Box office
Zootopia grossed $341.3 million in the US and Canada and $682.5 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $1.026 billion, against a budget of $150 million. On March 18, 2016, the film reached the $500 million mark, becoming the third consecutive Walt Disney Animation Studios film to reach the milestone after Frozen (2013) and Big Hero 6 (2014). On April 5, it became the first film of 2016 to gross over $800 million in ticket sales, and on April 24, became the first film of 2016 to cross $900 million. On June 5, the film crossed the $1 billion mark, becoming the second film of 2016 to do so (after the studio's own Captain America: Civil War), the fourth animated film (after Toy Story 3, Frozen and Minions), the eleventh Disney film, the third Disney animated film, and the twenty-sixth film overall to reach the milestone.
Worldwide, it was the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2016 (behind Civil War, Rogue One, and Finding Dory), the second-highest-grossing animated film of 2016, the second-highest-grossing Walt Disney Animation Studios film (second-highest overall) of all time in its original release (after Frozen), the second-highest-grossing original film (behind Avatar), and the fourth-highest-grossing animated film of all time. Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $294.9 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues for the film, making it the fifth-most profitable release of 2016.
In the United States and Canada, pre-release tracking suggested the film would open to $60–70 million from 3,827 theaters in its opening weekend. It played in 3,100 3D theaters, 365 IMAX theaters, and 325 premium large format screens. It earned $1.7 million from Thursday previews, a record for a non-Pixar Disney animated film, for an animated film opening outside of summer, and seventh-biggest all time for an animated film. Buoyed by good word of mouth, it earned $19.5 million on its opening day, also a record for a non-Pixar Disney animated film (breaking Frozen's record), and the second-biggest for a March animated film (behind Ice Age: The Meltdown). In its opening weekend, it scored a better than expected $75.1 million, which was the biggest non-Pixar Disney animated opening (breaking Big Hero 6's record), the biggest opening weekend among Walt Disney Animation Studios films (breaking Frozen's record), the biggest March animated opening (breaking The Lorax's record), the seventh-biggest March opening, and the tenth-biggest animated opening of all time. Furthermore, its opening weekend is also the fourth-biggest for an original film, behind The Secret Life of Pets, Inside Out, and Avatar. It also performed exceptionally well in IMAX, where the film brought in $5.2 million from 366 screens, the second-best animated IMAX opening behind only Toy Story 3 ($8.4 million).
In its second weekend, it fell gradually by 31% to $51.3 million and recorded one of the best holds for an animated film, more or less on par with Wreck-It Ralph's second weekend drop of 32%, but a bigger drop than The Lego Movie's 27%. It continued to top the box office for the third weekend, earning $37.2 million, falling by 28% from its previous weekend while passing the $200 million mark. This made it the second-biggest third weekend for a film that did not open at over $100 million, behind Avatar ($68 million) and ahead of Skyfall ($35 million). The film was overtaken by the superhero film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in its fourth weekend, despite only a marginal decline. It spent a total of 13 consecutive weeks in the top ten, more than any other film except for Avatar (14 weeks) and Frozen (16 weeks) over the last decade.
It ended its theatrical run on August 4, 2016, after playing in theaters for a total of 154 days. It became the second-highest-grossing Walt Disney Animation Studios film (behind Frozen), the seventh-highest-grossing film of 2016, and the tenth-highest-grossing animated film of all time. In June 2020, due to the worldwide closure of cinemas during the COVID-19 pandemic and limits on which films played, Zootopia returned to 280 theaters—mostly drive-ins—and grossed $393,600.
Zootopia received a scattered release as Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures took advantage of school holidays in various markets. The film opened in a limited number of international markets in the weekend ending February 14, earning $4.5 million in three markets. It expanded to 22 markets in its second weekend, into 36% of its total international markets, and added $31.2 million. It added another $33 million in its third weekend with no new markets. In its fourth weekend, it expanded to 45 countries and grossed $64.7 million, coming in second place at the international box office, behind the Chinese film Ip Man 3. $3.3 million came from IMAX showings. It finally topped the box office in its fifth weekend after a strong second-weekend gross in China. It added $89.3 million from 45 countries, an increase of 25% from its previous weekend. It remained in first place for the second time in its sixth weekend, before Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice took the top spot. It passed the $500 million mark in its eighth weekend.
In its opening weekend—which varied between markets—the film grossed $3.1 million in Spain and an additional $1.7 million in Belgium and Denmark. In Belgium, it had the biggest ever animated opening for a Disney or Pixar film. It broke opening records for a non-Pixar Disney animated film in China ($23.6 million), France ($8.1 million), Russia ($7.8 million), Germany ($6.6 million), Hong Kong ($1.5 million), Poland ($1.2 million), and India. It opened in the United Kingdom and Ireland with $7.5 million, Mexico with $4.6 million, Australia with $3.2 million, Brazil with $2.6 million, and in Italy, on a non-holiday weekend with $3.1 million. The film had number-one openings in Austria, Switzerland, Portugal, and South Africa. In the UK and Ireland, with significant competition from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and the animated family film Kung Fu Panda 3, the film had a £5.31 million ($7.6 million) opening weekend from 579 theaters, including £1.74 million ($2.5 million) worth of previews, debuting in second place behind Dawn of Justice and falling just short of Walt Disney Animation Studios' best opening in the UK. It fell just 24% in its second weekend.
Zootopia's largest markets overseas are China ($235.6 million), followed by Japan ($70.1 million), Russia and the CIS ($39.2 million), Germany ($34.2 million), the UK ($34.2 million), France ($31.9 million), and South Korea ($31.6 million). In China, it is the highest-grossing Disney film in local currency (¥1.530 billion), surpassing Avengers: Age of Ultron (¥1.464 billion), as well as the seventh-highest-grossing film of all time. In Russia, it is the second-highest-grossing film of all time in local currency (₽2.3 billion), behind only Avatar (₽3.6 billion). It topped the Russian and German box office for three weekends, and the Chinese and Korean box office for two weekends.
In China, where it was locally known as Crazy Animal City (疯狂动物城), the film exceeded expectations and was considered Hollywood's biggest breakout success in China since 2015's Jurassic World made $229 million. It had an opening day of $3.4 million on its way to $23.6 million for its three-day opening weekend, debuting in second place and scoring the biggest non-sequel animated opening, as well as the second-biggest three-day opening and IMAX opening for an animated film, behind Kung Fu Panda 3. In its ninth day of release (a Saturday), it recorded the biggest single-day gross ever for an animated film, with $25 million (compared to $10.6 million on its first Saturday), and passed the lifetime total of Big Hero 6 to become the highest-grossing Disney animated film in China. In its second weekend, it grossed $60 million, an enormous increase of 139% from its previous weekend, and crossed the $100 million mark to become the third animated film in China to do so, after Kung Fu Panda 3 and Monkey King: Hero Is Back. This also marked the single best weekend for an animated film. In mid-March, the combined total of Kung Fu Panda 3 and Zootopia alone broke 2014's record of $286 million in box office grosses for American animated features in China. In its third weekend, it grossed $40 million for a total of $175 million, making it the highest-grossing animated film of all time in China. On March 27, its seventeenth day of release, it passed the $200 million mark, becoming the first animated film, the second Disney film, and the sixth Hollywood film overall to pass that milestone. It became the highest-grossing animated film of all time and the second-highest-grossing film of 2016, behind only The Mermaid.
It opened in Japan on April 23 and earned $4 million in its opening weekend, debuting at second place in the box office, behind Detective Conan: The Darkest Nightmare, and had the third-biggest Walt Disney Animation Studios debut in that market, behind Frozen and Big Hero 6. Deadline.com pointed out that the average opening number might have been due to the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes, which could have affected moviegoers. In a rare achievement, it topped the box office in its third weekend after two weeks at No. 2. In the following two weekends, it continued to increase its ticket sales, and topped the box office there for four consecutive weekends. After four straight wins, it was finally overtaken by the R-rated superhero film Deadpool. It was the No. 1 western/Hollywood film for eight consecutive weekends. The Hollywood Reporter cited that strong word of mouth, audiences watching both the English and Japanese versions, and 3D and 4DX screenings, as well as a popular Japanese version of the "Try Everything" song by Dream Ami, all helped boost Zootopia's performance. Its strong run in the market aided the film to propel past the $1 billion mark worldwide. It remained in top three for 11 consecutive weekends and has grossed a total of $70.1 million there.