‘Zootopia 2’ Dominates Japan’s Box Office Charts

Zootopia 2 has exploded out of the gate in Japan, opening to numbers that stunned the local box office. The film earned more than 410 million yen on its first day in theaters, a figure that makes it the biggest opening day ever for a Western animated movie in the country.

Japan’s box office has seen massive animated debuts before, but this one has now topped the first-day records set by major titles like Frozen II, Toy Story 4, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

The strong start in Japan adds to the movie’s growing worldwide momentum. As of December 5, the film’s total has climbed to $673 million worldwide. That includes $188 million from the United States and Canada and $485 million from other markets.

Industry projections had expected the film to do well during the Thanksgiving holiday in North America. Deadline Hollywood reported early forecasts of around $125 million over five days domestically and roughly $270 million worldwide.

The movie managed to go far beyond those expectations. Its North American haul over the holiday reached $158.8 million, and its global earnings for the same period hit $560.3 million. That performance gave the sequel the largest global opening ever for an animated title and placed it among the biggest openings of all films. The three-day weekend alone brought in $100.3 million from U.S. and Canadian theaters.

China has also been a major driver of its success. The movie delivered a huge opening in that market, bringing in over $271 million through its debut weekend. It even became the first Hollywood release to cross the $100 million mark in a single day there, which happened on Saturday, November 29.

With Japan now added to the list of territories where the film is breaking records, Zootopia 2 continues to show that global audiences were eager for a return to its world and characters.

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