THURSDAY, UPDATE: Walt Disney Animation’s Zootopia 2 has hopped to an opening Wednesday of $81.1M globally, including $39.5M from domestic and $41.6M from 17 international box office markets.
Along with the North American milestones the sequel has notched, Z2, as we noted yesterday (see below), scored the biggest opening day in China ever for a Hollywood animated title at $34M, which is also the biggest launch-day gross for a studio movie there since May 2021.
The Thursday estimate from China (not included in the global total above) is RMB 143M ($20M), which takes the early global run to over $100M. Also note that Korea added an estimated $1.1M on Thursday for a local running total of $2.84M.
In pure Wednesday play, Zootopia 2 was No. 1 in China and Korea, and most of the other international markets where it launched. In France, the opening day was the 2nd biggest of 2025, behind Lilo & Stitch and the 3rd best for Walt Disney Animation ever behind Moana 2 and Frozen 2.
Germany notched the biggest studio animated opening of the year and the 3rd best for WDAS. Italy was the highest studio animation opening of 2025.
We will have much more to report throughout the weekend as Z2 adds the rest of overseas markets save Japan. For now, and through Wednesday (ie, not including the early Thursday estimates for China and Korea), the Top 5 are: China ($34M), France ($2.4M), Korea ($1.7M), Germany ($700K) and Italy ($600K).
PREVIOUS, WEDNESDAY: Walt Disney Animation’s Zootopia 2 is defying the trends of the past year — and beyond — for Hollywood in China, nabbing the biggest opening day and highest single-day box office for a U.S. animated film ever in the market. With an RMB 240.2M ($34M) estimated opening Wednesday, this is also the biggest launch day for a studio movie since May 2021 and the 10th best for Hollywood of all time.
The Maoyan audience score is a fantastic 9.7, with the critical ranking on Douban at 8.7. Comparatively in Maoyan scores, Zootopia had a 9.5, Inside Out was 9.1, and Moana 2 was 9.0.
It’s early days, but at this pace, Zootopia 2 is poised to become the biggest studio movie in China of 2025 across just its first weekend.
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Maoyan already is predicting an RMB 2.4B ($340M) full run on the Jared Bush- and Byron Howard-directed movie in the market; its predecessor did $236M at historic rates there.
While full Wednesday numbers will come later on Z2, we already know that Korea is estimated to have debuted Judy and Nick’s latest adventure at No. 1 with $1.7M. This is the second-highest studio opening day of 2025 (trailing only Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning), the fifth-highest opening day of the year overall and the top animated Hollywood opening day of 2025. Z2 also registered the second-biggest animated opening day of the year (behind Demon Slayer) and ranked second all-time among Disney animation titles (behind Frozen 2).
RELATED: What The China Performance Of ‘Zootopia 2’ & ‘Avatar: Fire And Ash’ Could Mean For Hollywood’s Future In The Unpredictable Mega-Market
Like China, social scores are outstanding, with Naver at 9.33 and CGV at 98%, which is in line with the first Zootopia and well above Moana 2 and Inside Out 2.
In total, Z2 bows in 93% of the international box office landscape this weekend, notably beginning today with France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Netherlands and Philippines, alongside China and Korea.
Thursday adds Australia, Brazil and Mexico among majors, followed by the UK, India and Spain on Friday. The only market not going this session is Japan, which releases in December.
RELATED: ‘Zootopia 2’ Review: Disney Sequel Herds Familiar Themes While Successfully Expanding Animated Animal World
Heading into the weekend, the international box office projection for Z2 is in the $135M-$145M range.
As I noted earlier this week, the performance of Z2 in China will be keenly watched by the industry after quite a disappointing first 11 months in the market.
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