Zootopia 2 is out now, and it’s the latest Walt Disney Animation Studios film in the company’s broader focus on sequels. Yeah, next year we’ll get the magical Hexed, but then we’ve got Frozen 3 and 4, and larger initiatives at subsidiaries like Pixar to work on things we do not need like Toy Story 5.
Last year, Moana 2 was a controversial entry into the Disney pantheon as the feature film started off as a Disney+ TV series and was reworked into a theatrical release. The seemingly panicked pivot to put a sequel to a successful film in theaters following the box office bomb of 2022’s Strange World and the disappointing performance of 2023’s Wish suggests that Disney is retreating to sequels rather than developing new ideas, which is discouraging.
But before this pivot to sequels, Disney’s latest era was full of bangers. Some call the movies that started with 2008’s Bolt the “revival era,” and it’s an apt description considering how excellent some of them have been. So where does Zootopia 2 land in the hierarchy of this era? Here’s our ranking of the best and worst
