If you wanted proof that family animation still runs this town, look at this weekend’s box office. One week after Wicked: For Good set new marks for a musical sequel, Zootopia 2 roared in, took the crown, and then some. The film pulled an estimated $156 million domestic over its first five days on the 2025 calendar and $556 million worldwide, turning a crowded Thanksgiving corridor into its own personal savanna.
What’s remarkable isn’t just the headline number; it’s how it was built. The domestic box office is strong but not historic. International — and China in particular — is where Zootopia 2 becomes a different species entirely.
Zootopia 2 Box Office by the Numbers
Start with the basics. Zootopia 2 hauled in $96.8 million from Friday to Sunday and $156 million from Wednesday to Sunday across roughly 4,000 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, according to estimates from The Numbers. That makes it the second‑best Thanksgiving launch ever domestically, behind 2024’s Moana 2, which did $225 million over five days.
The first Zootopia debuted in March 2016 with $75 million for its opening weekend and legged out to $341 million domestic and over $1 billion worldwide, plus an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. So yes, the sequel’s U.S. start is bigger, but not absurdly so. This isn’t Barbie‑level shock; it’s Disney effectively squeezing more juice from a proven fruit.
Where the sequel obliterates records is globally. With $400 million coming from overseas markets, Zootopia 2 now claims the biggest worldwide opening ever for an animated movie and the top global debut of 2025 so far. Roughly $272 million of that haul comes from China alone, where the brand has quietly become a juggernaut — helped by Shanghai Disneyland’s new Zootopia Land, which essentially functions as a year‑round ad you pay to stand in.
For context, this Thanksgiving frame across all titles hit about $293 million, the fourth‑best Turkey Day on record. 2024 still holds the crown with a $422 million bounty led by Moana 2, Wicked and Gladiator II. So the overall marketplace is healthy, but not back to peak “you can release anything and it’ll open” madness.
China Turns Zootopia 2 Into an Animated Juggernaut
Here’s the part that should make studio executives very happy and a little nervous. That $272 million Chinese opening makes Zootopia 2 not just the country’s biggest animated launch ever, but its second‑best premiere of all time, trailing only 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.
We’ve seen this movie before: Hollywood leaning hard on China to turn a strong start into a record. What’s different this time is the genre. Superheroes and giant robots have traditionally owned that lane; an animal‑cop comedy turned global cultural export is a newer look. Clearly, Disney’s investment in localized attractions and long‑term brand presence is paying off in ways a single marketing campaign never could.
But dependence is dependence. When half your animated box office story is written in Shanghai and Beijing, release schedules, censorship whims and political chill all become part of your risk profile. Right now, everything lines up perfectly: local audiences like the franchise, the park tie‑in is fresh, and there’s a relative lack of competing family animation. If any of those variables shift, Disney’s Thanksgiving math starts to look less guaranteed.
Thanksgiving Box Office, Family Films and the Content Desert
Zooming out, Zootopia 2 and Wicked: For Good combined for around $293 million over the holiday, making this the fourth‑strongest Thanksgiving behind 2024, 2018 and 2014. That’s a solid win in a year where exhibitors have been openly complaining about the gap between tentpoles.
Part of what juiced this weekend is simple supply and demand. The last new major animated kids release before this was The Bad Guys 2 in August. That’s a three‑month drought in a genre that used to offer parents something nearly every school break. When you starve a segment that long, the first fresh meal gets devoured.
There’s also the musical factor. Wicked: For Good dropped 57% from its record‑breaking opening but still managed $62.8 million Friday–Sunday and $93 million over five days, bringing its domestic haul to $270.4 million and its global total close to $393.3 million after just ten days. Not bad for a “disappointment.” But compared with Moana 2‘s monster Thanksgiving in 2024, you can feel a bit of franchise fatigue already creeping in.
Eternity, A24’s afterlife rom‑com with Elizabeth Olsen and Miles Teller, pulled $5.2 million over five days in limited release, while Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet managed $1.35 million from just 119 theaters, landing at No. 8 and No. 9 respectively. Solid prestige footholds, but nowhere near the oxygen that animated animals and witches are hogging. Anyone pretending this Thanksgiving wasn’t a two‑horse race is lying to you.
What Zootopia 2’s Box Office Means for 2026 and Beyond
From a marketing standpoint, Disney just got a loud, data‑backed reminder that CG ensemble animation plus global‑friendly themes still beats almost everything when you aim it at a holiday. You can already hear the greenlight meetings: more sequels, more animal cities, more “relatable cop‑buddy energy” with just enough social commentary to earn thinkpieces but not enough to scare parents.
The cynic in me rolls his eyes — we are deep into the era where “new” means “the IP sat on a shelf for nine years instead of three.” But I’ve also sat in enough near‑empty auditoriums this year to know that, right now, theaters need wins, even familiar ones. If Zootopia 2‘s box office keeps multiplexes staffed long enough for something riskier like Hamnet to expand on December 12, that’s a trade‑off I can live with.
The real test will come once the Thanksgiving glow wears off. Does Zootopia 2 show the kind of legs its 2016 predecessor did? Does Wicked: For Good climb past the original’s total off the back of strong international play? And what happens when Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash crash into December?
Whatever the answers, this weekend’s message is clear: in a shaky marketplace, a well‑timed animated sequel can still blow the doors off the box office — as long as you’re willing to chase those numbers far beyond North America.
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross | Domestic Total | Last Week | Theaters | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zootopia 2 | $96,800,000 | $156,000,000 | N/A | 4,000 | New |
| 2 | Wicked: For Good | $62,800,000 | $270,441,000 | 1 | 4,115 | Holdover |
| 3 | Now You See Me: Now You Don’t | $7,000,000 | $49,677,813 | 2 | 2,264 | Holdover |
| 4 | Predator: Bad Lands | $4,800,000 | $85,040,607 | 3 | 2,750 | Holdover |
| 5 | The Running Man | $3,720,000 | $34,255,000 | 4 | 2,749 | Holdover |
| 6 | Eternity | $3,169,780 | $5,236,587 | N/A | 1,348 | New |
| 7 | Rental Family | $2,100,000 | $7,392,228 | 5 | 1,925 | Holdover |
| 8 | Hamnet | $880,000 | $1,350,000 | N/A | 119 | New |
| 9 | SISU: Road to Revenge | $810,000 | $4,125,179 | 6 | 2,222 | Holdover |
| 10 | Nuremberg | $685,000 | $12,451,842 | 8 | 540 | Holdover |
What the Zootopia 2 Box Office Really Tells Us
- Animation is still global king
Zootopia 2’s enormous box office debut, driven by $400 million overseas, proves animated franchises travel better than almost any other genre right now. - China can still change the math
The sequel’s $272 million Chinese opening turned a strong launch into an all‑time animated record, reminding studios how dependent they remain on that market. - Thanksgiving belongs to family franchises
Between Zootopia 2 and Wicked: For Good, this Thanksgiving box office was effectively a two‑title show, with prestige films just filling in the margins. - Content gaps create pent‑up demand
With no new major kids’ animation since August, parents were primed to show up in force once Disney finally gave them a reason. - Record weekends don’t equal record years
Even with these hits, 2025’s Thanksgiving still trails 2024’s $422 million frame, a reminder that one or two mega‑openings can’t fix a thin overall slate.
FAQ
What does Zootopia 2’s box office dominance mean for original animated movies?
It means they’re going to have a harder time getting made, at least at this scale. When a sequel like Zootopia 2 can open to $556 million worldwide while most originals crawl, executives read that as a mandate for “more of the same.” Mid‑budget and experimental animation will increasingly get pushed to streamers or boutique distributors, while theatrical lanes stay clogged with familiar animal faces.
Why did China respond so strongly to the Zootopia 2 box office push?
Part of it is simple brand affinity: the first film played very well there, and Shanghai Disneyland’s Zootopia Land has been doing free marketing for years. But there’s also the scarcity factor — Hollywood has been more cautious about tentpole releases in China lately, so when a four‑quadrant, non‑political animated sequel shows up, audiences flock to it. The risk is that studios start designing movies around what they think will work in that market, rather than what actually makes sense creatively.
Is Wicked: For Good underperforming next to Zootopia 2’s box office run?
Not really, at least not yet. A $62.8 million second weekend and nearly $400 million worldwide after ten days would have been cause for champagne a decade ago. The problem is comparison: its 57% drop against a front‑loaded opening looks worse next to Zootopia 2’s fresh‑shiny‑sequel narrative and Moana 2’s insane Thanksgiving legs last year. It’s doing fine; the industry just isn’t in a “fine” mood.
What should studios learn from this Thanksgiving’s box office results?
First, that starving audiences of certain genres — like kids’ animation — only to flood them later is lazy scheduling, not strategy. Second, that relying on one or two mega‑openings to salvage a quarter is not sustainable; 2025’s Thanksgiving numbers still trail 2018 and 2014 despite Zootopia 2’s high‑flying start. If studios want healthier box office across the year, they’ll need more than sequels timed to school holidays. They’ll need variety, and a little courage.
