Zootopia 2 Broke the Walt Disney Animation Studios Record That Frozen II Had Held Since 2019

Zootopia 2 became the highest-grossing animated film in Walt Disney Animation Studios’ history, passing Frozen II (2019), according to a Disney Japan corporate report dated January 9, 2026. The “six-year-old” part of the headline is the gap between the two release years, 2019 and 2025, and it is also roughly how long Frozen II held the title. Every box-office figure in this article is a studio-reported snapshot from a specific date, not an audited or independent total.

What the record actually covers

The headline mixes two different scopes, and they are easy to confuse. The first is a film-level record: the highest-grossing animated feature released by Walt Disney Animation Studios. Zootopia 2 took that place from Frozen II. The second is a studio-wide annual figure: the total worldwide box office for The Walt Disney Studios across all of its releases in a calendar year. Disney reported that total as $6.58 billion for 2025, the first year above $6 billion since 2019. That number belongs to the whole studio, not to one film, and it does not measure Zootopia 2 at all.

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4		Zootopia [Blu-ray]	$29.12	Buy on Amazon
5		Zootopia (2016) - Multi Screen Edition [ Blu-ray + DVD]	$31.95	Buy on Amazon

The Frozen II comparison

Frozen II was released in 2019, so when Zootopia 2 (released in 2025) passed it, the older film had been the studio’s animated benchmark for about six years. Disney’s Japanese corporate release is the direct source for the claim that Zootopia 2 surpassed it. The claim is about gross box office, not about critical standing, awards or audience size in any single market. It also does not say whether the older film’s total was later revised; the comparison rests on the figures Disney published at the time.

The figures, with their dates

Disney has released several running totals for Zootopia 2. They are not a single live number, and each one should be quoted with its date.

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The gap between the $1.703 billion and $1.9 billion figures reflects the film’s continued run between January and March 2026, not a correction. Because each total comes from a different Disney announcement, a reader citing “the” box-office total should give the figure and its date together.

The opening

Disney’s January 18, 2026 report credited Zootopia 2 with a $559.5 million global five-day opening and called it the largest global animated opening at that time. The company’s own wording limits that claim to the animated category and to the date of the report; later films may have been measured differently since.

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The billion-dollar milestone

Disney said the film passed $1 billion worldwide after 17 days, on December 12, 2025. That milestone is a studio-reported date, and it is the reason the film’s run is often described as unusually fast.

China and the animated ranking

Disney’s January 18 report gave a China gross of $619 million to date and called it the highest-grossing MPA release of all time in that market. In this context, “MPA” refers to films from Motion Picture Association member studios, which is how Disney used the term. The same report said the film had surpassed Inside Out 2 as the highest-grossing animated film worldwide among those releases. These rankings describe Disney’s reported totals against other films; they are not independent market rankings.

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Reception and audience response

In its December 2025 update, Disney reported a 96% Rotten Tomatoes Verified Hot audience score and an A CinemaScore. Disney also reported that its Zootopia merchandise, including collectibles and blind boxes, drew interest through collaborations with Pop Mart, Miniso, Tony Moly and Uniqlo, and that the Disney Store carrot pen sold out twice. These are company-reported commercial signals; they show demand as Disney described it, not independent sales data.

Awards context

Disney’s March 3, 2026 announcement said Zootopia 2 had received the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Feature and was an Academy Award nominee at that time. The announcement does not establish a win at the Academy Awards, and the source material does not record the ceremony outcome. Readers should describe the film as an Oscar nominee unless they have checked the final result.

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Streaming on Disney+

Disney announced that Zootopia 2 would stream exclusively on Disney+ beginning March 11, 2026. Disney’s March 19, 2026 update reported 32 million global views in the film’s first seven days on the service. The same update said Zootopia, Zootopia+ and Zootopia 2 had together accumulated more than 885 million streaming hours globally. These are Disney-reported figures. Streaming availability varies by territory and changes over time, so confirm current availability in your country on Disney+ before describing the film as available there.

Cast, credits and story

Disney describes Zootopia 2 as a mystery. Rookie police officers Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde investigate after the snake Gary De’Snake arrives in Zootopia. Ginnifer Goodwin voices Judy, Jason Bateman voices Nick, and Ke Huy Quan voices Gary. Jared Bush and Byron Howard directed the film, and Yvett Merino produced it. Jared Bush, Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios, said the team had put “heart, soul and passion” into a story full of “joy, imagination, and incredible thoughtfulness.” Alan Bergman, Co-Chairman of Disney Entertainment, said the milestone “belongs first and foremost to the fans around the world whose enthusiasm made it possible.”

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How to read studio box-office claims

Studio announcements are useful, but they follow a pattern that readers should understand before quoting them.

1. Check the scope. A film-level record, a studio-wide annual total and a franchise streaming figure are three different measurements.
2. Check the date. A running gross changes weekly, so a figure without a date is incomplete.
3. Check the source. These totals come from Disney corporate and Disney+ announcements. None of the figures cited here has been independently audited.
4. Check the currency and the market. Worldwide totals combine domestic and international receipts; a China figure is one market and was reported as of a specific date.
5. Check the wording. “Highest-grossing animated film” at Walt Disney Animation Studios is not the same as “highest-grossing animated film ever” or “highest-grossing Disney film.”

Applied to this headline, the claim is clear: Zootopia 2 surpassed Frozen II as the highest-grossing animated film from Walt Disney Animation Studios, as Disney reported in January 2026. The worldwide figures that followed are Disney’s snapshots, and they should be cited by date.

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