"Zootopia 2" is Disney's most important movie in China this year, without a doubt.

After a nine - year absence, the highest - rated Disney animated film, "Zootopia", has finally welcomed its second installment. One week before the official release date (November 26th), on November 18th, Disney held the global celebration of "Zootopia 2" at Shanghai Disney Resort. 36Kr, as one of the first batch of invited media, participated in the Chinese premiere of "Zootopia 2" and watched the movie in advance.

Since the word - of - mouth embargo is still in effect, the author of this article is currently only allowed to publish information without spoilers and personal feelings.

My movie - watching experience is: although the first part was already a masterpiece, the second part is no less impressive. Zootopia is still the same colorful and hilarious world as it was nine years ago. Disney's dream engineers designed every detail of this animal utopia, expanding the species diversity and the map scope. Moreover, director Jared Bush also responded to the audience's expectation of "a closer relationship" between the on - screen couple Nick and Judy in the plot, creating many laugh - out - loud and tear - jerking moments, taking the sweet and ambiguous atmosphere to a new high.

When the end - credits song of the movie played and the Easter eggs were released, the Chinese audience in the Shanghai Walt Disney Grand Theatre burst into whistles and applause three times.

Whether "Zootopia 2" can be successful is of great significance, not only for Disney but also for the entire theater market. In 2025, although the annual total box office of the Chinese film market has exceeded that of the same period in 2024, it is still lower than that in 2021 and 2023, and far lower than that of the four years before the pandemic. Moreover, nearly one - third of the so - far 45 billion yuan in box office is contributed by the single movie "Ne Zha: Reborn in the Demon World".

Still from "Zootopia 2"

Disney, Challenging Chinese Tastes Again

How much does Disney value the performance of "Zootopia 2" in the Chinese market?

On the 18th, at the premiere held in Shanghai, Disney CEO Bob Iger himself showed up. In the past few years, this is the only movie that has made the CEO travel across the ocean. Bob Iger last came to Shanghai in 2023, also for this IP - he attended the opening ceremony of the Zootopia area in Shanghai Disneyland.

Courtesy of Disney

This time, along with Bob Iger in Shanghai Disneyland were Disney Animation Studios' chief creative officer, screenwriter and director Jared Bush, producer Yvett Merino, Oscar - winner Ke Huy Quan who voiced the new character "Gary" the snake, and Chinese voice - actors Zhang Zhen (voicing Nick the fox), Ji Guanlin (voicing Judy the rabbit), as well as a group of stars including Da Peng (voicing Gary the snake), Fei Xiang (voicing Flavio the horse), Jin Chen (voicing Bonnie the fennec fox) and Wang Anyu (voicing Burt the lynx).

The appearance of the CEO is just a glimpse of Disney's high - level attention. The promotion and distribution of "Zootopia 2" are fully top - notch:

A year and a half ago, Disney started the early warm - up. At the "D23: Disney's Global Fan Convention", it played a clip of "Zootopia 2" and displayed the teaser poster;

Six months before the release, Disney launched a material blitz and topic - making campaign, continuously releasing multiple trailers and short videos. Among them, several promotional videos had more than 3 million views on Bilibili and more than 4 million likes on Douyin. Also, Disney cooperated with Shanghai Animation Film Studio to produce a promotional short film for "Zootopia 2";

One to three months before the release, entering the all - around immersion and experience period, Disney released the ultimate trailer with a faster pace and more exciting emotions. The Zootopia area in Shanghai Disneyland also made adjustments to match the movie. Judy and Nick's character dolls wore new clothes and had more intimate interactions, triggering speculation about a new romantic development between the two characters in the new work. Temporary experience areas for "Zootopia 2" were also set up in other Disney parks around the world.

To date, Shanghai Disneyland still has the world's first and only "Zootopia" themed area. Chinese audiences gave the first "Zootopia" an ultra - high score of 9.3 on Douban and contributed more than 1.5 billion yuan in box office. This film ranks first on the list of imported animated films' box office in the Chinese mainland. It can be said that "Zootopia" is undoubtedly one of Disney's most popular animated IPs among Chinese audiences in recent years.

Disney's heavy investment in "Zootopia 2" is also related to Hollywood's decline in the Chinese market. In the past few years, imported films in the Chinese theater market have entered a period of "increasing quantity but not increasing revenue". From 2020 to 2022, China introduced less than 20 American imported films each year. This year, in order to boost the market, the number was increased to 32, but the effect was still minimal. From January to September this year, the number of released American imported films increased, but the cumulative box - office contribution decreased. Only "Jurassic World: Dominion" had a box office of more than 500 million yuan.

Image source: Top Data

In the past few years, several important Disney films were restricted by the tightened import system and were not released in the Chinese mainland. Among the successfully released films, many had the problem of "not adapting well to the local market", such as "The Little Mermaid", "The Marvels" and "Elemental", and their box - office revenues did not meet expectations.

The tastes of Chinese and American audiences seem to be diverging. Disney's "Inside Out 2" was the highest - grossing film globally in 2024, with a global box office of about 1.7 billion US dollars. Among them, 653 million US dollars came from the US, while only 47.4 million US dollars came from China.

Similarly, Warner Bros.' "Dune: Part Two" was the seventh - highest - grossing film globally in 2024, with a box - office revenue of 714.6 million US dollars. The US domestic box - office revenue was 282.1 million US dollars, while the Chinese box - office revenue was only 49 million US dollars.

In November this year, an online survey released by the Lighthouse Research Institute showed that 32% of Chinese audiences prefer to watch domestic films, a figure almost on par with the 31% for Hollywood films. At the same time, 65% of the audiences said that they watched domestic films more frequently, in sharp contrast to the 35% for Hollywood films.

For "Zootopia 2", it's not the best time, but definitely not the worst either.

After the premiere, as an ordinary person with almost no fans, I posted a movie - watching experience post on Xiaohongshu. The post quickly got more than 100,000 views, and more than 500 comments expressed curiosity about the movie content and said they were looking forward to watching it. This proves that even though the times are changing rapidly, this IP, which has been absent for nine years, still has a strong appeal and attraction among Chinese audiences.

Is a new savior for the theater industry coming?

Image source: Lighthouse Professional Edition

For the theater industry, the appearance of "Zootopia 2" will definitely be a shot in the arm.

According to the statistics of Lighthouse Professional Edition, in the first ten months of this year, the single movie "Ne Zha: Reborn in the Demon World" contributed nearly one - third of the total box office with 15.446 billion yuan, far outpacing the second - ranked "Detective Chinatown 1900". Among the top ten box - office movies, only 7 had a box office of more than 1 billion yuan, and only 3 had a box office of more than 2 billion yuan. Without "Ne Zha", the theater movie market this year would be unimaginable.

Meanwhile, the number of theaters in operation nationwide reached a new high of 13,400, and the number of screenings in the same period reached 108 million, also setting a new record. At the same time, the number of movies with a box office of more than 100 million yuan was the lowest in recent years. This situation of more people competing for fewer resources has put theater owners in a very passive position, further squeezing their living space.

Image source: Top Data

An even more dangerous trend is the continuous loss of young audiences. A Top Data report shows that in 2025, the proportion of the post - 2000 young group under 25 years old among ticket - buyers hit a new low. There are relatively few movies in the market that cater to the preferences of young audiences. Among the movies with a box office of more than 500 million yuan this year, only "The Legend of Luo Xiaohei 2" and "Detective Chinatown 1900" had a young - audience proportion of more than 20%.

The movie audience is being snatched away by short videos and micro - dramas. A Top Data report shows that the scale of the micro - drama market has grown explosively in just two years. Last year, the overall scale reached 48.46 billion yuan, more than tripling the compound growth rate compared to two years ago.

The first "Zootopia" was released in 2016. Nine years are enough for a junior high school student at that time to grow into an office worker with a stable monthly salary. Can "Zootopia 2" bring some young people back to the theater? This may be the most important question the theater market should focus on.