Zootopia

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“Welcome to the urban jungle.”

―Tagline

Zootopia, also known as Zootropolis in some countries, is a computer-animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is directed by Byron Howard, co-director of Tangled, and Rich Moore, director of Wreck-It Ralph with Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero co-creator Jared Bush as co-director, and is the 55th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. It was released on March 4, 2016.^[1]

Development

Byron Howard (Tangled) directed a comedy adventure film with a working title Zootopia. The film, written by Jared Bush, was scheduled for 2016. It tells a story about a fast-talking fox, named Nick Wilde, who lives in an animal city of Zootopia, divided in neighbourhoods like Tundratown, Sahara Square, Little Rodentia, and Bunnyburrow. Wilde "goes on the run when he's framed for a crime he didn't commit. Zootopia's top cop, a self-righteous rabbit, named Lt. Judy Hopps, is hot on his tail, but when both become targets of a conspiracy, they're forced to team up and discover even natural enemies can become best friends."

During early development, the film was to feature a male rabbit named Jack Savage, but was changed to a fox named Nick Wilde, because the name "Jack Savage" was already being used in the upcoming film Gigantic.

Zootopia was to be different from other animal anthropomorphic films, where animals either live in the natural world or in the human world. The concept, where animals live in a modern world designed by animals, was well received by John Lasseter, who lifted Howard "in the air like a baby Simba," when he proposed the idea for the film.

The film was to feature Nick helping Judy to solve a case of shock collars, but it was deemed too violent for a PG-rated Disney movie. When Wreck-It Ralph director Rich Moore was hired to direct the movie with Howard, the film changed to Judy Hopps' plot. In the final film, Judy solves a case about predators that are mysteriously reverting back to their savage ways.

Plot

Zootopia is a gleaming metropolis populated by anthropomorphic mammals, divided into several districts including Savanna Central, Sahara Square, Tundratown, Little Rodentia, and Rainforest District.

Judy fast walking — Judy arriving in Zootopia

The film begins in a treacherous jungle which fades into a children's play about the history of Zootopia. One day, Judy Hopps, a rabbit from rural Bunnyburrow, fulfills her dream of joining the Zootopia Police Department as the first rabbit officer in Zootopia, however she is regularly assigned parking duty by Chief Bogo. During one of her shifts, she is manipulated by Nick Wilde, a con artist fox.

Zootopia-15 — *"You strike out, you resign."*

Judy unlawfully arrests Duke Weaselton at Little Rodentia and is reprimanded by Bogo until Mrs. Otterton, an otter, arrives pleading help on locating her missing husband, one of the many recently missing mammals. Judy volunteers to find him and Assistant Mayor Bellwether praises her for taking the case, much to Bogo's dismay. Judy agrees to resign if she cannot solve the case within 48 hours. With Nick as a key witness of Mr. Otterton's disappearance, Judy locates the fox and coerces him to assist her with the investigation lest he be charged with tax evasion, which he openly admitted and Judy recorded with her carrot pen.

After acquiring Mr. Otterton's license plate number from Mystic Springs Oasis, Judy and Nick track the vehicle from the Department of Mammal Vehicles to Mr. Big, a feared arctic shrew crime boss in Tundratown. Mr. Big spares their lives after learning that Judy had rescued his daughter earlier, and informs the pair that Mr. Otterton is his florist and had gone savage - reverted to a feral state - and attacked his chauffeur Manchas, a black jaguar.

Screenshot 80 — *"Nick, you are so much more than that."*

Judy and Nick locate Manchas at his home in the Rainforest District. Manchas describes the attack on him and mentions that Otterton had been yelling about "night howlers". However, before he can reveal anything else, Manchas himself goes savage and chases the pair through the Rainforest District, but they manage to escape. Judy calls the ZPD for help, but when Bogo and his reinforcements arrive, Manchas is nowhere to be found. Bogo demands Judy to resign, but Nick takes a stand, insisting they have 10 more hours to solve the case. As the pair leave the Rainforest District, Nick opens up to Judy, revealing that he was bullied by prey animals as a cub for being a fox and subsequently became a con artist, resolving to live out the "sly fox" stereotype, as no one saw a fox as anything else.

Judy Recording Mayor L — Judy recording Mayor Lionheart

Nick realizes that the city's traffic camera system may have captured how Manchas disappeared, and the pair consult Bellwether. They then discover Manchas was captured by wolves, which Judy assumes is what Mr. Otterton had meant by "night howlers". Judy and Nick locate Cliffside Asylum detaining the missing mammals (including Mr. Otterton), all of which have gone savage, and discover Mayor Lionheart consulting with a doctor about their condition, revealing that he has illegally imprisoned the savaged predators to prevent citywide panic, and by extension, the loss of his reputation. The pair escape with the evidence and warn Bogo. The police then swarm the area, arresting Lionheart and those involved. Bellwether subsequently becomes the new mayor.

Judy-reach-repellent — Judy reaches on instinct for her fox repellent

Having developed a friendship with Nick throughout the case, Judy requests that he joins the ZPD and become her partner, which Nick happily considers. However, during a press conference, a pressured Judy describes the savaged mammals' condition as them reverting back to their "primitive savage ways". This seemingly confirms Judy's bigotry against foxes to Nick, who angrily walks out on her offer. When fear and discrimination against predators spreads across Zootopia, a guilt-ridden Judy resigns. During this time, pop star Gazelle holds a peaceful protest and publicly asks for the harmonious Zootopia she loves and cherish to be restored.

Zootopia Nick hugs Judy — Nick forgives Judy

Returning to Bunnyburrow, a depressed Judy rejoins the family business as a carrot farmer. However, she later learns from her parents and reformed childhood bully, fox Gideon Grey, that "night howlers" are toxic flowers that have severe psychotropic effects on mammals. Judy returns to Zootopia and reconciles with Nick. They then locate Weaselton, who explains that he has been collecting night howlers and selling to a ram named Doug, who owns a secret underground laboratory.

Evil Bellwether — Bellwether's true side is revealed

The pair find the lab and discover Doug creating a night howler serum which he has been injecting into predators via paintball-like pellets fired by an air-powered sniper gun. Judy and Nick race to the ZPD with the evidence, but just short of the ZPD, the pair encounter Bellwether who insists on taking the evidence. Realizing she is the mastermind of the conspiracy, Judy and Nick try to flee, but are knocked into a pit by her henchmen. Bellwether shoots a night howler dart from the evidence case at Nick and frames a call for help to the ZPD. Nick becomes savage and corners Judy, but it turns out the pair were acting in order to trick Bellwether into openly admitting her prey-supremacist scheme to take over Zootopia and rid it of all predators, and that they replaced the dart gun ammo with blueberries from the Hopps's farm. With Bellwether's monologue recorded on Judy's carrot pen, Chief Bogo and the ZPD arrive and arrest her and her henchrams. Upon being informed and interviewed on the matter, Lionheart denies any knowledge of Bellwether's plot, but admits to have illegally imprisoned the savage predators, claiming it to have been done for the "right reasons".

NickandJudyasCops — Judy and Nick as partners

Later, Judy is reinstated into the ZPD. The discrimination against predators is lifted, and an antidote is discovered for the effects of the night howlers and all the infected predators, including Mr. Otterton and Mr. Manchas, are cured. Months later, Nick joins the ZPD as the first fox officer and Judy's partner. The final scene has almost all of Zootopia attending concert while Bellwether angrily views it on television in prison.

Transcript

For a full transcript of Zootopia, click here.

Credits

For a full cast & crew of Zootopia, click here.

Top Billed Cast

Ginnifer Goodwin as Judy Hopps, the protagonist. She is an enthusiastic optimist rabbit who wants nothing more than to be a member of the ZPD. Along with Nick Wilde, she cracks the biggest case of all time.
Jason Bateman as Nick Wilde, the deuteragonist. He is a backwater streetwise fox who knows Zootopia like the back of his paw. He reluctantly joins Judy Hopps to crack the case of the missing mammals.
Jenny Slate as Assistant Mayor Bellwether, the hidden antagonist. She is a diminutive sheep who is a slight pushover and the assistant mayor of Zootopia. She is the cause of the savaged animals.
Idris Elba as Chief Bogo, a supporting character. He is a pessimistic Cape buffalo and Judy's boss. He allows the rabbit 48 hours to solve the case of the missing mammals, or else she resigns, to which she agrees.
Nate Torrence as Clawhauser, a supporting character. He is an obese cheetah who loves donuts and singer Gazelle. He assists Judy in her case, presenting her with info she needs.
Bonnie Hunt as Bonnie Hopps, the mother of Judy. She is a caring rabbit who supports her daughter, but fears for her too.
Don Lake as Stu Hopps, the father of Judy and a carrot farmer. He is a nervous, but kindhearted rabbit who is a bit overprotective of Judy.
Tommy Chong as Yax, a supporting character. He is a laid-back yak who is the owner of The Mystic Spring Oasis, a naturalist club.
J. K. Simmons as Mayor Lionheart, a supporting character. He is the pompous, but noble mayor of Zootopia.
Octavia Spencer as Mrs. Otterton, a minor character. She is a concerned North American river otter whose husband, Emmitt Otterton, has gone missing.
Alan Tudyk as Duke Weaselton, a supporting antagonist. He is a small-time least weasel crook who runs a bootleg DVD stand.
Shakira as Gazelle, a pop star. She is Zootopia's resident celebrity and a mammal rights activist.

Characters

For a full list of characters, click here.

Additional Voices

John Lavelle - Additional voices
Bob Bergen - Additional voices
Dave Boat - Additional voices
David Cowgill - Additional voices
Eddie Frierson - Additional voices
Elisa Gabrielli - Additional voices
Spencer Ganus - Additional voices
Jackie Gonneau - Additional voices
Nicholas Guest - Additional voices
Jess Harnell - Additional voices
Bridget Hoffman - Additional voices
John Kassir - Additional voices
Daniel Kaz - Additional voices
Marcella Lentz-Pope - Additional voices
Yuri Lowenthal - Additional voices
Mona Marshall - Additional voices
Scott Menville - Additional voices
Paul Pape - Additional voices
Phil Proctor - Additional voices
Lynwood Robinson - Additional voices
Patrick Seitz - Additional voices
Lloyd Sherr - Additional voices
Shane Sweet - Additional voices
Kari Wahlgren - Additional voices

Music

Michael Giacchino, who had previously composed scores for Pixar, composed the film's score. This film marked Giacchino's first feature-length project for Walt Disney Animation Studios. "Try Everything", an original song by pop star Shakira, also contributed to the films soundtrack; the song was written by Sia and Stargate. Shakira also voices the character of Gazelle, who performs the song in the film. The song was used in the third promotional trailer for the film. The film's score was recorded with an 80-piece orchestra in November 2015, with Tim Simonec conducting.

John Lasseter instructed Giacchino that he wanted the score to have a "world music" vibe. Giacchino explained: "Basically, the idea for this film was to bring a bunch of wierd sounds together. John kind of challenged me to go out and find exotic things." Bernie Dressel, the drummer for the score, created a custom drum kit with a kick drum and toms made from old washtubs.

Release

For undisclosed reasons, Zootopia’s theatrical debut varied widely across multiple countries and regions. Despite being an American film, in the United States Zootopia opened in theaters on March 4, 2016, three weeks before Denmark where the film made its worldwide debut under its European title Zootropolis, and gradually opening in many other countries before the United States.

International releases

Release date	Country/region
February 11, 2016	Denmark
February 12, 2016	Spain
February 14, 2016	Belgium
February 17, 2016	France, Indonesia, Netherlands, Philippines
February 18, 2016	Argentina, Chile, Italy, Mexico, South Korea, Uruguay
February 19, 2016	Poland, Venezuela, Vietnam
February 24, 2016	Sweden
February 25, 2016	Cambodia, Portugal, Singapore, Thailand
February 26, 2016	Iceland, Norway, Taiwan
March 3, 2016	Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Germany, Hungary, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, United Arab Emirates
March 4, 2016	Bulgaria, Canada, People's Republic of China (except Hong Kong), Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, India, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, Pakistan, South Africa, United States
March 17, 2016	Australia, Brazil, Ukraine
March 18, 2016	Ireland
March 24, 2016	Hong Kong, Israel
March 25, 2016	United Kingdom
April 23, 2016	Japan
June 10, 2016	Turkey

Marketing

On June 11, 2015, the first official teaser trailer was released theatrically alongside Pixar's Inside Out and online at Walt Disney Animation Studios' YouTube page.

On November 23, 2015, the second teaser trailer was released, this time featuring a large sequence from the film where the main characters encounter a Department of Mammal Vehicles (based on the Department of Motor Vehicles) run entirely by sloths, online once again at the Walt Disney Animation Studios' YouTube page and theatrically alongside Pixar's The Good Dinosaur.

Disney released the official trailer for the film on New Years Eve 2015, online at Walt Disney Animation Studios' YouTube page.

Home Media

Zootopia was released on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D and DVD on June 7, 2016. Bonus features include the Try Everything music video, Scoretopia featurette, and extras exclusive to the Blu-ray release.

Video Games

Nick and Judy are playable characters in Disney Infinity: 3.0 Edition, retaining their police and meter maid outfits, respectively.

Nick and Judy are also featured in Disney Crossy Road and Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ.

A mobile game, Zootopia: Crime Files, was released. It takes place after the events of the film.

Another mobile game, Zootopia Dash, a game sponsored by Target, was released. Judy, Nick, and Yax are playable.

Online games were released at Disney's website.

Trivia

Zootopia was first announced on August 9th at the 2013 D23 Expo.
There is a poster for Zootopia in Disney's Big Hero 6 (2014) when Baymax and Hiro fly under the train tracks.
With a running time of 108 minutes, Zootopia is the second longest Disney animated film behind Fantasia (1940) at 126 minutes.
This is the third film in the Disney Animated Features canon to have anthropomorphic animals with no humans or non-anthropomorphic animals. The other two being Robin Hood (1973) and Chicken Little (2005).
Zootopia became the 26th film and the 11th Disney film to reach $1 billion worldwide.
- Zootopia is also the fourth animated film to gross over $1 billion worldwide. The three that reached the $1 billion mark before it were Toy Story 3 (2010), Frozen (2013), and Minions (2015).
"Zootopia" is a play on the word "Utopia", which refers to an imagined place or state of things being perfect. Likewise, "Zootropolis" is also a play on the word "metropolis", which refers to the capital or chief city of a country or region. In essence, the word "Zootropolis" can also be interpreted to mean a capital city of animals.