The original Zootopia was a massive commercial juggernaut, grossing over a billion dollars and securing a permanent spot in the pantheon of modern animation classics. With Zootopia 2 finally hitting theaters, the franchise is once again proving its dominance, with industry tracking projecting a massive $125 million to $150 million domestic opening over the five-day holiday weekend. Critics have praised Zootopia 2 for successfully expanding the world’s lore and tackling complex themes of historical erasure through the new reptilian cast, signaling that the creatives behind the franchise used the nine-year hiatus to refine its concept. Given this financial momentum and the sheer scale of the world-building, it is all but guaranteed that Disney will fast-track a third Zootopia installment rather than waiting another decade.
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Warning: Spoilers below for Zootopia 2
While the first film told a largely self-contained story, Zootopia 2 deliberately leaves several narrative threads fraying at the edges to set up a trilogy. The sequel introduces a complex conspiracy involving the Lynxley family and the city’s hidden reptilian history, but it also plants specific seeds for future conflicts that are too big to ignore. These loose ends provide a roadmap for a high-stakes follow-up that could fundamentally change how the city of Zootopia functions.
3) Zootopia 3 Could Be About the Prison Breakers
Zootopia 2 takes a chaotic turn when Nick Wilde (voiced by Jason Bateman) is wrongfully imprisoned, leading to a massive breakout sequence facilitated by the beaver conspiracy theorist Nibbles Maplestick (voiced by Fortune Feimster). While this escape allows Nick to save the day, the breach inadvertently releases over 200 dangerous inmates back into the city. Among them is the franchise’s original antagonist, Dawn Bellwether (voiced by Jenny Slate), who is briefly seen escaping the facility during the commotion.
One of the final scenes of Zootopia 2 shows Nick and Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) working undercover to apprehend Dawn again. However, the sheer volume of escaped convicts creates a city-wide crisis that a third movie could address. A potential Zootopia 3 could focus on the ZPD attempting to round up the escaped prisoners. Furthermore, this plot point offers a chance to explore systemic issues of the prison system, echoing the franchise’s focus on structural racism and the historical wrongs done against certain types of people.
2) Zootopia 3 Will Likely Introduce Birds
The Zootopia franchise has methodically expanded its biological scope, starting with mammals in the first film and integrating reptiles in the second. The sequel’s post-credits scene explicitly signals birds are the next frontier. As Judy prepares for work, a shadow passes over her window, and a single feather drifts onto her sill. Directors Byron Howard and Jared Bush have previously stated that avian characters were cut from the first film because their ability to fly created too many technical and narrative complications for the city’s layout. Now that the technology has advanced and the world is established, the arrival of birds promises to upend the status quo.
Introducing a flight-capable species presents a massive logistical challenge for Zootopia’s infrastructure and policing, which is a perfect conflict for a sequel. A third film could explore how Zootopia adapts to citizens who literally look down on the rest of the population, introducing new vertical districts that Nick and Judy are ill-equipped to navigate.
1) The Third Zootopia Movie Could Pitch Key Allies Against Each Other
Zootopia 2 deepens the protagonists’ relationship with the Tundratown crime family, bringing back Mr. Big (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) and giving his daughter Fru Fru (voiced by Leah Latham) a more prominent role as the acting head of the syndicate. Throughout Zootopia 2, the shrews act as essential allies, helping Nick and Judy navigate the criminal underworld when they are branded fugitives by the Lynxley administration. However, the film never shies away from the fact that they are running an active criminal enterprise. They are helpful, but they are still mobsters operating outside the law.
Nick and Judy are dedicated officers who have compromised their badges by relying so heavily on organized crime to solve their cases. Zootopia 3 could force the duo into an impossible moral corner where they are ordered to investigate or dismantle Mr. Big’s operation, pitting them directly against the friends who saved their lives. This conflict would explore the balance between the law and personal bonds, testing Nick and Judy’s partnership in a way that no external villain could.
Zootopia 2 is currently available in theaters.
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