This Thanksgiving weekend, Walt Disney Animation Studios releases Zootopia 2, the highly anticipated sequel to 2016's Academy Award-winning Zootopia. The sequel reunites rookie cops Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) and teases a new team-up with a mysterious pit viper, Gary De'Snake (Ke Huy Quan).
The review embargo for the movie has lifted today, and it's so far, so good, for Disney's latest sequel. There's already a lot of excitement for Zootopia 2, as current projections point to a massive $125 million opening in North America from Wednesday to Sunday.
Throw in an additional $135 million - $145 million from overseas, and all signs point to a $270 million global debut. That's made all the more impressive by the stiff competition posed to the movie by another sequel, Wicked: For Good (which is expected to have a big second weekend).
Reviews and word of mouth, as always, will be crucial. Fortunately for Disney, as we first reported on Toonado.com, Zootopia 2 has arrived on Rotten Tomatoes with a 94% score based on 47 reviews.
"These movies are comedies first and crime-film homages second," writes Variety, "but it’s their tertiary value as social commentary that makes the franchise so indispensable: Behind the laughs are teachable moments."
The Hollywood Reporter adds, "This sequel to 2016’s smash hit Oscar-winning animated film proves more than worth the lengthy wait, knocking it out of the park with its dazzling visuals, sophisticated humor and doses of genuine emotion."
In IGN's review, it's said, "The look of the sequel builds off the vibrant world of the original, and while thematically the movie may bite off more than it can chew, Zootopia 2, like its bunny-cop hero, shares a contagious hope that things can always change." io9 adds to that with, "With Zootopia 2, Disney Animation gives us just enough of what we love and remember from that first movie to make a solid, albeit flawed, sequel."
"Perhaps most delightful, though, are the carefully drawn supporting characters, with welcome returns for Flash the sloth and Maurice LaMarche, the Vito Corleone-esque arctic shrew. Truly an offer you can’t refuse," writes The Times, only for The Guardian to counter, "It’s the kind of movie you put on an iPad to keep the children quiet on a long plane or train journey...the heart and soul are lacking."
Finally, we hear from Next Best Picture. "'Zootopia 2' is a marvel of modern animated storytelling, a family film that really will have everyone in the family laughing, singing (in the case of the earworm 'Zoo,' sung by Shakira’s Zootopian pop star Gazelle), and perhaps even crying together," the site states.
So, it's a worthy follow-up that fans of Zootopia are definitely going to enjoy. The movie doesn't sound perfect, but it still has all the makings of a real crowd-pleaser for families over the long holiday weekend.
In Zootopia 2, detectives Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (voiced by Jason Bateman) find themselves on the twisting trail of a mysterious reptile who arrives in Zootopia and turns the mammal metropolis upside down.
To crack the case, Judy and Nick must go undercover to unexpected new parts of town, where their growing partnership is tested like never before. The movie also features the voices of Fortune Feimster, Quinta Brunson, and Shakira, who returns as Gazelle.
Oscar winners Jared Bush (co-director/co-writer Zootopia, director/co-writer Encanto) and Byron Howard (director Zootopia, director Encanto) are directing; Bush is writing the script; Yvett Merino (Oscar-winning producer Encanto) produces.
Zootopia 2 arrives in theaters on November 26, 2025.