Box office Zootopia grossed $341.3 million in the U.S. and Canada and $682.5 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $1.024 billion, against a budget of $150 million. On April 5, it became the first film of 2016 to gross over $800 million in ticket sales, and on April 24, became the first film of 2016 to cross $900 million. On June 5, the film crossed the $1 billion mark, becoming the second film of 2016 to do so (after the studio's own
Captain America: Civil War), the fourth animated film (after
Toy Story 3,
Frozen and
Minions), the eleventh Disney film, the third Disney animated film, and the twenty-sixth film overall to reach the milestone. Worldwide, it was the
fourth-highest-grossing film of 2016 (behind
Civil War,
Rogue One, and
Finding Dory), the second-highest-grossing animated film of 2016, and the
fourth-highest-grossing animated film of all time.
Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $294.9 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues for the film, making it the fifth-most profitable release of 2016.
United States and Canada In the United States and Canada, pre-release tracking suggested the film would open to $60–70 million from 3,827 theaters in its opening weekend. It played in 3,100 3D theaters, 365 IMAX theaters, and 325 premium large format screens. It earned $1.7 million from Thursday previews, a record for a non-Pixar Disney animated film, for an animated film opening outside of summer, and seventh-biggest all time for an animated film. Buoyed by good
word of mouth, it earned $19.5 million on its opening day, also a record for a non-Pixar Disney animated film (breaking
Frozens record), In its opening weekend, it scored a better than expected $75.1 million, which was the biggest non-Pixar Disney animated opening (breaking
Big Hero 6s record), the biggest opening weekend among Walt Disney Animation Studios films (breaking
Frozens record), the biggest March animated opening (breaking
The Loraxs record), the seventh-biggest March opening, and the tenth-biggest animated opening of all time. Furthermore, its opening weekend is also the fourth-biggest for an original film, behind
The Secret Life of Pets,
Inside Out, and
Avatar. It also performed exceptionally well in IMAX, where the film brought in $5.2 million from 366 screens, the second-best animated IMAX opening behind only
Toy Story 3 ($8.4 million). It continued to top the box office for the third weekend, earning $37.2 million, falling by 28% from its previous weekend while passing the $200 million mark. This made it the second-biggest third weekend for a film that did not open at over $100 million, behind
Avatar ($68 million) and ahead of
Skyfall ($35 million). The film was overtaken by the superhero film
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in its fourth weekend, despite only a marginal decline. It spent a total of 13 consecutive weeks in the top ten, more than any other film except for
Avatar (14 weeks) and
Frozen (16 weeks) over the last decade. the
seventh-highest-grossing film of 2016, and the tenth-highest-grossing animated film of all time. In June 2020, due the worldwide closure of cinemas during the
COVID-19 pandemic and limits on which films played,
Zootopia returned to 280 theaters—mostly
drive-ins—and grossed $393,600.
Other countries Zootopia received a scattered release as
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures took advantage of school holidays in various markets. The film opened in a limited number of international markets in the weekend ending February 14, earning $4.5 million in three markets. It expanded to 22 markets in its second weekend, into 36% of its total international markets, and added $31.2 million. It added another $33 million in its third weekend with no new markets. In its fourth weekend, it expanded to 45 countries and grossed $64.7 million, coming in second place at the international box office, behind the Chinese film
Ip Man 3. $3.3 million came from IMAX showings. It remained in first place for the second time in its sixth weekend, before
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice took the top spot. In its opening weekend—which varied between markets—the film grossed $3.1 million in Spain and an additional $1.7 million in Belgium and Denmark. In Belgium, it had the biggest ever animated opening for a Disney or Pixar film. It opened in the United Kingdom and Ireland with $7.5 million, Mexico with $4.6 million, Australia with $3.2 million, Brazil with $2.6 million, and in Italy, on a non-holiday weekend with $3.1 million. It fell just 24% in its second weekend.
Zootopias largest markets overseas are China ($235.6 million), followed by Japan ($70.1 million), Russia and the CIS ($39.2 million), Germany ($34.2 million), the UK ($34.2 million), France ($31.9 million), and South Korea ($31.6 million). In China, it is the highest-grossing Disney film in local currency (
¥1.530 billion), surpassing
Avengers: Age of Ultron (¥1.464 billion), as well as the seventh-highest-grossing film of all time. In Russia, it is the second-highest-grossing film of all time in local currency (
₽2.3 billion), behind only
Avatar (₽3.6 billion). It topped the Russian and German box office for three weekends, and the Chinese and Korean box office for two weekends. In China, where it was locally known as
Crazy Animal City (疯狂动物城), and was considered Hollywood's biggest breakout success in China since 2015's
Jurassic World made $229 million. It had an opening day of $3.4 million on its way to $23.6 million for its three-day opening weekend, debuting in second place and scoring the biggest non-sequel animated opening, as well as the second-biggest three-day opening and IMAX opening for an animated film, behind
Kung Fu Panda 3. In its second weekend, it grossed $60 million, an enormous increase of 139% from its previous weekend, and crossed the $100 million mark to become the third animated film in China to do so, after
Kung Fu Panda 3 and
Monkey King: Hero Is Back. This also marked the single best weekend for an animated film. In its third weekend, it grossed $40 million for a total of $175 million, making it the highest-grossing animated film of all time in China. On March 27, its seventeenth day of release, it passed the $200 million mark, becoming the first animated film, the second Disney film, and the sixth Hollywood film overall to pass that milestone. It opened in Japan on April 23 and earned $4 million in its opening weekend, debuting at second place in the box office, behind
Detective Conan: The Darkest Nightmare, and had the third-biggest Walt Disney Animation Studios debut in that market, behind
Frozen and
Big Hero 6. In the following two weekends, it continued to increase its ticket sales, and topped the box office there for four consecutive weekends. After four straight wins, it was finally overtaken by the R-rated superhero film
Deadpool. It was the No. 1 western/Hollywood film for eight consecutive weekends.
The Hollywood Reporter cited that strong word of mouth, audiences watching both the English and Japanese versions, and 3D and
4DX screenings, as well as a popular Japanese version of the "Try Everything" song by
Dream Ami, all helped boost
Zootopias performance. It remained in top three for 11 consecutive weekends and has grossed a total of $70.1 million there.
Critical response On the
review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads: "The brilliantly well-rounded
Zootopia offers a thoughtful, inclusive message that's as rich and timely as its sumptuously state-of-the-art animationall while remaining fast and funny enough to keep younger viewers entertained." On
Metacritic, the film has a score of 78 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by
PostTrak gave it a 90% overall positive score, with 87% saying they would "definitely recommend" it.
Neil Genzlinger of
The New York Times considered the movie "funny, smart, [and] thought-provoking".
Peter Travers of
Rolling Stone wrote that
Zootopia "may be the most subversive movie of" 2016, giving the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and praising its timely message about the harm of prejudice in the face of the prevailing xenophobic political rhetoric at the time of the film's release, and the film's humor. Peter Debruge at
Variety opined that
Zootopia "plays directly to the studio's strength".
IGN reviewer Eric Goldman gave the film a 9.0 out of 10 'Amazing' score, saying "
Zootopia is a wonderful example of how Disney, at its best, can mix its past and present together in a very cool, compelling way. It takes the classic animation trope of animals walking, talking, and acting like humans, but gives it a modern spin both in terms of its humor and animation style ... and also in its themes, which are meaningful and fascinatingly topical." Writing in British Sunday newspaper
The Observer, reviewer
Mark Kermode: In the UK daily newspaper
The Daily Telegraph,
Robbie Collin noted, "The lion doesn't just
lie down with the lamb, they run for City Hall on a joint ticket. It's the diversity dream come true. Or is it? […] Think Busytown by way of Chinatown. It's almost certain to be the most existentially probing talking animal cartoon of the year." Collin added, "Like
Nick Nolte and
Eddie Murphy in
48 Hrs., albeit considerably cuter, Judy and Nick make a hilariously strained but effective double act – not least thanks to Goodwin and Bateman's tremendous vocal work, which trips along with the effortless swing and snap of great bebop."
Matt Zoller Seitz of
RogerEbert.com, despite generally liking the film (three out of four stars), had trouble with the film's central metaphor that conflicted with its message: Also in
The Daily Telegraph, Rosa Prince singled out the film's lead character, Judy Hopps, as a welcome change for Disney animated feature film heroines, such as the
Disney Princess franchise. She found that unlike those characters' focus on romance or family loyalty, Hopps' focus is on her dream career as a police officer and serving her city. Some were critically divided by the message about universal prejudices of all sorts interpreted as an
allegory of American racism with Nico Lang of
Consequence of Sound felt that Disney delivered a kids' version of
Crash. Others criticized the use of prey and predator species in the "allegory" while critics at
The Root stated positively that the movie acknowledges culpability of systemic racism and white supremacy.
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction states that the film "uses its premise to examine cultural biases, stereotypes and prejudices, including conveying a strong anti-racist message. It avoids the species A = race Y trap; though the viewer needs to accept that, in this context, animal behaviour is being treated as a stereotype."
Accolades The film was chosen by the
American Film Institute as one of the
top ten films of 2016, and won the
Academy Award,
Golden Globe,
Critics Choice Movie Award and
Annie Award for Best Animated Feature Film. It also received a nomination for the
BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film, which it lost to
Kubo and the Two Strings.
Lawsuit On March 21, 2017, a copyright infringement lawsuit was filed against Disney by Esplanade Productions, a company owned by
Gary L. Goldman, the co-screenwriter of
Total Recall. The lawsuit claims that Goldman (in 2000 and 2009) pitched a concept to Disney for a live-action film titled
Looney, which was about a socially awkward animator who creates a self-inspired TV cartoon called
Zootopia. Disney twice rejected the pitch, but Goldman accused the company of copying the name, themes, settings, and character tropes. Filed with the lawsuit was a graphic of early concept artwork of characters that are claimed to appear similar to major characters from the film, including Nick Wilde, Judy Hopps, Flash, and Chief Bogo. A Disney spokesperson described the lawsuit as being "ridden with patently false allegations". After months of back-and-forth deliberation between the two parties, U.S. District Judge
Michael W. Fitzgerald dismissed the infringement claims on November 8, 2017. As stated in the final review, "Goldman's effort to make the plots of
Looney and
Zootopia seem similar were strained. All the purported similarities between the two works were themes, not plot points or sequences of events, that were too general to be protected by copyright law." Esplanade appealed to the
Ninth Circuit, which affirmed the dismissal on April 24, 2019. ==Other media==