Disney suffers box office disaster as political comedy Ella McCay opens to just $2.1 million

‘Zootopia 2’ is Hollywood’s highest-grossing film of the year, putting it in second place globally

Zootopia 2 has overtaken fellow Disney movie Lilo & Stitch to become the highest-grossing Hollywood movie of the year.

Just 20 days after it was first released, the animated sequel has now banked $1.13 billion globally.

That surpasses the total made by the live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch, which made $1.03 billion worldwide.

However, the film still has some way to go to catch the Chinese animated blockbuster Ne Zha 2, which remains the biggest film of 2025 with a global box office haul of $1.9 billion.

Another new Disney film, Ella McCay, has earned just $2.1 million in the United States after opening this week, whichVariety described as “one of the worst openings in modern times for Disney.”

The political dramedy from James L. Brooks stars Emma Mackey as a young politician who becomes governor of her state. Critics have not been impressed, with the film currently scoring 22 percent on Rotten Tomatoes’s Tomatometer,while The New York Times’ film critic Alissa Wilkinson says the movie leaves viewers “more confused than amused.”

’Zootopia 2’ is the year’s highest-grossing Hollywood film (Walt Disney Studios)

Jamie Lee Curtis and Emma Mackey in ‘Ella McCay’ (20th Century Studios)

By contrast, Zootopia 2 — which is known as Zootropolis 2 in the United Kingdom — has proven to be a hit with audiences and critics alike. The film previously set a record for takings on its opening weekend.

In a four-star review for The Independent, Clarisse Loughrey called the film “a fun and witty sequel that’s far better than the original.”

“Zootropolis 2 reframes the original’s metaphor for racism in a sounder, more thought-out way,” Loughrey wrote. “In the first, the wave of fear and discrimination against predators like Nick was given material justification in the fact predators like Nick had been repeatedly attacking people (only under the influence of psychotropic substances).

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

“In Zootropolis 2, we see the first snake in 100 years, Gary De’Snake (Ke Huy Quan), rock up to the city. See, everyone’s learned now that predators aren’t, in fact, dangerous — but reptiles? No, no, reptiles are the real problem, Judy and Nick swear, in a move that’s both narratively frustrating yet depressingly realistic.

“But, here, the fact reptiles are perceived as violent and vicious is an essential aspect of the story. Who controls these narratives, after all? And what do you do when you’re faced with someone like Gary, so sweetly voiced by Quan, and with many of the actor’s own earnest, crumpled-up expressions?...

“It all ends with a hint at a third film that might end up repeating the whole, same narrative cycle once more – if it does, someone’s going to have to finally pull out the old, ‘those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’ quote. Just to let us know the animators are on our side.”