Official poster for the film ‘Zootopia 2’, photo provided by|Walt Disney Company Korea.

A new powerhouse has emerged at the winter box office. It is the film ‘Zootopia 2’ (directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard).

On the 6th, according to the Korean Film Council’s integrated computer network for movie-theater admissions, ‘Zootopia 2’ reached a cumulative audience of 3,143,786 as of 12:22 a.m. on its 11th day in release.

This matches the pace of ‘Inside Out 2’, which topped the 2024 foreign-film box office, and makes palpable domestic audiences’ enthusiastic response to the best duo from ‘Zootopia’, ‘Judy’ and ‘Nick’, returning after nine years. It is also tracking 14 days faster than ‘Elemental’, which drew 7.24 million viewers as a well-made Disney·Pixar animation, and a remarkable 15 days faster than ‘Moana 2’, which ranked third in global box-office revenue in 2024, further raising expectations for this year’s final box-office performance.

Daily admissions are also high. It drew 189,927 moviegoers the previous day, holding the top spot at the box office. A slew of new releases on the 3rd, including ‘The People Upstairs’, ‘Informant’, and ‘Jujutsu Kaisen the Movie: Shibuya Incident X Premature Death’, failed to shake it. It is racing toward a hit, showing a huge gap in audience numbers with the No. 2 film, ‘The People Upstairs’.

By contrast, the report card from second place onward is bleak. ‘The People Upstairs’ was seen by 28,541 viewers to take No. 2, but the result is disappointing if one expected an opening bump. With a cumulative audience of 84,734, it is uncertain how much the theatergoing numbers will rise over its first weekend.

‘Jujutsu Kaisen the Movie: Shibuya Incident X Premature Death’, which drew expectations amid the success of Japanese animation, is quiet as well. Chosen by 25,750 viewers, it placed third.

At No. 4, ‘Informant’ drew 17,239 viewers. With a cumulative audience of 64,957, it is still far from its 800,000 break-even point.