The buddy cop comedy, featuring a cast of talking animals tackling stereotypes, is the highly anticipated follow-up to the 2016 Oscar-winning hit “Zootopia.” Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, and Idris Elba return for the second installment.
“This is an outstanding opening for an animated sequel,” said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.
He noted that Disney and Pixar sequels often perform stronger than the originals, with second-episode launches averaging 711igger, and praised the film’s strong reception in China.
Globally, “Zootopia 2” raked in an impressive $556 million, marking the biggest worldwide debut ever for an animated feature, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In second place, Universal’s musical “Wicked: For Good” earned $93 million, continuing the saga of Oz’s iconic witches—Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande).
The film is based on the long-running Broadway hit, adapted from Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel.
Lionsgate’s “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t,” the third installment in the crime-heist franchise, finished third with $10 million in the US and Canada.
Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, and Woody Harrelson reprise their roles as illusionists targeting criminals.
Rounding out the top four, the sci-fi horror “Predator: Badlands” brought in $6.6 million.
And Paramount's "The Running Man" -- a new take on Stephen King's dystopian novel about a murderous game show starring Glen Powell -- ended up in fifth place with $5.5 million.
Rounding out the top 10 were:
"Eternity" ($5.2 million)
"Rental Family" ($3.1 million)
"Nuremberg" ($1.1 million)
"Sisu: Road to Revenge" ($1 million)
"Regretting You" ($705,000)