Zootopia 2 holds the number 1 spot at the box office as it becomes the Walt Disney Company’s second film this year to gross US$1 billion worldwide.
With Avatar: Fire and Ash arriving in cinemas with a relatively quiet opening weekend, Zooptopia and Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 fought it out for the top spot.
Zootopia 2 won the battle, amassing US$1.4 billion at the global box office. Before heading into the weekend, the film had grossed US$232.7 million in the U.S. and US$753.4 million in international markets.
According to Comscore, Zootopia 2 made US$26.3 million across the U.S. and Canada this weekend.
This milestone means the world to us, because more than anything, it means audiences are coming to theatres for a shared experience of watching this movie on the big screen, everyone together, from all walks of life around the world — and that is a Zootopia dream come true,” Walt Disney Animation Studios Chief Creative Officer, Jared Bush, said.
This was in great part due to the film’s massive success in China, where it grossed US$502.4 million, making it the biggest Hollywood hit in the country in years.
This is a huge figure considering China decreased the number of American films it permits to play in theatres and has threatened to restrict even more because of escalated tariffs.
Zootopia 2 has the highest animated opening of all time for a non-local title in China and broke the record for highest-grossing non-local animated film of all time within five days of its release in the country, Disney reported.
The animated sequel is the only other 2025 Hollywood title to surpass US$1 billion at the box office. The other was Disney’s Lilo and Stitch, which grossed US$1.04 billion.
However, the highest-grossing film of the year was the Chinese blockbuster Ne Zha 2, which collected nearly US$2 billion in China alone.
This follows a trend of PG-rated family films becoming increasingly popular and even outselling PG-13 films and R-rated films at the box office in 2025.
This year, PG films have generated US$2.7 billion in the U.S. and Canada, while PG-13 films tallied US$2.5 billion, and R-rated films collected US$2.4 billion.
This feat comes as the bidding war between Netflix and Paramount Skydance has created questions surrounding the future of filmgoing.
