More than a month has passed since the release of Zootopia in North America and many other countries in the world as well. What seemed to be a promising animated movie later on turned to be one of Disney Animation Studios’ greatest box office successes. As of April the 7th, the film has grossed more than $807 million worldwide, $282 million originally from North America. If these numbers don’t catch your attention then this information might do so:
Zootopia topped the box-office weekend in the USA for three consecutive weekends, by grossing $75 million in the first weekend (higher than any Disney animated film), $51 million in the second and $37 million in the third. It was dethroned in its fourth weekend by Batman v Superman. In comparison, Frozen stayed at the top for a single weekend and Big Hero 6 did for two.
Speaking of Big Hero 6, its impressive $222 million gross in North America was completely shaded by Zootopia‘s. And there are reasons for it. In less than a month (22 days exactly), Zootopia took over Big Hero 6‘s box-office gross in North America. Now the animal film is set to pass the $300 million mark, being only the third Disney animated film in doing so. Which are the other two? Frozen, with a gross of exactly $400,738,009, and The Lion King, with a lifetime gross of $422,783,777.
Worldwide speaking, United States and Canada weren’t the only countries with an amazing box-office performance. In China, Zootopia turned out to be the highest grossing animated film ever and the highest grossing Disney film in the country, with over $230 million accumulated. France and Germany were other strong markets ($28 and $26 million respectively) and Japan is the remaining country for the film to open in theatres.
Currently Zootopia is the highest grossing film of 2016 (although this might not last for many weeks) but still, this shows how Disney has recover from its dark 2000s movies’ performances. Just with the six films released since the beginning of the 2010s, Disney has gained $3,855,100,000; this is more than the total gross of Disney’s Renaissance Era.
Leaving aside numbers, it’s important to remember that a strong debate started since the release of Frozen: Is Disney on a new Renaissance Era? Looking at the numbers and critical reception (the animal movie received critical acclaim as well by reviewers), the 2010s marked since the release of Tangled, a new direction for Disney, which regained its position between the animated companies. Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, Big Hero 6 and now Zootopia, enlarged Disney’s success to a whole new level. Some films remain to be released, such as Moana at the end of this year or Gigantic in 2018, so we can’t tell if they will be successes such as their predecessors or not. However, I’m not worried as I know that Disney will do its best to remain in its splendor.
I know that I said that I wouldn’t use more numbers, but I consider that this is worth-looking at:
Top 10 Grossing Animated Films by Disney Animation Studios
(As of April 7th)
- Frozen ($1,276,480,335)
- The Lion King ($987,483,777)
- Zootopia ($808,659,482)
- Big Hero 6 ($657,818,612)
- Tangled ($591,794,936)
- Aladdin ($504,050,219)
- Wreck-It Ralph ($471,222,889)
- Tarzan ($448,191,819)
- Beauty and the Beast ($424,967,620)
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ($416.0 approximate)
What do you think of Zootopia‘s box-office performance thus far?
This is a user-submitted post by Mark V. W.
Edited by: Morgan Stradling
