I’ve been watching Zootopia edge towards $1 billion global box office with great interest, and now it’s officially, finally happened. Rare indeed is the film whose critical reception matches its box office sales. Zootopia is the 11th Disney film of all time to hit the milestone (out of an industry handful of only 26 films ).
Zootopia marks the second Disney film this year to hit the rarified air of $1 billion global box office. Captain America: Civil War , at $1.1 billion, is the other one. Unlike Captain America: Civil War, however, Zootopia is an entirely original property not supported by innumerable movie tie-ins and decades of comics, making its achievement even more extraordinary.
Zootopia may not have seen the explosive opening weekend numbers of Batman v Superman ($166 million), but its humbler $75 million opening weekend was bolstered over time by positive word of mouth, a long digital tail and critical reception bordering on rapturous .
The only other three animated films to reach the $1 billion global box office milestone are Toy Story 3, Minions and Frozen. Most notably, Frozen and Zootopia are the second and third highest-grossing non-franchise movies ever.
The only movie that still has them whallopped? James Cameron’s Avatar, and oh how I count the days until it is ousted from its blue Dances With Wolves meets Pocahontas meets IMAX 3D throne.
"I cannot imagine a billion of anything," commented co-director Rich Moore to USA Today. "A billion is such a big number. When we were making the film, I was thinking that I hope the audience loves this world like we do and it really connects with people. To see it happening like this is really gratifying."
Fellow director Byron Howard added, "But it makes it so much easier to proceed forward when there's this kind of affection for the film. We want to talk about what these characters would do next. (A sequel) feels like a great possibility."
Until then, if you have sequelitis, reboot fatigue or are otherwise parched for originality in a desert of uninspired remakes, Zootopia comes out on Disney DVD/Blu-Ray June 7.
