‘Zootopia 2’ Sequel Gets Huge Boost from Director

It’s looking like Hollywood’s biggest success story of 2025, Zootopia 2, will get a follow-up in the not-too-distant future. Released in November, this animated sequel has leapfrogged Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch to claim victory in the box office wars, making $1.2 billion against a $150 million budget. Chinese fantasy Ne Zha 2 remains the champion if you factor in international grosses, though, with the equivalent of $2.2 billion in its pocket after taking its homeland by storm earlier in the year.

For fans of rabbit Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) and fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), there’s an understandable tension in the air when it comes to further bushy-tailed adventures. That’s because it took a whopping nine years for the second movie to finally come out. Surely, thanks to the sequel’s incredible monetary achievements, Zootopia 3 will be fast-tracked and significantly reduce that gap between releases?

Co-directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard recently took part in a fan Q&A via social media platform Weibo, where they shared a major boost for Zootopia-hungry users.

‘Zootopia 3’ Could Be Out in Theaters by 2030

Nick Wilde, Gary De'Snake, and Judy Hopps falling through the air in 'Zootopia 2'

Bush, who also happens to be Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios, jokingly blamed his colleague for the Zootopia 2 delay. “Byron is lazy; he likes to take his time,” he shared (per SINA), with Howard acknowledging: “I do like to take it slow, but nine years was too long. We promise the next one won’t take that long.”

The pair were then asked what stage the third installment is currently in, and that’s where the revelations came.

“That’s a good question,” replied Jared Bush. “Byron and I really enjoy exploring and playing with a lot of creative ideas. And obviously we secretly put a lot of things in the ending of Zootopia 2, like the bird feather we saw, which we’re happy to think about, and it’s also exciting to think about what will happen to Judy and Nick next.

“It typically takes us 4–5 years to make an animated film, but the first 2–3 years are spent exploring creative ideas. So, it takes about 3 years for a project to reach the stage where the script we’re working on is ready. Therefore, without specifying what we’re currently exploring, I would say: exploration itself is a wonderful thing because you can surprise yourself, and that’s important.”

While the directors hash out their ideas for a third Zootopia movie in a room somewhere — including a Keanu Reeves cameo — its predecessor remains notable for exploring historical revisionism and immigration, which they’re encouraged to continue going forward. This was personified by the new reptilian character Gary De’Snake (Ke Huy Quan), who campaigns for his species’ rights in a society where they’ve been demonized.

To read more on how Zootopia 2 improves on Zootopia, check out our breakdown on allegory and the nature vs. nurture issue. Pretty deep for a Disney movie, no? That’s the beauty of child-targeting mainstream animation: filmmakers are able to include important societal interrogations in their colorful creations. Long may it continue.