December 04, 2025

Zootopia 2’s Record Thanksgiving and Disney’s Long Love Affair With Talking Animals (Ep. 76)

50 minutes

Fresh off the long Thanksgiving weekend, Jim and Lauren crawl out from under their leftover Pilgrim sandwiches to talk about Zootopia 2 absolutely owning the holiday box office, how that might shape Disney’s sequel strategy, and the must-have merch that is already slithering into the parks. They also dig into McDonald’s massive 70th anniversary Happy Meal promotion, Disney’s official holiday book guide, and a couple of doorstop tomes that are now living in the Hersey household. In the back half, Jim takes Lauren on a whirlwind tour through nearly 80 years of Disney’s talking-animal history - from Song of the South all the way to Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde.

NEWS

• Zootopia 2’s Thanksgiving opening pulls in a projected 156 million dollars domestically and around 400 million dollars overseas in just five days - more than half a billion total and one of the biggest Thanksgiving hauls ever.

• How those numbers stack up against Wicked for Good and last year’s Moana 2, plus why Universal probably is not panicking while it waits for the inevitable Wicked sing-along edition and a newly announced Galinda prequel novel.

• The debut of Gary the Snake - a gloriously weird Zootopia 2 sipper at Disneyland - and Jim’s crusade to track down Nog the snow seal pup plush that was gifted to Disney Television Animation staffers.

• McDonald’s 70th celebration Happy Meal, featuring 70 different Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and classic character toys with two figures per box - plus online grumbling over who made the cut (hello, Clarabelle) and who suspiciously did not (sorry, Cinderella).

• Disney Parks Blog’s holiday book guide, from deep-dive art and history titles like the X Atencio tribute and John Landau’s memoir to Moana’s “What if she stole the heart?” Twisted Tale, kid-friendly atlases, scratch-n-sniff adventures, and the giant Holiday Magic at the Disney Parks and Bring the Magic Home books currently threatening Lauren’s fingernails.

FEATURE

• A crash course in Disney’s history with anthropomorphized animals - starting with the animated sequences in 1946’s Song of the South and why so many artists remembered that era as their happiest time at the studio after returning from World War II.

• The rise and fall of the abandoned Chanticleer project, the “Roy’s Boys” money feud with Walt, and how that detour accidentally sent Mark Davis to Imagineering where he helped create icons like Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion.

• How The Aristocats, Robin Hood, and even The Jungle Book paved the way for modern animal worlds - including the infamous animation recycling in Robin Hood’s “Phony King of England” sequence that sharp-eyed fans still spot today.

• The long development path from the shelved spy thriller Savage Seas, starring Jack Savage, to the fully realized animal metropolis of Zootopia - including John Lasseter’s notes, Jared Bush’s CIA family background, and the last-minute decision to swap Nick Wilde out for Judy Hopps as the true lead.

HOSTS

• Jim Hill - IG: @JimHillMedia | X: @JimHillMedia | Website: JimHillMedia.com

• Lauren Hersey - IG: @lauren_hersey_ | X: @laurenhersey2

FOLLOW

• Facebook: JimHillMediaNews

• Instagram: JimHillMedia

• TikTok: JimHillMedia

SUPPORT

Support the show and access bonus episodes and additional content at Patreon.com/JimHillMedia.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Edited by Dave Grey

Produced by Eric Hersey - Strong Minded Agency

SPONSOR

This episode of I Want That Too is brought to you by our friends at UnlockedMagic.com - the same trusted team behind the DVC Rental Store and DVC Resale Market. If you are planning a trip to Central Florida to visit Walt Disney World or Universal Orlando, the Unlocked Magic crew has some of the best deals on tickets, so do yourself a favor and use UnlockedMagic.com to make your next vacation just a little more magical.

If you would like to sponsor a show on the Jim Hill Media Podcast Network, reach out today.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

...more