Zootopia 2 has a scene with 50 thousand characters; find out more

Zootopia is one of the most fun films that the Disney Animation studio has produced in recent years. And this Thursday (27th) the sequel to this animation hits theaters, with the mission of surpassing the original and self-imposing new challenges. To better understand what this process was like, Omelete spoke to the minds behind this franchise — the director and head of content at Disney Animation, Jared Bushthe co-director Byron Howard and the producer Yvett Merino.

The feature film reunites the duo Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, who need to solve the tracks left by Gary, a mysterious snake. As the plot unfolds, they discover that good collaboration consists of finding common ground with those we work with. They learn to complement each other, even in the face of differences.

In the interview, the trio of producers shared some special details of the production, such as the choice of animals that are highlighted in each film. Among the animals, it is possible to see an anteater, and they tell me that the choice was not necessarily a nod to Brazil. “We’re also crazy about animals. As you look at this film and think about how to expand the world of Zootopia and show animals we haven’t seen before, I’m glad you got to see the anteater. That’s a big part, but we have animals from all over the region represented in this film and we believe that continuing to expand that is important to us.”said Bush, who also admitted to loving Brazil and the affection that fans here have for his films.

As we saw in the first film, the animals in Zootopia live lives very similar to ours. They have their own jobs, art and, of course, crimes. However, there is something special about the sequel that makes it stand out from the previous one — the references. The most striking of these is the film Ratatouillewhen we see a little mouse commanding the restaurant’s chef. Regarding the various hidden clues, Howard said there are many: “We’re figuring it out ourselves” He adds that “there are the big intentional Easter eggs. We like cinema, so you’ll see nods to films we love, like Ratatouille, Spielberg films and some horror films that you might recognize. But yes, there are countless of them. It’s a very dense film.”

However, even though Zootopia 2 has all these elements, the film was a huge challenge in terms of production. Yvett Merino, one of those responsible for this project, says that the animation required many hands behind the scenes, especially to animate a scene with more than 50 thousand characters “and they all move differently, they’re not doing the same thing”.

Merino says that “We have an incredible team of artists who analyze and decide how to fill this area and make it feel like a living place. This was one of the challenges that made me lose sleep. But in the end, I should never have worried, because they did an incredible job.”

You can check out the results of this work in cinemas across Brazil; Zootopia 2 is already on display. Below, you can find the entire conversation about the film!

Pedro Henrique Ribeiro/Omelete: My first question is a little about Brazil. I noticed a Brazilian presence in this film. Did you choose to include the anteater with a purpose or was it just a coincidence for Brazilian fans?

Jared Bush: Well, first of all, we love Brazil! We had the opportunity to share some early previews of this film in Brazil, just over a year ago, which was a true gift. We are also crazy about animals. As you look at this film and think about how to expand the world of Zootopia and show animals we haven’t seen before, I’m glad you got to see the anteater. That’s a big part, but we have animals from all over the region represented in this film and we believe that continuing to expand that is important to us.

Omelet: Right. In addition to the anteater, I found a reference to Ratatouille. Are there any other references I missed?

Byron Howard: There are many! So many that even we don’t know, because we have a very discreet team and they are all nerds. There are many Easter eggs that we are discovering ourselves. There are the big intentional ones, like we like cinema, so you’ll see nods to films we love, like Ratatouille, Spielberg films, and some horror films you might recognize. But yes, there are countless of them. It’s a very dense film.

Omelette: Right, but can you give me a specific example?

Jared Bush: Oh my God, there are so many! At the beginning of the film, Nick and Judy appear to be criminals in the eyes of the police department and are on their sleds. Something we always talk about is that when they leave, you see lights in the distance behind them. That was actually a reference to ET, an old Spielberg thing that we really loved. You’ll see references to Roger Rabbit, of course. There might be a reference… I don’t want to spoil the biggest one, but maybe there’s something from Silence of the Lambs that you can see out there. There are many, many references in this story.

Omelet: Yes. I like to compare Zootopia to Brooklyn 99.

Byron Howard: Oh yes! I can see that.

Omelet: Speaking of Brooklyn 99, Zootopia has a very famous cast. Which of these talents did you most enjoy voicing your characters?

Byron Howard: Well, speaking of Brooklyn 99, Stephanie Beatriz, our wonderful voice of Mirabel de Encanto, is one of our special appearances. You never know, it’s a big cast. We have 70 speaking roles, but a lot of our “Disney family” and also people we always dreamed of having to make a cameo appearance are there. I think it will be fun for the audience to discover as they watch.

Jared Bush: Andy Samberg is also on Brooklyn 99, so we’re doing really well. We have the real satisfaction that with almost any actor we work with, we know we’re going to spend a lot of time together. Therefore, we look for people we will enjoy working with. We love working with everyone. We have a huge cast in this film because of the many characters and types of animals. Each person who joined the film brought something special, unique and fun to their role. And that, for us, is one of the best parts of our job: being able to meet someone and see how their character changes the second they start talking. We find new things, there are new nuances, new jokes. And that is always a very rewarding part of the process.

Omelet: And Yvett, regarding production, what were the main challenges of Zootopia 2 compared to the first?

Yvett Merino: Every movie we make is super, super difficult. We have an incredible team that loves telling stories and really helps bring these films to completion. However, all films have their challenges. In this particular one, a lot of things kept me up at night, but the biggest challenge is that we are creating the world of Zootopia, which is a living city, a living place, with characters walking around in the background. We knew we needed to make it feel like a real city, not an empty one.

The amount of characters we had to build, animate and place in every scene is truly impressive. We have some scenes with thousands of characters; I think our biggest one has more than 50 thousand characters, and they all move differently, they’re not doing the same thing. We have an amazing team of crowd artists who analyze and decide how to fill this area and make it feel like a living place. This was one of the challenges that made me lose sleep. But in the end, I should never have worried because they did an amazing job.