‘Zootopia 2’ Overtakes ‘Lilo & Stitch’ to Become 2025’s Highest Grossing Movie With $1.13 Billion

Rabbits and foxes and snakes, oh my! “Zootopia 2” is officially the highest-grossing Hollywood release of the year. Disney’s animal-packed animated sequel has earned a staggering $1.13 billion globally after 20 days of release, overtaking the haul of Disney’s live-action “Lilo & Stitch” remake with $1.03 billion. A non-Motion Picture Association (MPA) film, China’s animated blockbuster “Ne Zha 2,” remains 2025’s biggest release with $1.9 billion.

Another Disney juggernaut, James Cameron’s epic “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” could contend for the 2025 crown — considering its predecessors were $2 billion-grossing sensations. However, the threequel opens on Dec. 19 and will likely earn the majority of its money in the following calendar year.

On Friday, “Zootopia 2” surpassed the $1 billion mark after 17 days in theaters, the quickest PG film to achieve the milestone. The sequel stands as the seventh-biggest animated film in history, outpacing the original 2016’s “Zootopia” ($1.025 billion globally) and last year’s “Moana 2” ($1.06 billion).

Over the weekend, “Zootopia 2” added a staggering $131.1 million from 52 territories in its third outing, boosting its overseas tally to $877 million. It’ll soon become only the second animated movie in history to cross $1 billion at the international box office, following “Inside Out 2.” The follow-up film has been particularly massive in China with $502 million and counting, ranking behind only 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame” ($632 million) as the largest MPA release in the country. Those ticket sales are notable because Chinese audiences haven’t been receptive to Hollywood fare in years.

Another Disney film, the James L. Brooks-directed “Ella McCay,” cemented the wrong kind of records for the studio over the weekend as the political dramedy flopped with $300,000 from five territories. That’s not a wide international footprint, of course, but the PG-13 movie was also rejected in North America with $2.1 million, to rank as the lowest start in modern times for Disney. Globally, “Ella McCay” has grossed a paltry $2.4 million against a $35 million budget. With weak reviews and poor audience scores, the film is unlikely to rebound in the coming weeks. Luckily, “Avatar: Fire and Ash” is expected to end the studio’s year on a high note.