Disney’s Zootopia 2 fuels box-office frenzy with $720 million worldwide
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Nick Wilde (left), voiced by Jason Bateman, and Judy Hopps, voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin, in Zootopia 2.
PHOTO: THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY
LOS ANGELES – Walt Disney’s animated Zootopia 2 racked up an estimated US$556 million (S$720 million) in global ticket sales over the US Thanksgiving weekend, providing a strong kick-off to Hollywood’s crucial holiday moviegoing season.
Nearly half of the film’s box-office receipts from Nov 26 to 30 came from China, bucking a trend of Hollywood movies finishing behind China-made films.
The US$272 million tally made Zootopia 2 Hollywood’s highest-grossing animated movie in China, surpassing a record set by the first Zootopia in 2016.
Also in cinemas, Universal Pictures’ movie musical Wicked: For Good claimed US$92.2 million worldwide
The fervour for the two films provided welcome news for movie theatre owners who hope audiences will pack cinemas in the coming weeks through Christmas, the second-busiest time of the year for moviegoing.
Annual box-office sales have yet to recover to the pre-pandemic levels seen in 2019.
Zootopia 2 collected US$156 million of its worldwide total in the United States and Canada, making it the leader on the North American box-office charts.
The movie set in a city of animals tells the story of a bunny police officer and her fox partner, voiced by American actress Ginnifer Goodwin and actor Jason Bateman.
“It’s a proud moment for Disney Animation and all of us at Disney, not to mention a great way to start the holiday season,” Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman said in a statement.
Year-to-date ticket sales in North America reached US$7.8 billion, up 1.2 per cent from a year ago but 23 per cent shy of 2019, according to data from Comscore.
Thanksgiving weekend sales are expected to rank among the top five of all time in the US and Canada when final numbers come in on Dec 1, said Mr Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore’s head of marketplace trends. Coming releases include James Cameron’s third Avatar film just before Christmas.
“Think about how many people were in theatres over the past week being exposed to theatre marketing and trailers,” he said. “Hopefully that creates the momentum that can give us a really solid home stretch of the year.” REUTERS
Zootopia 2 is showing in Singapore cinemas.
