Walt Disney Co.โs โZootopia 2โ is now the highest-grossing U.S. animated film of all time, the company said Sunday.
The animated sequel to 2016โs โZootopiaโ raked in $1.7 billion in worldwide box office revenue as of Sunday. The movie edges out the previous record holder, โInside Out 2.โ The 2024 Disney and Pixar hit grossed $1.69 billion.
Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman noted the filmโs international appeal in a statement Sunday about the new record.
โThis milestone belongs first and foremost to the fans around the world whose enthusiasm made it possible,โ he said in the statement.
The film has earned the bulk of its money overseas, with an international box office total of $1.31 billion. In the U.S. and Canada, โZootopia 2โ has made $390 million.
The movieโs largest international haul has come from China, where โZootopia 2โ grossed $610 million thus far.
The first โZootopiaโ was a surprise hit in China, where audiences connected with rabbit cop Judy Hoppsโ storyline of moving from a small rural village to the big city, as well as the unconventional relationship between Judy and her partner Nick Wilde, a fox, Disney executives have said.
Disney then built on that popularity by opening a โZootopiaโ-themed land in Shanghai Disneyland โ the only such themed area in any Disney park.
But the warm response in China was not a given.
A decade ago, Hollywood blockbusters that got government approval could count on the China market to boost their international box office totals.
But since the COVID-19 pandemic, the recent geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China and the growth of the local film industry, that kind of reception has been much more unreliable.
The last Disney film that was released in China and earned more than $100 million was 2024โs โAlien: Romulus.โ
