Zootopia 2is now available on Disney+, Digital, and 4K!
Last year’s highest grossing movie, and Oscar-nominee for Best Animated Feature has hit home, and frankly, who wouldn’t want to spend more time in the colorful and hilarious destination where anyone can be anything!
To celebrate, we were invited to chat with the folks that brought the pitch-perfect sequel to life, co-director Byron Howard and producer Yvett Merino.
Howard and Merino are no strangers to Academy gold, previously winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature back in 2021 for Encanto. Howard, himself, won the Oscar in 2016 for the first Zootopia movie. The last time we chatted with them at the film’s early press day, we (and the world) had not yet seen the film. Now, a billion dollars, a BAFTA, and an Oscar nomination later, they’re back on the junket scene for Zootopia 2.
So naturally, we had to ask them about how the entire experience has been, given the massive success behind the second film commercially and critically.
Check out the itnerview with Byron Howard and Yvette Merino below:
GoC: I had the pleasure of talking to you the last time, before the movie actually came out. And now, here we are, over a billion dollars later, a BAFTA award and an Oscar nomination as well under your belt. How has this felt for you? Has this been life-changing? And have you had time to rest and sleep a bit?
Howard: No time for rest or sleep. It is life-changing, honestly. It’s like we never know how the movies are going to do when they go out into the world. And so to see that there’s been so much love around the world for the movie. I think we knew there was an affection from the first one. That people wanted to see more of Nick and Judy and see more of this world. But we had no idea that it would be as big as it’s become.
Merino: Yeah, I mean, it’s truly exciting and all of the success of people going to see the film and the recognition, it really just means all of the artists and production teams who worked so hard and kind of worked on every single frame on this film, that their work is being appreciated and recognized, which is always the big win for me.
GoC: I think the big win for audiences was that you guys crafted a movie that lived up to an Academy Award-winning billion dollar grossing movie that I just loved. Speaking personally as a fan, the first time that I saw this – because when I spoke to you, we’d only seen clips – as soon as the movie wrapped, I was like ‘I love this franchise! Two for two!’ It’s so good.
You feel so much of these amazing themes, but you’re having so much fun watching commentary about the world because these characters are wonderful. That being said, I want to ask, can you tease about the things that we might be seeing on the home release, now that we’re getting this on digital and physical, that you absolutely had to fight for to make sure that audiences saw them?
Howard: Oh, sure. I know there’s a ton of stuff. Honestly, the behind-the-scenes stuff and the deleted scenes, it lets you know there’s so much that we would love to put in the movie. We frequently don’t have room, or the story rejects it. Like I would say, like on the first film, we had a Marsh Market sequence, but the film did not want that sequence to live in that first one. But luckily, in this film, Marsh Market was the perfect thing.
So the world of Zootopia is vast, and there are thousands of ideas and characters that we’ve talked about that we just cannot usually fit into a 90-minute film, but stepping into our world for a second with these behind-the-scenes moments really gives you an insight as to the brilliant people we work with and the labor that goes into the films, but the fun that we have doing it.
Merino: Yeah, I always love deleted scenes and these featurettes because it is, you know, it highlights, there’s so many people who work on this film, so it’s a moment for them to be highlighted, but also these deleted scenes kind of really expose our process and how we had this scene and we loved it enough to board it up, to cut it together and to put it in a screening and for some reason it didn’t make it in and it really just is part of our process that we screen the film over and over again and as much as we might love it, it wasn’t right for this film.
Howard: Yeah, and environments that seem everyday like an airport or a hospital become something completely new when you put them into the world of Zootopia. So I think you’ll see from some of those cutscenes, it’ll give you a little glimpse into what those could be like.
GoC: One of the things I just love about seeing them and watching them, honestly, is you get to see all these different ideas that are such good ideas. And because they don’t fit in the movie, sometimes they can make it into a second movie, which is literally, I guess, how Zootopia 2 kind of came about, which is something that I absolutely loved.
Speaking of which, with the franchise now becoming as big as it has been – outside of Zootopia 3, which we tease at the end of this – What do you want to do next in this universe outside of just the standard sequel? Like, how do you want to expand on it? Or do you want to expand on it even more in different ways, shapes, or forms?
Howard: Well, honestly, I think we love this world so much. I think we would welcome any sort of expansion. And there’s so many options that are in the media now. And just even seeing what they did with Zootopia+ on Disney+…I love that Mr. Big backstory that they created for that. I was so proud of what they did. And honestly, I think that grounds the world. It makes it more real. There’s a huge thousands of years of history behind the world of Zootopia and things way in the future. So I’d say the more the better, to be honest.
Merino: Yeah, I think it is a world full of animals. And so I think the stories itself are endless. The types of animals that we can bring in are endless. I would love to see a whole storyline on the quokkas because I think they are the cutest animals ever. So I want to see what that family is like.
GoC: They are adorable. Quinta is adorable! If I can make a recommendation – I made this recommendation to Patrick as well when I was talking to him – but some sort of a Neighsayer spinoff movie?You know, just done in that grainy ’90s action style. I would love to see that.
Merino: A thousand percent!
Howard: “Remains of the Neigh!” I’m trying to think of the other “neigh” puns! Patrick is committed, so he will be there for anything.
GoC: My last question for you, because I know that we’re running short, but once you start a big sequel like this, and it takes off and it goes insanely, monumentally successful and becomes a phenomenon – I have to ask you both your preference – Is this the world that you want to stay in for your next project or do you want to take a break and look at some other stuff and then come back to it?
Howard: Well honestly we’re very tired when we finish the movies. But the great part about the last couple months it sort of re-energizes you because you get to see all the great energy that’s coming back at you from the audience. So i think we count on that to like fill our fuel tanks again and get us back into this crazy thing that we do.
But honestly, it’s like we all participate in each other’s films here at Disney, and so we’re supporting the films that are coming up next. So looking down the pipe there are many opportunities to kind of participate in many films, but I think we have a particular love for Zootopia and Encanto that I got to do with Yvette and Jared. We’re like family. And so anytime I can jump back into these worlds with these folks, I’m very happy to.
Merino: The same. Any opportunity to work with Byron and Jared again, I would jump at it.