Disney is slowly giving us some sssneak peeksss at Zootopia 2, which is set to hit theaters on November 26.
Disney Animation Studios first released a teaser trailer for the Zootopia sequel in an Instagram post on May 20. In the teaser, fans see their favorite Zootopia characters, Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps, in what appears to be a high-speed chase by the rhino cops. This trailer leaves us wondering what the two unseemly friends have gotten themselves into.
The animation definitely reaches the next level from the first movie, with vibrant colors showing off the Earth’s natural beauty, as Wilde and Hoppes leap and scurry through every biome you can imagine on their hasty escape.
Since the trailer, Zootopia fans have been left on their paws ready for more teasers. Over the weekend, there was more buzz from Disney at Annecy’s International Animated Film Festival, where Pixar screened the original and released yet another first look at the sequel, among artwork for some other highly anticipated projects. Entertainment Tonight captured two new pieces of movie artwork in a recent post on Instagram.
If you have littles, they’ve probably seen Zootopia (even though it was likely released before they were born) because it captured an international audience back in 2016 with the hit outro song “Try Everything”. Most children are familiar with and love zoo animals, whether from a field trip at school or a family outing, so it’s no surprise that Zootopia would break new ground, using a diverse representation of animal species to teach themes about stereotypes, unity, and chasing dreams that seem unreachable.
Zootopia, the original, follows the journey of a young rabbit, creatively named Hopps, who befriends a fox named Nick Wilde. In a normal habitat, foxes and rabbits would be enemies, which is similar to how Hopps and Wilde began the movie. Hopps dreamed of joining the animal police force in the big city of Zootopia, but was constantly laughed at due to prejudices that she was too little, too soft, and even too cute to have such a job.
When Hopps breaks the news to her family, they try to be supportive but are clearly afraid for her. Hopps’s dad even says to beware of foxes, specifically, because “they’re the worst”. Her mom goes on to say, “it’s in their biology,” when describing the untrustworthiness of the enemy species. Their rhetoric mirrors the kind of prejudice and bias that some people have in the real world
The movie isn’t all heavy, though. There are lots of fun scenes where Hopps and Wild grow closer in their friendship and end up saving Zootopia from some internal corruption-- take that for overcoming negative assumptions and labels!
Disney revealed that Zootopia 2 involves another stereotypically enemy species, the snake, who, “arrives in Zootopia and turns the mammal metropolis upside down”. Fans will be on the edge of their seats waiting to see what trouble Hopps and Wilde get into trying to save Zootopia once again.
Zootopia is currently streaming on Disney+, so you can still enjoy the animal mischief while you wait to see Zootopia 2, exclusively in theaters, this November.