Disney’s New Hit Just Beat Avengers: Endgame at the Chinese Box Office

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Disney is once again a big success in China’s movie theaters. “Zootopia 2” has become the highest-grossing Hollywood film ever released there, earning a remarkable $624 million. This breaks the previous record held by “Avengers: Endgame.”

The film is performing exceptionally well globally, building on its already massive success. Recently, it surpassed Inside Out 2 to become the highest-grossing animated movie from Hollywood in history, with a worldwide total of $1.74 billion. This makes it the biggest American film released in 2025 to date. Currently, only the Chinese animated film Ne Zha 2, with over $2 billion in earnings, has earned more worldwide.

It’s unusual for Hollywood movies to do well in China these days. Since the pandemic began, very few American films have been popular there – only eight have earned over $100 million. While films like Avatar: The Way of Water and F9: The Fast Saga were successful after the pandemic, Zootopia 2 has significantly outperformed them.

According to TheWrap, Disney’s success might be due to its focus on what appeals to local audiences, rather than just relying on its well-known brand. For example, the popularity of ‘Zootopia’ at Shanghai Disneyland has helped maintain interest in the movie in China, while many other Western films have lost popularity there.

Jared Bush, who wrote and directed the film and is a creative leader at Disney Animation, described the extensive work done to ensure the movie resonated with global audiences. He explained that they were fortunate to have international collaborators who didn’t just translate the jokes and story, but adapted them specifically for local viewers. As a result, different regions will often see entirely different puns and humorous references that are more relevant and funny to them.

It seems focusing on humor and cultural references specific to China was a smart move. With Chinese audiences increasingly choosing to watch local films, Zootopia 2 is one of the few Hollywood movies that really resonated with them.

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2026-01-26 00:14