Zootopia

Disney's computer-animated (CGI) movie Zootopia was released to audiences around the world beginning in February 2016, and in the United States on March 4th, and is the company's fifty-fifth animated feature to date. According to the Internet Movie Database's page for the film (linked above), it grossed a total of $75,063,401.00 in its opening week in the United States (in 3,827 theaters), making it the Disney company animation studio's most successful opening weekend in the company's history, and the eighth-largest animated opening in film history, according to Box Office Mojo. It did very well internationally as well (where it is known by different titles..."Zootropolis" in most of Europe, "Zoomania" in Germany, "Crazy Animal City" in China, etc.). Rotten Tomatoes, the review/rating site, gave the movie an impressive 98% rating.

The movie is a basic film noir, aimed primarily at an older audience (rather than at children, as is the usual intent with Disney's animated films) which centers around the adventures of two anthropomorphic animal characters, a rabbit named Judy Hopps, and a red fox named Nick Wilde. They both have to overcome latent prejudices in their society (including their own), and work together to solve a mystery which could adversely affect the future of all animals living in Zootopia. The story centers on themes of prejudice (and overcoming it), cooperation, as well as achieving your dreams and goals through hard work and perseverence. And, in playing to international audiences as well, the production team even built in little nods to those other cultures.

Zootopia features such noteworty voice talent as Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, J.K. Simmons, Idris Elba, Tommy Chong, Maurice LaMarche and Jenny Slate, is co-directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore, and Jared Bush. The story has several writing credits, and the screenplay was written and developed by Byron Howard and Phil Johnston (who also worked on the original story concept with six other writers). The original plot of the story (see this page; scroll down to the section titled "Development", immediately below the cast listing) was much darker, and would have taken the characters in a much different direction than in the final revised story. Thankfully, that earlier plot was scrapped.

Last comments


Mighty	September 01, 2016

	Path of the Demon

I know this has been summed up, but I came across a Tweet Byron responded to on his Twitter page about the matter. https://i.imgur.com/jM04QXc.png


Mighty	July 14, 2016

	Path of the Demon

According to Wikipedia, Zootopia was renamed in the UK to reference the concept of a metropolis. As for other countries in Europe, it appears to have been a copyright issue, as it appears "Zootopia" is a pre-existing brand name.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zootopia#Release - I don't know why this link isn't working.


BaltoSep pala	July 14, 2016

	O' Cap'n My Cap'n!

Very nice work on uncovering that link, Mighty.

Of course, Disney may have had other reasons as well...at least for the use of "Zootropolis" as a title in other native English-speaking countries (except, I suppose, for Australia and New Zealand...where, if I am not mistaken, it was released as "Zootopia"). Though I do not know what they are, and haven't found any specific mention...yet.


Mighty	July 14, 2016

	Path of the Demon

There's nothing wrong with the English title. The difference in titles has to do with language, culture, and copyright. Take England for example. While they speak English, obviously, not everything goes by the same name. For example, a band-aid is a plaster in England. In the Unites States, "plaster" is a building material. Do you see what I'm getting at?

https://www.quora.com/Why-are-American-movies-released-under-different -titles-in-different-countries

http://movies.stackexchange.co [...] fer-between-the-u-s-and-the-uk


Blazetai l	July 14, 2016
	Site Builder (Content), Site Builder (Gr...
	DID SOMEONE SAY DRACO MALFOY

i believe it was copyright reasons


Troll Berserke r	July 13, 2016
	Site Builder (Content), Site Builder (Gr...
	Big Bad Mod

I only saw the title officialy in Poilish and German and both had their own translations, so yeah, sorry, I just never seen it being officially called "Zootropolis" xD
Now I wonder what's so wrong with "Zootopia" they had to change it even in original language


BaltoSep pala	July 12, 2016

	O' Cap'n My Cap'n!

I mean, even the Walt Disney company's official British web page for the movie calls it "Zootropolis". And I really am just going to have to go with Disney on this one:

http://movies.disney.co.uk/zootropolis

(The French version of that site calls it "Zootopie", and so on, with accompanying variations...)


BaltoSep pala	July 12, 2016

	O' Cap'n My Cap'n!

Thanks for noting that great list, Mighty!


Mighty	July 12, 2016

	Path of the Demon

There is a running list of the different titles on the IMDB (which this page does link to) page. The information there confirms that the information here is correct.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2948356/releaseinfo?ref_=ttfc_sa_1


BaltoSep pala	July 12, 2016

	O' Cap'n My Cap'n!

You're mistaken. Do you really believe that we didn't carefully research this?

"Zootropolis" is the official title of the movie in the United Kingdom (the official Walt Disney Corporation's page for the movie calls it that) as well as several European countries and parts of the Middle East...two quotes directly from Disney's own Wikia page for the movie state:

"Because the movie and titular city were renamed 'Zootropolis' for its release in the UK and Ireland, an ADR group rerecorded the original cast's lines to accommodate the change, matching the original voices perfectly. Despite this, the characters' lips still mouth 'Zootopia' when they say 'Zootropolis.' "

"Zootopia (also known as Zootropolis in some European countries and the Middle East) is a 2016 American 3D computer-animated buddy cop adventure-comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures."

Then, on the Zootopia Wikia, a statement reads:

"Zootopia, or otherwise known as Zoomania and Zootropolis in other countries, is a computer-animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures."

On the Wikipedia page for the movie, there are statements such as:

"In China, where it was locally known as Crazy Animal City the film exceeded expectations..."

On the British web news version of "The Guardian", there is this:

"This year has already seen Sacha Baron Cohen�s localised comedy Grimsby resold as The Brothers Grimsby to a US audience and Disney hit Zootopia changed to Zootropolis in the UK and most of Europe, as well as the rather scary sounding Zoomania in Germany."

In France, it is not called "Zootopia"...it is called "Zootopie" ( http://films.disney.fr/zootopie). Similar, but most definitely not identical.

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The bottom line? The movie title was altered, on occasion, to suit certain language translations or as a marketing variation.