With American Thanksgiving happening this Thursday, theater owners are looking forward to gorging themselves on some well-earned cash this holiday, thanks to two top-shelf releases: Disney’s Zootopia 2 and Universal’s Wicked: For Good. Zootopia 2 began its previews at 2 p.m. Tuesday for a total of $10.2 million. This amount is the second-highest preview start for a Walt Disney Animation Studios film ever, following Moana 2 ($13.8M Tuesday) and ahead of Frozen II ($8.5M Thursday). Additionally, it’s also the second-highest Tuesday preview for a Disney Thanksgiving opening title.
During the sequel’s five-day opening window, analysts expect Zootopia 2 to earn $125 million in domestic dollars. It could go higher, but Wicked: For Good could cut into earnings for the Jared Bush and Byron Howard co-directed animated sequel. If Zootopia 2 hits the mark, it will become the second-best 5-day opening over the domestic Thanksgiving holiday, after Moana 2. Globally, Zootopia 2 could make as much as $270 million.
Meanwhile, in Oz, Wicked: For Good is off to see the Wizard with a Tuesday total of $15.75 million, giving the Jon M. Chu-directed musical the second-best Tuesday of 2025 so far after Warner Bros/DC Studios’ Superman, which did $17.1M. According to Box Office Mojo, Wicked: For Good has a worldwide total of $237.7 million, proving that audiences are eager to see the continuation of last year’s Wicked, despite many feeling lukewarm about the Broadway production’s second act.
While Zootopia 2 currently has a 93% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes (based on 82 reviews), JoBlo’s Chris Bumbray thinks it lacks the magic and heart of the original. In his review, Chris said, “Zootopia 2 is like a lot of product Disney’s been putting out lately — in that it’s not particularly bad, but it’s also assembly-line and generic. They’re playing it safe to appeal to as many people as they can, but they’re making watered-down product that will never be considered on par with the Disney classics they were producing a few years ago. This is fine for kids, and it won’t bore their parents, but it won’t spark joy in the wide audience the original appealed so strongly to.”