Now that delightful animated romp Zootopia has broken pretty much every record in sight, Disney is bound to fast-track a sequel into theaters. While it's only natural that the studio would want to advantage of the positive reviews, glowing word-of-mouth, and boffo box office receipts, we can only hope they take enough time and care with the next film as they did when making the terrific first entry. Even though the House of Mouse hasn't even officially green-lit a sequel yet, we can't help but wonder: what would Zootopia 2 be about?
Thankfully, the film's two lead voice actors, Once Upon A Time's Ginnifer Goodwin (Judy Hopps) and Arrested Development's Jason Bateman (Nick Wilde) have already chimed in on the matter. Since the end of the movie saw the "sly" fox join his "dumb" bunny friend on the Zootopia police force, Bateman would like to see the characters continue to solve crimes together: "The two of us, kicking ass out there. Cleaning up the streets. We’re a couple of new cops out there. So, bad guys, be warned," he told Cinema Blend. Goodwin, on the other hand, would like to see the script flipped a bit the next time around: "I would like to see Nick have to be the one to convince Judy that the world is worth fighting for," she said in the same interview.
In addition to a possibly topsy-turvy dynamic between the two main characters, here are a handful of other things it would be nice to see in a hypothetical Zootopia sequel:
Beyond Borders
In discussing the possibility of a follow-up, Zootopia co-director Rich Moore told Cinema Blend that, "I think it is because of the worlds being so vast that it just naturally kind of lends itself to wanting to know more about it. It’s like, because it is such a big place, well, what’s going on there?" We're told that Zootopia is a big place, but in the course of the first film, we only really get to see Downtown, Rainforest District, and Tundratown. But a quick glimpse at a map of the city reveals far more zones, including Canal District, Canyonland, Marshlands, Meadowlands, Polar Strait, and Sahara Square. There is so much ground left to cover here — literally.
Not to mention: What lies outside the designated "zones" of Zootopia? What is the wilderness of this fictional world like? So many questions, so many sequel possibilities.
Fish & Fowl
Zootopia is home to countless varieties of mammals — but only mammals, and land mammals specifically. What about their aquatic cousins? Birds? Fish? Amphibians? Do any of these creatures exist in this world? If so, why are they being segregated outside of Zootopia? Would the lessons about xenophobia all the characters learned in the first movie still hold up if they were introduced to an entirely new species?
Gender Studies
While the first Zootopia had quite a lot to say about racism, it would be interesting to see what a sequel had to say about gender. Judy Hopps doesn't only stand apart from her fellow police officers because of her small size: she's also the only female officer we meet during the movie. Pretty much the only other female characters we meet in the movie are gorgeous celebrities (Gazelle), wives (Mrs. Otterton), chatty shoppers (Fru Fru)… or evil (Dawn Bellwether). Is employment in Zootopia broken down by traditional gender roles? If so, why? Do female mammals get equal pay for equal work? If not, why not?
Class Matters
While most of Zootopia's residents seem to be happily and gainfully employed, there are still some mammals reduced to make a living as grifters, as well as a notorious and feared crime syndicate. What is the class division in the city really like? If issues of poverty and wealth disparity seem to heady for an animated film to tackle, just remember that the first Zootopia taught children that racism is really just institutionalized fear manufactured by those in power to keep the masses in check — and made them laugh at the same time.
Genre Shake-Up
According to co-director Jim Bush in an interview with Slash Film, Zootopia was initially conceived as a spy movie before undergoing drastic rewrites. "When I came onto the project it was originally a spy movie. And the first 10 minutes of that movie took place in this mammal world. And then they went to this crazy tropical island where a bunch of other stuff happened," Bush said. "[We] got notes saying, you know what’s really awesome is this mammal world. And then you go to this island. Just put the whole thing in this mammal world ’cause it’s amazing!"
How fun would it be to see various Zootopia sequels play with different genres? The first film was a buddy cop comedy; the second could go back to that originally-envisioned spy genre; other entries could tackle westerns, swashbuckling adventures, or adrenaline-fueled action.
There are literally endless possibilities for the future of the Zootopia franchise. As Gazelle herself says in the movie's theme song… try everything, right?
Images: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures; Giphy.com (5)
