Zootopia 3: Jared Bush Reveals First Details About the Third Film's Story
There was already a small hint of another sequel hidden in "Zootopia 2"
The world of "Zootopia" still offers plenty of untapped potential. While the first two films focused primarily on the animal inhabitants of the eponymous metropolis, "Zootopia 3" could now significantly expand that familiar setting. In an interview with Collider, Disney's head of animation, Jared Bush, revealed a number of initial details.
According to Bush, Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde will once again play central roles in the third adventure. At the same time, Disney wants to take the opportunity to explore other areas of this extraordinary animal world. Among other things, birds are set to be introduced into the world. According to Bush, the third film could go one step further: Judy and Nick may venture beyond the actual city limits of Zootopia for the first time.
Bush also made it clear that Disney has been considering such expansions for quite some time. Together with director Byron Howard, he had a lot of fun creating the world of "Zootopia" even while working on the first film. About 15 years ago, the two had discussed introducing reptiles or birds into the story at some point.
When will the movie hit theaters?
There is no specific release date for "Zootopia 3" yet. However, Bush confirmed that the project is already in development. It could still be several years before the film is actually released. How quickly production progresses depends, among other things, on how the other planned Disney productions develop and what external circumstances affect the schedule.
Long production times play a decisive role here. As Bush explained, an animated film at Disney typically takes four to six years to complete. Accordingly, the studio must plan well in advance. The projects for the first five years of an approximately ten-year release schedule are already largely set. For the following five years, however, the studio has deliberately left more room for flexibility. So it will likely be a while before we see Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde back on the big screen.
In "Zootopia 2", there was already a small hint of another sequel hidden away, which further underscores Bush's plans. In that scene, fan favorite Benjamin Clawhauser has to enter a password on a coworker's computer. The password is partially visible on a Post-it note: "P@Rt3izFr&BrdZ". This sparked speculation among fans about the last letters of the password. The most common guess is "R2". That would result in the following hidden message: "Part 3 is for real and birds are too".
The post-credits scene from Zootopia 2
All of this fits perfectly with the post-credit scene from Part 2: Here, too, there's a very similar hint at a third film in the series. Spoiler for the post-credit scene: A bird feather is seen landing on the windowsill of Judy's apartment. These clear hints give hope that the wait between Parts 2 and 3 won't be too long after all. After all, fans had to wait nine years for "Zootopia 2".
