns to Brian Winddancer, a former actor and newly elected mayor whom Milton has secretly supported. He orders Winddancer to find and subdue Judy, Nick and the viper. Now fugitives, the partners meet Nibbles Maplestick, a conspiracy theorist beaver. She leads them toward Marsh Market, a secluded corner of the city where reptiles hide.

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• 3. Founders and Exiles

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  In Marsh Market, a basilisk named Jesús tells the fugitives that the reptiles' original district was buried. It disappeared when Tundratown, the city's arctic district, was built. Tundratown is expected to expand into Marsh Market itself.

  Hoggbottom and the ZPD track Judy and Nick down, but the pair narrowly escape. The viper then reappears, takes back the journal and slips away through a water tunnel. The partners climb to an abandoned lodge while searching for him. Their climb turns into an argument, and it ends with their shared carrot pen breaking.

  Inside the lodge, Judy discovers that reptiles once lived peacefully in Zootopia. The ZPD corners them there and arrests Nick. Judy is rescued by the viper and his motorcyclist partner, who turns out to be Pawbert. The viper introduces himself as Gary De'Snake.

  Gary explains that his great-grandmother Agnes wrote the journal. She was also the true founder of Zootopia. Ebenezer was her greedy investor, and he plagiarized her engineering work on the weather walls. Later he framed her for the murder of his tortoise maid, who had tried to stop him from burning the original patent. Agnes's death turned the general population against reptiles, and that eventually led to their exile from the city.

  Nick, arrested by the ZPD, now sits in a cell, and Judy must press on without him.

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• 4. Betrayal at the Wall

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  Nibbles, who has also been arrested by the ZPD, helps Nick break out of prison. In the chaos he accidentally frees many other prisoners. He finds Judy at the Desert-Tundratown weather wall. There she, Gary and Pawbert have started up an old clock tower to locate the buried reptile district. They deduce that the patent is hidden in Agnes's house.

  Then Pawbert reveals his true goal. He wants to destroy the patent and win his family's respect. He injects Judy with snake venom, throws Gary into the snow and steals the antivenom. Nick arrives at the wall and fights Pawbert for it. He manages to toss the antivenom to Gary, who cures Judy.

  Judy and Nick reconcile in an emotional moment. Together with Gary and Nibbles, they chase down Pawbert, who is barely alive, and subdue him. Meanwhile Winddancer defeats the remaining Lynxleys. The group finds both Agnes's house and the patent. Pawbert turns up once more and tries to destroy it, but Hoggbottom knocks him out.

  The Lynxleys are arrested, and Agnes is finally credited as the true founder of Zootopia. Judy and Nick are cleared, and Bogo recovers. The Tundratown expansion into Marsh Market is cancelled, so reptiles can be fully brought back into the city. Gary reunites with his family. Nick gives Judy the repaired carrot pen, and the two set out to track the convicts he accidentally released, beginning with their old adversary Dawn Bellwether.

  In a scene after the credits, Judy replays a recording on her carrot pen of Nick saying he loves her. Her neighbors interrupt, arguing about whether she should stop. After she leaves, something flies past her window and leaves a bird feather on the windowsill.

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• 5. Making the Sequel

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  In June 2016, directors Byron Howard and Rich Moore were in talks about the possibility of a Zootopia sequel. Nothing was confirmed for years. On the 8th of February 2023, during an earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Iger said the sequel was in active development. Screenwriter Jared Bush confirmed later that day that he was working on it.

  Ginnifer Goodwin, who voices Judy, told CinemaBlend she wanted a role reversal. In her words: "I would like to see Nick have to be the one to convince Judy that the world is worth fighting for". Jason Bateman, who voices Nick, imagined something simpler, with the two as new cops cleaning up the streets. His line to the public was: "So, bad guys, be warned."

  On the 7th of February 2024, Iger announced the release date and the official title, Zootopia 2. The following April, Goodwin confirmed on Instagram that she had begun recording her lines. At the D23 Expo on the 9th of August, Disney announced that the film would feature reptiles. Ke Huy Quan was named as Gary, a snake pursued by Nick and Judy. Footage showed the pair searching for Gary in Marsh Market.

  The next day, Bush revealed on Twitter that Fortune Feimster would voice a beaver named Nibbles. That same month, Bush was announced as sole writer and director, and Yvett Merino joined as producer. On the 19th of September, Bush became chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios after Jennifer Lee resigned to direct Frozen 3. The next day he confirmed that Byron Howard, creator and director of the original, had returned to direct alongside him.

  The returning voices include Goodwin, Bateman, Shakira, Idris Elba, Alan Tudyk, Nate Torrence, Don Lake, Bonnie Hunt and Jenny Slate. New names kept arriving. At CinemaCon on the 3rd of April, footage revealed Quinta Brunson as a new character, Dr. Fuzzby. At the 2025 Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June, Jean Reno was announced, and Maurice LaMarche was confirmed to return as Mr. Big. In August 2025 came Macaulay Culkin, Brenda Song, Patrick Warburton and Wilmer Valderrama. In September 2025 Andy Samberg, David Strathairn and Danny Trejo were added.

  That same month, Disney revealed that unused recordings of Tommy Lister Jr. from the first film would be used for Finnick. Lister died in 2020, so Disney contacted his family for permission. The credits dedicate the film to his memory.

  After the release, Bush admitted that story changes were still under way at the start of 2025. The honeymoon lodge setting and the breaking of the carrot pen had not yet been added at that point.

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• 6. Music and Marketing

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  On the 8th of November 2024, at D23 Brazil, Shakira announced that she was returning to voice Gazelle. She said she was writing a new song for the film with Ed Sheeran, and that Gazelle would wear a new outfit. In September 2025 the song's title was revealed as "Zoo", written with Sheeran and Blake Slatkin. It appeared in the trailer released on the 29th of September 2025 and came out as a single on the 10th of October.

  Michael Giacchino was confirmed on the 16th of June 2025 as returning composer. His score was released on the 21st of November 2025 as part of the full soundtrack.

  The film premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on the 13th of November 2025. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures released it in the United States on the 26th of November.

  That November, a publicity stunt put three remote-controlled cars with animatronic puppets of the film's characters on the streets of Los Angeles. Nick, Judy and Gary rode in a purple car. Finnick drove his brown van, and Flash followed in his sports car. The stunt was reportedly received well. From the 25th of November to the 7th of December 2025, a pop-up store in collaboration with Stray Kids ran in Seoul.

  Three airlines painted characters on aircraft. China Eastern Airlines used an Airbus A320-200, China Airlines a Boeing 777-300ER, and Air Canada an Airbus A220-300. Through the end of 2025, a MINISO themed pop-up tour offered plushies of Judy and Nick, stationery sets and exclusive blind boxes.

  Digital HD arrived on the 27th of January 2026. Blu-ray, Ultra HD Blu-ray and DVD followed on the 3rd of March, and Disney+ on the 11th of March.

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• 7. Box Office

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  The five-day Thanksgiving weekend in the United States and Canada brought in $158.8 million. The worldwide opening was the highest ever for an animated film and the fourth-highest for any film.

  China supplied a record. Through its opening weekend the film earned $271.6 million there. On Saturday the 29th of November it became the first Hollywood film to gross more than $100 million in a single day.

  The worldwide total passed $1 billion on the 12th of December, within 17 days of release. It finished at $1.870 billion, made up of $428.1 million in the United States and Canada and $1.442 billion in other territories.

  That figure made it the ninth-highest-grossing film of all time. Only Ne Zha 2 earned more among 2025 releases and among animated films.

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• 8. Reviews and Awards

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  Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave Zootopia 2 an "A" on an A+ to F scale, the same grade as the first film. PostTrak found 87% of viewers positive, and 65% said they would definitely recommend it. Critics were also positive overall.

  Nell Minow of RogerEbert.com awarded four stars out of four and called the film "pure delight". Ed Potton of The Times gave four out of five. He singled out the supporting characters, including the return of Flash the sloth and of Maurice LaMarche as an arctic shrew in the manner of Vito Corleone. Clint Gage of IGN saw "a seedy underbelly of social criticism" beneath the silliness. BJ Colangelo of /Film suggested the movie might teach young viewers to question who sets the rules.

  Others were cooler. Quinn D'Alessio of The Maine Campus liked the central relationship and the new characters Gary and Nibbles but preferred the first film. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave two stars out of five, calling it "a soulless film-by-numbers affair filled with corporately approved jokes". Jake Coyle of the Associated Press felt the film spent too much time away from the city, adding that "sequel-ization also means domestication." Soren Andersen of The Seattle Times found it too loud and insistent. Caroline Siede of The A.V. Club admired the worldbuilding but thought the plot too close to the original.

  The film earned recognition for direction, animation and voice work. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 31st Critics' Choice Awards. At the 83rd Golden Globe Awards it received two nominations, Best Motion Picture - Animated and Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. The 53rd Annie Awards gave it seven nominations, among them Best Feature and Best Writing - Feature for Jared Bush. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 98th Academy Awards. Of its two British Academy Film Award nominations, it won Best Animated Film at the 79th ceremony.

  Talk of a third film began before this one reached theaters. On the 21st of December 2025, Howard and Bush confirmed that Bush had begun making early sketches for it.

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