A113 and its variants are an inside joke and Easter egg in media developed by alumni of California Institute of the Arts , referring to the classroom used by graphic design and character animation students.
119-616: Students who have used the classroom include John Lasseter , Tim Burton , Michael Peraza , and Brad Bird . It has appeared in several Disney films and almost every Pixar movie. Brad Bird first used it for a license plate number in the " Family Dog " episode of Amazing Stories : "I put it into every single one of my films, including my Simpsons episodes—it's sort of my version of caricaturist Al Hirschfeld 's ' Nina '." It also appears in South Park , Aqua Teen Hunger Force , Family Guy , American Dad! , Doctor Who and
238-566: A Special Achievement Award ( Toy Story ). Lasseter has been nominated on four other occasions—in the category of Animated Feature , for both Monsters, Inc. (2001) and Cars , in the Original Screenplay category for Toy Story and in the Animated Short category for Luxo, Jr. (1986)—while the short Knick Knack (1989) was selected by Terry Gilliam as one of the ten best animated films of all time. In 2008, he
357-471: A "mad doctor cat...who turned children into animals", and a "bounty hunter pug in space". The common thread running through these ideas was that Howard wanted to do a film similar to Disney's Robin Hood , which also featured animals in anthropomorphic roles. According to Howard, Zootopia emerged from his desire to create something different from other animal anthropomorphic films, where animals either live in
476-514: A 2D animated feature film directed by one of Lasseter's friends, Jerry Rees , and co-produced by Wilhite (who had, by then, left to start Hyperion Pictures ), and some of the staff of Pixar would be involved in the film alongside Lasseter. While putting together a crew for the planned feature, Lasseter had made some contacts in the computer industry, among them Alvy Ray Smith and Ed Catmull at Lucasfilm Computer Graphics Group . After being fired, and feeling glum knowing his employment with Disney
595-598: A 4-week period. Zootopia returned to US theaters on June 26 and played through July 2, 2020, alongside The Avengers , and The Greatest Showman . The re-release grossed a total of $ 393,600. On July 20, 2020, it was announced that the film would be returning to theaters in China, along with Big Hero 6 and the Chinese debut of Sonic the Hedgehog on July 31, 2020. As part of Disney's 100th anniversary, Zootopia
714-448: A bag of crocus bulbs . Later, while Chief Bogo is reprimanding Judy, Mrs. Otterton visits his office, pleading for her husband Emmitt, one of 14 missing predators, to be found. Without first seeking approval, Judy volunteers, and Bogo attempts to fire her for insubordination, but the city's assistant mayor, Dawn Bellwether, praises Judy for taking the assignment. Bogo begrudgingly agrees, but demands Judy's resignation if she cannot close
833-438: A better than expected $ 75.1 million, which was the biggest non-Pixar Disney animated opening (breaking Big Hero 6 ' s record), the biggest opening weekend among Walt Disney Animation Studios films (breaking Frozen ' s record), the biggest March animated opening (breaking The Lorax ' s record), the seventh-biggest March opening, and the tenth-biggest animated opening of all time. Furthermore, its opening weekend
952-405: A bigger drop than The Lego Movie ' s 27%. It continued to top the box office for the third weekend, earning $ 37.2 million, falling by 28% from its previous weekend while passing the $ 200 million mark. This made it the second-biggest third weekend for a film that did not open at over $ 100 million, behind Avatar ($ 68 million) and ahead of Skyfall ($ 35 million). The film was overtaken by
1071-450: A city that could actually be inhabited by talking mammals ranging in size from two inches (5.1 cm) to 27 feet (8.2 m) and from drastically different climates, the filmmakers consulted Americans with Disabilities Act specialists and HVAC system designers. For assistance with designing motor vehicles appropriate for so many different types and sizes of mammals, the filmmakers consulted with J Mays , former chief creative officer of
1190-689: A combination of both – that would be released theatrically. Lasseter said he sees this medium as an excellent way to train and discover new talent in the company as well as a testing ground for new techniques and ideas. In June 2007, Catmull and Lasseter were given control of Disneytoon Studios , a division of Walt Disney Animation Studios housed in a separate facility in Glendale. As president and chief creative officer, respectively, they have supervised three separate studios for Disney, each with its own production pipeline: Pixar, Disney Animation, and Disneytoon. While Disney Animation and Disneytoon are located in
1309-546: A computer graphics engineer at Apple Computer . They married in 1988, and have four sons together in addition to Nancy's son from a previous relationship, born between 1979 or 1980 and 1997. The Lasseters own Lasseter Family Winery in Glen Ellen, California. The property includes a narrow gauge railroad named the Justi Creek Railway, which is approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) long, including
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#17327808559761428-518: A delegation of animators to the Disney studio in 1981 and showed a clip from Miyazaki's first feature film, The Castle of Cagliostro (1979). Lasseter was so deeply moved that in 1985 he insisted on showing that clip and other examples of Miyazaki's work after dinner to a woman he had just met (who would become his wife). He visited Miyazaki during his first trip to Japan in 1987 and saw drawings for My Neighbor Totoro (1988). After Lasseter became
1547-420: A delightfully well-orchestrated parable about trust and tolerance versus panic and prejudice. An encouragingly upbeat celebration of love and diversity in times of hate and uncertainty. If that all sounds overly on-message, then fear not—the jokes are funny, the characters engaging, and the animation packed with delicious visual detail... this is proper family fun with genuine cross-generational appeal. Hooray! In
1666-519: A giraffe with nine million strands of fur; a gerbil with 480,000 strands; and a rodent with more strands of hair than the 400,000 that were on Elsa 's head in Frozen . Zootopia was the second time Disney used the Hyperion renderer, which they had first used on Big Hero 6 . A new fur paradigm was added to the renderer to facilitate the creation of realistic images of the animals' dense fur. Nitro,
1785-711: A good candidate for the film. Keane agreed, but first, they decided to do a short test film to see how it worked out and chose Where the Wild Things Are , a decision based on the fact that Disney had considered producing a feature based on the works of Maurice Sendak . Satisfied with the result, Lasseter, Keane and executive Thomas L. Wilhite went on with the project, especially Lasseter who dedicated himself to it, while Keane eventually went on to work with The Great Mouse Detective (1986). Lasseter and his colleagues unknowingly stepped on some of their direct superiors' toes by circumventing them in their enthusiasm to get
1904-575: A hilariously strained but effective double act – not least thanks to Goodwin and Bateman's tremendous vocal work, which trips along with the effortless swing and snap of great bebop." Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com , despite generally liking the film (three out of four stars), had trouble with the film's central metaphor that conflicted with its message: Zootopia is constantly asking its characters to look past species stereotypes, and not use species-ist language or repeat hurtful assumptions. This all seems clever and noble until you realize that all
2023-413: A history of alleged sexual misconduct toward employees. In June 2018, Disney announced that he would be leaving the company at the end of the year when his contract expired; he took on a consulting role until then. Following his departure from Disney and Pixar, Lasseter was later hired by Skydance founder and CEO David Ellison to run the animation division Skydance Animation . John Alan Lasseter
2142-430: A kids' version of Crash . Others criticized the use of prey and predator species in the "allegory" while critics at The Root stated positively that the movie acknowledges culpability of systemic racism and white supremacy. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction states that the film "uses its premise to examine cultural biases, stereotypes and prejudices, including conveying a strong anti-racist message. It avoids
2261-412: A limited number of international markets in the weekend ending February 14, earning $ 4.5 million in three markets. It expanded to 22 markets in its second weekend, into 36% of its total international markets, and added $ 31.2 million. It added another $ 33 million in its third weekend with no new markets. In its fourth weekend, it expanded to 45 countries and grossed $ 64.7 million, coming in second place at
2380-480: A modern spin both in terms of its humor and animation style ... and also in its themes, which are meaningful and fascinatingly topical." Writing in British Sunday newspaper The Observer , reviewer Mark Kermode : Very funny, and very likable holiday treat... The ensuing drama is nominally a tale of predators succumbing to their animal instincts while frightened prey fear their neighbours. In fact, it's
2499-669: A new character animation program at the California Institute of the Arts (often abbreviated as 'CalArts') and decided to follow his dream of becoming an animator. His mother further encouraged him to take up a career in animation, and, after graduating from Whittier High School in 1975, he enrolled as the second student ( Jerry Rees was the first) in the CalArts Character Animation program created by Disney animators Jack Hannah and T. Hee . Lasseter
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#17327808559762618-423: A new level of visually stunning depth that had not been possible before. He knew adding dimension to animation had been a longtime dream of animators, going back to Walt Disney . Later, he and Glen Keane talked about how great it would be to make an animated feature where the background was computer-generated, and then showed Keane the book The Brave Little Toaster by Thomas Disch , which he thought would be
2737-430: A number of years included "grabbing, kissing, [and] making comments about physical attributes". The alleged sexual misconduct became so well-known that, according to Variety , at various times, Pixar had "minders who were tasked with reining in his impulses". In June 2018, Disney announced that Lasseter was leaving the company at the end of the year, taking a consulting role until then. On January 9, 2019, Lasseter
2856-547: A popular Japanese version of the "Try Everything" song by Dream Ami , all helped boost Zootopia ' s performance. Its strong run in the market aided the film to propel past the $ 1 billion mark worldwide. It remained in top three for 11 consecutive weekends and has grossed a total of $ 70.1 million there. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes , the film has an approval rating of 98% based on 298 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "The brilliantly well-rounded Zootopia offers
2975-477: A project that resulted in their first computer-animated short: The Adventures of André & Wally B. , meant to prove it was possible to do character animation on a computer. After his work on the Where the Wild Things Are -test, Lasseter assumed hand-drawn characters in a CGI environment was the only way, but Catmull insisted it could be done, it was just that nobody had given it an attempt before. Because Catmull
3094-507: A real-time display application developed since the making of Wreck-It Ralph , was used to make the fur more consistent, intact, and subtle much more quickly, as opposed to the previous practice of having to predict how the fur would work while making and looking at silhouettes or poses for the character. The tree-and-plant generator Bonsai, first used in Frozen , was used to make numerous variations of trees with very detailed foliage. Zootopia
3213-432: A record for a non-Pixar Disney animated film, for an animated film opening outside of summer, and seventh-biggest all time for an animated film. Buoyed by good word of mouth , it earned $ 19.5 million on its opening day, also a record for a non-Pixar Disney animated film (breaking Frozen ' s record), and the second-biggest for a March animated film (behind Ice Age: The Meltdown ). In its opening weekend, it scored
3332-903: A rookie police officer rabbit and a con artist fox as they work together to uncover a conspiracy involving the disappearance of predators. Zootopia premiered at the Brussels Animation Film Festival in Belgium on February 13, 2016, and went into general theatrical release in Disney Digital 3-D , RealD 3D , IMAX 3D , and 4DX formats in the United States on March 4. Zootopia received largely positive reviews from critics, who praised its screenplay, animation, voice acting, subject matter, and Michael Giacchino 's musical score. The film opened to record-breaking box offices in several countries, and earned
3451-518: A screening of Disney's 1963 film The Sword in the Stone at the Wardman Theater, he knew early in his youth that he wanted to become an animator. He then read Preston Blair 's book about animation, and made flipbooks based on Blair's walk cycles. One of his friends had a Super 8 camera that shot single frames, which was used to shoot some of his earlier animation efforts. Lasseter heard of
3570-544: A sequence titled "The Emperor and the Nightingale" (based on The Nightingale by Hans Christian Andersen ) for a Disney project called Musicana . Musicana was never released but eventually led to the development of Fantasia 2000 (1999). However, after 101 Dalmatians (1961), which in Lasseter's opinion was the film where Disney had reached its highest plateau, he felt that the studio had lost momentum and
3689-529: A serum gun as evidence after a dangerous chase in the subway, but before they can reach the ZPD, Bellwether confronts them in the Natural History Museum and reveals herself to be the mastermind of a prey-supremacist conspiracy. Judy and Nick become trapped in an exhibit, and Bellwether shoots Nick with the serum gun, then orders the ZPD to capture him, but Judy and Nick reveal that they had replaced
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3808-554: A settlement." In his role at Skydance, Lasseter serves as producer on all feature films and executive producer on all series, along with Skydance Media CEO David Ellison . Lasseter lives in Glen Ellen, California , with his wife Nancy, a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University , whom he met at a computer graphics conference in San Francisco in 1985. Nancy majored in computer graphics applications, and previously worked as
3927-705: A successful director and producer at Pixar, he went on to serve as executive producer on several of Miyazaki's films for their release in the United States and oversaw the translation and dubbing of their English language soundtracks. In addition, the forest spirit Totoro from My Neighbor Totoro makes an appearance as a plush toy in Toy Story 3 (2010). Lasseter is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and served nine consecutive years on its board of governors from 2005 to 2014 when he had to relinquish his seat due to term limits. His last position on
4046-418: A thoughtful, inclusive message that's as rich and timely as its sumptuously state-of-the-art animation—all while remaining fast and funny enough to keep younger viewers entertained." It was the site's second-highest-rated film of 2016 behind Moonlight . On Metacritic , the film has a score of 78 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave
4165-583: A total of $ 175 million, making it the highest-grossing animated film of all time in China. On March 27, its seventeenth day of release, it passed the $ 200 million mark, becoming the first animated film, the second Disney film, and the sixth Hollywood film overall to pass that milestone. It became the highest-grossing animated film of all time and the second-highest-grossing film of 2016, behind only The Mermaid . It opened in Japan on April 23 and earned $ 4 million in its opening weekend, debuting at second place in
4284-452: A train station and water tower Lasseter purchased from former Disney animator Ward Kimball . Their residence has a swimming pool with a lazy river that runs through a cave. Lasseter owns a collection of more than 1,000 Hawaiian shirts and wears one every day. Lasseter also collects classic cars , such as a black 1952 Jaguar XK120 . On May 2, 2009, Lasseter received an honorary doctorate from Pepperdine University , where he delivered
4403-476: A worldwide gross of over $ 1 billion, making it the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2016 . Among other accolades , the film was named one of the top ten best films of 2016 by the American Film Institute and won Best Animated Feature at the 89th Academy Awards . A television spin-off series, Zootopia+ , premiered on Disney+ on November 9, 2022, while a sequel, Zootopia 2 ,
4522-422: A young audience during the Brussels Animation Film Festival in Belgium on February 7, and was screened to the general media and audience on February 13. In China, the state's SAPPRFT granted the film a rare two-week extension to play in theaters in addition to its limited 30-day run, which was to have ended on April 3. The film was retitled for theatrical release across several international territories. In
4641-523: Is a good girl through and through. But she's not a dumb bunny." The film's score is composed by Michael Giacchino , in his first feature-length project for Walt Disney Animation Studios, as he previously worked on several short films and television specials produced by the company, as well as multiple Pixar films. Recording took place from November 16–20, 2015, with an 80-piece orchestra conducted by Tim Simonec. In addition to her voice role of Gazelle, pop star Shakira also contributed an original song to
4760-561: Is also the fourth-biggest for an original film, behind The Secret Life of Pets , Inside Out , and Avatar . It also performed exceptionally well in IMAX, where the film brought in $ 5.2 million from 366 screens, the second-best animated IMAX opening behind only Toy Story 3 ($ 8.4 million). In its second weekend , it fell gradually by 31% to $ 51.3 million and recorded one of the best holds for an animated film, more or less on par with Wreck-It Ralph ' s second weekend drop of 32%, but
4879-677: Is an American film director, producer, and animator. He has served as the head of animation at Skydance Animation since 2019. Previously, he acted as the chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios , Walt Disney Animation Studios , and Disneytoon Studios , as well as the Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering . Lasseter began his career as an animator with The Walt Disney Company . After being fired from Disney for promoting computer animation , he joined Lucasfilm , where he worked on then-groundbreaking usage of CGI animation. The Graphics Group of
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4998-593: Is deliberately using the flowers to turn predators savage, she returns to Zootopia and reconciles with Nick. Aided by Mr. Big, they interrogate Weaselton, who admits that a ram named Doug hired him to steal the Night Howler bulbs. They find Doug in a laboratory hidden in Zootopia's subway , where he manufactures a serum from the Night Howlers to use against predators via a dart pistol . Judy and Nick obtain
5117-633: Is now complete, so your employment with the Disney Studios is now terminated." Wilhite, who was part of Disney's live-action group and therefore had no obligations to the animation studio, was able to arrange to keep Lasseter around temporarily until the Wild Things test project was complete in January 1984, but with the understanding there would be no further work for Lasseter at Disney Animation. The Brave Little Toaster would later become
5236-607: Is scheduled for release on November 26, 2025. In a world inhabited by anthropomorphic animals, Judy Hopps , a rabbit from rural Bunnyburrow, fulfills her childhood dream of becoming the first rabbit police officer in the city of Zootopia. On her first day at the Zootopia Police Department (ZPD), she is given parking duty by Chief Bogo, and is hustled by two con artist foxes, Nick Wilde and Finnick, during her shift. The next day, she abandons her post to arrest small-time crook Duke Weaselton for stealing
5355-784: Is trying to secretly ascertain what caused their feral behavior. Lionheart and the asylum staff are arrested, and Bellwether becomes the new mayor. Judy, praised for solving the case, asks Nick to join the ZPD as her partner. At a press conference, Judy accidentally implies the savageness epidemic was caused by the physiology that all predators possess. Disappointed and offended by the remarks, Nick abandons Judy, whose comments subsequently incite fear and discrimination against predators throughout Zootopia. Wracked with guilt, she quits her job and returns to Bunnyburrow. While managing her parents' vegetable stand, Judy learns that Night Howlers are actually Midnicampum flowers, which have severe, lasting psychotropic effects if ingested. Realizing that someone
5474-470: The Church of Christ church his family regularly attended. As a child, Lasseter would race home from school to watch Chuck Jones cartoons on television. While in high school, he read The Art of Animation by Bob Thomas . The book covered the history of Disney animation and explored the making of Disney's 1959 film Sleeping Beauty , which made Lasseter realize he wanted to do animation himself. When he saw
5593-585: The Ford Motor Company . During the development process, Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan F. Horn suggested that Nick should expressly state his disappointment ("Just when I thought someone actually believed in me...") after discovering that Judy still fears him as a predator. In March 2015, it was revealed that Rich Moore ( Wreck-It Ralph ) had been added as a director of the film, in addition to Jared Bush ( Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero ) as co-director. Disney's most recent work on animating fur
5712-447: The Where the Wild Things Are project into motion. The project was canceled while being pitched to two of Lasseter's supervisors, animation administrator Ed Hansen, and head of Disney studios, Ron W. Miller , due to lack of perceived cost benefits for the mix of traditional and computer animation. A few minutes after the meeting, Lasseter was summoned by Hansen to his office. As Lasseter recalled, Hansen told him, "Well, John, your project
5831-544: The fourth-highest-grossing animated film of all time . Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $ 294.9 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues for the film, making it the fifth-most profitable release of 2016. In the United States and Canada, pre-release tracking suggested the film would open to $ 60–70 million from 3,827 theaters in its opening weekend. It played in 3,100 3D theaters, 365 IMAX theaters, and 325 premium large format screens. It earned $ 1.7 million from Thursday previews,
5950-414: The furry fandom demographic, believing that they would logically be most interested in this film project. Zootopia was released on March 4, 2016, in Disney Digital 3-D , RealD 3D , and IMAX 3D, making it the first Disney animated film shown in domestic IMAX theatres since Treasure Planet (2002). It was shown for the first time to the public as a feature film in an international competition for
6069-509: The seventh-highest-grossing film of 2016 , and the tenth-highest-grossing animated film of all time. In June 2020, due the worldwide closure of cinemas during the COVID-19 pandemic and limits on which films played, Zootopia returned to 280 theaters—mostly drive-ins —and grossed $ 393,600. Zootopia received a scattered release as Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures took advantage of school holidays in various markets. The film opened in
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#17327808559766188-421: The $ 100 million mark to become the third animated film in China to do so, after Kung Fu Panda 3 and Monkey King: Hero Is Back . This also marked the single best weekend for an animated film. In mid-March, the combined total of Kung Fu Panda 3 and Zootopia alone broke 2014's record of $ 286 million in box office grosses for American animated features in China. In its third weekend, it grossed $ 40 million for
6307-580: The CIS ($ 39.2 million), Germany ($ 34.2 million), the UK ($ 34.2 million), France ($ 31.9 million), and South Korea ($ 31.6 million). In China, it is the highest-grossing Disney film in local currency ( ¥ 1.530 billion), surpassing Avengers: Age of Ultron (¥1.464 billion), as well as the seventh-highest-grossing film of all time. In Russia, it is the second-highest-grossing film of all time in local currency ( ₽ 2.3 billion), behind only Avatar (₽3.6 billion). It topped
6426-654: The Computer Division of Lucasfilm was sold to Steve Jobs and became Pixar in 1986. Lasseter oversaw all of Pixar's films and associated projects. He personally directed Toy Story (1995), A Bug's Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Cars (2006), and Cars 2 (2011), and executive-produced all other Pixar films through 2018. From 2006 to 2018, Lasseter also oversaw all of Walt Disney Animation Studios' (and its division Disneytoon Studios') films and associated projects as executive producer. His works have grossed more than US$ 19 billion, making him one of
6545-678: The Los Angeles area, Pixar is located over 350 miles (563 kilometers) northwest in the Bay Area, where Catmull and Lasseter both live. Accordingly, they appointed a general manager for each studio to manage day-to-day business affairs, then established a routine of spending at least two days per week (usually Tuesdays and Wednesdays) in Southern California. Lasseter is a close friend and admirer of Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki , whom he first met when TMS Entertainment sent
6664-527: The Russian and German box office for three weekends, and the Chinese and Korean box office for two weekends. In China, where it was locally known as Crazy Animal City (疯狂动物城), the film exceeded expectations and was considered Hollywood's biggest breakout success in China since 2015's Jurassic World made $ 229 million. It had an opening day of $ 3.4 million on its way to $ 23.6 million for its three-day opening weekend, debuting in second place and scoring
6783-599: The SPA Studios animated film Klaus (2019). The first Disney movie Bird used it in was The Brave Little Toaster (1987), in which he worked on as an animator. It can be seen as The Master's apartment address when Toaster and his friends knock on the door. It also appears in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol on an agent's poison ring and in the script when Ethan Hunt requests evac at rendezvous point Alpha 113. Brad Bird's film Tomorrowland (2015)
6902-507: The Two Strings . On March 21, 2017, a copyright infringement lawsuit was filed against Disney by Esplanade Productions, a company owned by Gary L. Goldman , the co-screenwriter of Total Recall . The lawsuit claims that Goldman (in 2000 and 2009) pitched a concept to Disney for a live-action film titled Looney , which was about a socially awkward animator who creates a self-inspired TV cartoon called Zootopia . Disney twice rejected
7021-455: The UK daily newspaper The Daily Telegraph , Robbie Collin noted, "The lion doesn't just lie down with the lamb , they run for City Hall on a joint ticket. It's the diversity dream come true. Or is it? […] Think Busytown by way of Chinatown. It's almost certain to be the most existentially probing talking animal cartoon of the year." Collin added, "Like Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy in 48 Hrs. , albeit considerably cuter, Judy and Nick make
7140-593: The United Kingdom and Ireland with $ 7.5 million, Mexico with $ 4.6 million, Australia with $ 3.2 million, Brazil with $ 2.6 million, and in Italy, on a non-holiday weekend with $ 3.1 million. The film had number-one openings in Austria, Switzerland, Portugal, and South Africa. In the UK and Ireland, with significant competition from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and the animated family film Kung Fu Panda 3 ,
7259-410: The United Kingdom and other European, Middle Eastern, and North African countries, the film was renamed Zootropolis , a reference to the concept of a " metropolis " rather than to that of a " utopia ". This was due to Disney being unable to trademark the name "Zootopia" in these territories for various legal reasons, including Danish Givskud Zoo registering the name Zootopia in 2014. In Germany,
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#17327808559767378-634: The Walt Disney Company at Disneyland in Anaheim during summer breaks and got a job as a Jungle Cruise skipper, where he learned the basics of comedy and comic timing to entertain captive audiences on the ride. Upon graduating in 1979, Lasseter immediately obtained a job as an animator at Walt Disney Productions mostly due to his success with his student project, Lady and the Lamp . The studio had reviewed approximately 10,000 portfolios in
7497-558: The biggest non-sequel animated opening, as well as the second-biggest three-day opening and IMAX opening for an animated film, behind Kung Fu Panda 3 . In its ninth day of release (a Saturday), it recorded the biggest single-day gross ever for an animated film, with $ 25 million (compared to $ 10.6 million on its first Saturday), and passed the lifetime total of Big Hero 6 to become the highest-grossing Disney animated film in China. In its second weekend, it grossed $ 60 million, an enormous increase of 139% from its previous weekend, and crossed
7616-535: The board was as first vice president. Lasseter received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood in 2011, located at 6834 Hollywood Boulevard. In November 2017, Lasseter took a six-month leave of absence after acknowledging allegations of workplace sexual misconduct that he described as "missteps" with employees in a memo to staff. The alleged sexual misconduct toward multiple employees over
7735-432: The box office, behind Detective Conan: The Darkest Nightmare , and had the third-biggest Walt Disney Animation Studios debut in that market, behind Frozen and Big Hero 6 . Deadline.com pointed out that the average opening number might have been due to the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes , which could have affected moviegoers. In a rare achievement, it topped the box office in its third weekend after two weeks at No. 2. In
7854-449: The case within 48 hours. Having ascertained that Nick was the last to see Emmitt, Judy blackmails Nick into helping her by covertly recording his confession to tax evasion . They track a limousine that picked up Emmitt and find his belongings inside. They learn that the limousine is owned by Mr. Big, an arctic shrew crime boss whom Nick has a history with. Mr. Big reveals that Emmitt unexpectedly "went savage " and mindlessly attacked
7973-545: The case. After leaving the scene with Judy, Nick reveals that as a child, he was bullied by his peers because they had prejudiced beliefs about foxes. At City Hall, Bellwether allows Judy and Nick to access Zootopia's traffic cameras, which reveal Manchas was abducted by timberwolves , whom Judy assumes are the Night Howlers. Following the wolves, Judy and Nick locate Emmitt, Manchas and the other missing predators, who are all "savage" and imprisoned in an asylum . Zootopia's mayor, Leodore Lionheart , had ordered their capture, and
8092-542: The commencement address. His influences include Walt Disney , Chuck Jones , Frank Capra , Hayao Miyazaki , and Preston Sturges . Lasseter's favorite film is Walt Disney's Dumbo (1941). Critical, public and commercial reception to films Lasseter has directed as of August 9, 2022. Zootopia Zootopia (titled Zootropolis or Zoomania in various regions) is a 2016 American animated buddy cop action comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures . It
8211-446: The computer scientists about filmmaking, animation, and art. The short turned out to be more revolutionary than Lasseter first had visualized before he came to Lucasfilm. His original idea had been to create only the backgrounds on computers, but in the final short everything was computer-animated, including the characters. After the short CGI film was presented at SIGGRAPH in the summer of 1984, Lasseter returned to Los Angeles with
8330-410: The darts with blueberries and recorded Bellwether's confession. Bellwether and her accomplices are arrested for their crimes, while the still-imprisoned Lionheart publicly denies knowledge of her scheme, insisting that imprisoning the infected predators was "doing the wrong thing for the right reason". The predators are rehabilitated and Judy is reinstated into the ZPD. Months later, Nick graduates from
8449-441: The film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times considered the movie "funny, smart, [and] thought-provoking". Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote that Zootopia "may be the most subversive movie of" 2016, giving the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and praising its timely message about the harm of prejudice in the face of the prevailing xenophobic political rhetoric at
8568-430: The film had a £5.31 million ($ 7.6 million) opening weekend from 579 theaters, including £1.74 million ($ 2.5 million) worth of previews, debuting in second place behind Dawn of Justice and falling just short of Walt Disney Animation Studios' best opening in the UK. It fell just 24% in its second weekend. Zootopia ' s largest markets overseas are China ($ 235.6 million), followed by Japan ($ 70.1 million), Russia and
8687-412: The film titled " Try Everything ", which was written by Sia and Stargate . The soundtrack was released on March 4, 2016, by Walt Disney Records . The first teaser trailer was released online at Walt Disney Animation Studios' YouTube page on June 11, 2015. A second teaser trailer was released online again at Walt Disney Animation Studios' YouTube page on November 23, 2015, featuring a sequence of
8806-423: The film was titled Zoomania due to a children's book by German author Kay Fischer titled Zootropolis released in 2010. Zootopia was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on Blu-ray , Blu-ray 3D , DVD , and Digital HD platforms on June 7, 2016. It includes some bonus material such as "Scoretopia", an alternate opening, and the music video to Shakira's "Try Everything". The film debuted at
8925-477: The film where the main characters encounter a Department of Mammal Vehicles (based on the DMV ) run entirely by sloths. The official theatrical trailer for the film was released online at Walt Disney Animation Studios' YouTube page on New Year's Eve 2015. Figures of Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde were released for Disney Infinity 3.0 on March 1, 2016. In addition, the studio devoted considerable marketing attention to
9044-559: The film's lead character, Judy Hopps, as a welcome change for Disney animated feature film heroines, such as the Disney Princess franchise. She found that unlike those characters' focus on romance or family loyalty, Hopps' focus is on her dream career as a police officer and serving her city. Some were critically divided of the message about universal prejudices of all sorts interpreted as an allegory of American racism. Nico Lang of Consequence of Sound felt that Disney delivered
9163-497: The film. To make the characters' fur even more realistic, they also went to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County to closely observe the appearance of fur with a microscope under a variety of lighting. The filmmakers drew inspiration for Zootopia ' s urban design from major cities including New York City , San Francisco , Las Vegas , Paris , Shanghai , Hong Kong , and Brasília . To develop
9282-495: The first film of 2016 to gross over $ 800 million in ticket sales, and on April 24, became the first film of 2016 to cross $ 900 million. On June 5, the film crossed the $ 1 billion mark, becoming the second film of 2016 to do so (after the studio's own Captain America: Civil War ), the fourth animated film (after Toy Story 3 , Frozen and Minions ), the eleventh Disney film, the third Disney animated film, and
9401-519: The first fully computer-generated photorealistic animated character, a knight composed of elements from a stained glass window. This effect was the first CGI character to be scanned and painted directly onto film using a laser. Lasseter and Catmull's collaboration, which has since lasted over thirty years, would ultimately result in Toy Story (1995), which was the first-ever computer-animated feature film . Additionally, Lasseter created THX 's robot mascot Tex. He made his first appearance in 1996 with
9520-457: The first light cycle sequences for an upcoming film entitled Tron (1982), featuring state-of-the-art computer-generated imagery (CGI), that he saw the huge potential of this new technology in animation. Up to that time, the studio had used a multiplane camera to add depth to its animation. Lasseter realized that computers could be used to make films with three-dimensional backgrounds where traditionally animated characters could interact to add
9639-622: The following two weekends, it continued to increase its ticket sales, and topped the box office there for four consecutive weekends. After four straight wins, it was finally overtaken by the R-rated superhero film Deadpool . It was the No. 1 western/Hollywood film for eight consecutive weekends. The Hollywood Reporter cited that strong word of mouth, audiences watching both the English and Japanese versions, and 3D and 4DX screenings, as well as
9758-455: The hope of directing The Brave Little Toaster at Hyperion Pictures. He soon learned that funding had fallen through and called Catmull with the bad news. Catmull called back with a job offer, and Lasseter joined Lucasfilm as a full-time employee in October 1984 and moved to the Bay Area. After that, he worked with ILM on the special effects on Young Sherlock Holmes , where he made
9877-415: The international box office, behind the Chinese film Ip Man 3 . $ 3.3 million came from IMAX showings. It finally topped the box office in its fifth weekend after a strong second-weekend gross in China. It added $ 89.3 million from 45 countries, an increase of 25% from its previous weekend. It remained in first place for the second time in its sixth weekend, before Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice took
9996-496: The late 1970s in search of talent, then selected only about 150 candidates as apprentices, of which only about 45 were kept on permanently. In the fall of 1979, Disney animator Mel Shaw told the Los Angeles Times that "John's got an instinctive feel for character and movement and shows every indication of blossoming here at our studios ... In time, he'll make a fine contribution." At that same time, Lasseter worked on
10115-408: The limousine's chauffeur, Manchas, a black jaguar . Judy and Nick question Manchas, who explains that Emmitt yelled about "Night Howlers" before attacking him. Manchas suddenly turns savage himself and chases Judy and Nick. Judy traps Manchas and calls the ZPD for help, but Manchas vanishes before backup arrives. Bogo demands Judy's resignation, but Nick reminds him that Judy still has 10 hours to solve
10234-418: The most financially successful filmmakers of all time. Of the ten animated films that have grossed over US$ 1 billion, five of them were executive produced by Lasseter: Toy Story 3 (2010)—the first animated film to surpass $ 1 billion—and Frozen (2013)—the third-highest-grossing animated film of all time—as well as Zootopia (2016), Finding Dory (2016), and Incredibles 2 (2018). Frozen also held
10353-492: The natural world or in the human world. His concept, in which animals live in a modern world designed by animals for animals, was well received by Lasseter, who responded by embracing and lifting Howard "in the air like a baby Simba ". Lasseter suggested that Howard should try combining the 1960s theme with the animal characters, especially the space pug. This led Howard to develop and pitch Savage Seas , an international spy film centered on an arctic hare named "Jack Savage" who
10472-478: The next 10 years, Pixar evolved from a computer company that did animation work on the side into an animation studio. Lasseter oversaw all of Pixar's films and associated projects as executive producer. As well as Toy Story , he also personally directed A Bug's Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Cars (2006), and Cars 2 (2011). He has won two Academy Awards , for Animated Short Film ( Tin Toy ), as well as
10591-420: The only company he had ever wanted to work for, Lasseter could not find the strength to tell Catmull that he had been fired. Catmull later telephoned Smith that day and mentioned that Lasseter was not working at Disney. Smith told Catmull to put down the phone and hire Lasseter right now. Lasseter agreed instantly to work freelance with Catmull and his colleagues and joined them for a week of December 1983 on
10710-539: The original theatrical release of Independence Day . Since then, Tex has appeared in some THX trailers. Due to George Lucas 's financially crippling divorce, he was forced to sell off Lucasfilm Computer Graphics, by this time renamed the Pixar Graphics Group, founded by Smith and Catmull, with Lasseter as one of the founding employees. It was spun off as a separate corporation with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs as its majority shareholder in 1986. Over
10829-454: The pitch, but Goldman accused the company of copying the name, themes, settings, and character tropes. Filed with the lawsuit was a graphic of early concept artwork of characters that are claimed to appear similar to major characters from the film, including Nick Wilde, Judy Hopps, Flash, and Chief Bogo. A Disney spokesperson described the lawsuit as being "ridden with patently false allegations". After months of back-and-forth deliberation between
10948-399: The police academy, becoming Judy's partner and the first fox police officer. Development of the film that would come to be called Zootopia began when Byron Howard pitched six story ideas to Disney Animation chief creative officer and executive producer John Lasseter , of which three involved animal characters: an all-animal adaptation of The Three Musketeers , a 1960s-themed story about
11067-561: The role's similarity to many other roles he had done since he was 12. He explained that he had said to the directors: "'What kind of voice do you guys want me to do?' And they just looked at me like I was an idiot and said, 'Just do what you do. Just talk.'" Commenting on the casting of Goodwin, Moore said that she brought "very centered sweetness, tremendous heart and a great sense of humor"; he described Judy as "a little Pollyanna mixed with Furiosa ". Goodwin stated about her character: "People mistake kindness for naïveté or stupidity, and she
11186-583: The species A = race Y trap; though the viewer needs to accept that, in this context, animal behaviour is being treated as a stereotype." The film was chosen by the American Film Institute as one of the top ten films of 2016 , and won the Academy Award , Golden Globe , Critics Choice Movie Award and Annie Award for Best Animated Feature Film. It also received a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film , which it lost to Kubo and
11305-435: The spy film turned out to be its first act, set in a city created by and for animals. To focus on the all-animal city, Howard eventually dropped the 1960s setting, along with the espionage and international aspects, and changed the film into a contemporary police procedural in which Nick Wilde was the lead role and Judy Hopps was essentially his sidekick . For a while, "the filmmakers were very committed" to that version of
11424-532: The stereotypes about various animals are to some extent true, in particular the most basic one carnivores eat herbivores because it's in their nature. If Zootopia were a bit vaguer, or perhaps dumber and less pleased with itself, it might have been a classic, albeit of a very different, less reputable sort. As-is, it's a goodhearted, handsomely executed film that doesn't add up in the way it wants to. Also in The Daily Telegraph , Rosa Prince singled out
11543-512: The story, but then in November 2014, the filmmakers realized the film's plot would be more engaging if they reversed the roles to instead focus on Hopps as opposed to Wilde. The change in perspective involved dropping several characters, including two characters known as "The Gerbil Jerks" who were described as "trust-fund gerbils that had nothing better to do than harass Nick." In May 2013, The Hollywood Reporter initially reported that Howard
11662-467: The superhero film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in its fourth weekend, despite only a marginal decline. It spent a total of 13 consecutive weeks in the top ten, more than any other film except for Avatar (14 weeks) and Frozen (16 weeks) over the last decade. It ended its theatrical run on August 4, 2016, after playing in theaters for a total of 154 days. It became the second-highest-grossing Walt Disney Animation Studios film (behind Frozen ),
11781-468: The time of the film's release, and the film's humor. Peter Debruge at Variety opined that Zootopia "plays directly to the studio's strength". IGN reviewer Eric Goldman gave the film a 9.0 out of 10 'Amazing' score, saying " Zootopia is a wonderful example of how Disney, at its best, can mix its past and present together in a very cool, compelling way. It takes the classic animation trope of animals walking, talking, and acting like humans, but gives it
11900-519: The title of the highest-grossing animated film of all time until 2019, and was the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time at the end of its theatrical run. He has won two Academy Awards , for Best Animated Short Film (for Tin Toy ), as well as a Special Achievement Award (for Toy Story ). In November 2017, Lasseter took a six-month sabbatical from Pixar and Disney Animation after acknowledging what he called "missteps" in his behavior with employees. According to various news outlets, Lasseter had
12019-542: The top of the home media sales chart for the week ending on June 12, 2016. The film made a revenue of $ 89.6 million from home media sales with 4.4 million units sold, making it the third best-selling title of 2016 behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Finding Dory . Zootopia was released on 4K Blu-ray on November 5, 2019. On June 22, 2020, amid the reopening of theaters due to the COVID-19 global pandemic , Disney announced that Zootopia , along with 11 other Disney owned titles, were to return to US theaters during
12138-642: The top spot. It passed the $ 500 million mark in its eighth weekend. In its opening weekend—which varied between markets—the film grossed $ 3.1 million in Spain and an additional $ 1.7 million in Belgium and Denmark. In Belgium, it had the biggest ever animated opening for a Disney or Pixar film. It broke opening records for a non-Pixar Disney animated film in China ($ 23.6 million), France ($ 8.1 million), Russia ($ 7.8 million), Germany ($ 6.6 million), Hong Kong ($ 1.5 million), Poland ($ 1.2 million), and India. It opened in
12257-440: The twenty-sixth film overall to reach the milestone. Worldwide, it was the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2016 (behind Civil War , Rogue One , and Finding Dory ), the second-highest-grossing animated film of 2016, the second-highest-grossing Walt Disney Animation Studios film (second-highest overall) of all time in its original release (after Frozen ), the second-highest-grossing original film (behind Avatar ), and
12376-424: The two parties, U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald dismissed the infringement claims on November 8, 2017. As stated in the final review, "Goldman's effort to make the plots of Looney and Zootopia seem similar were strained. All the purported similarities between the two works were themes, not plot points or sequences of events, that were too general to be protected by copyright law." Esplanade appealed to
12495-405: Was also able to control an unseen "imaginary" under-layer that gave fur a degree of plushness not seen before. This feature was used to create characters like Officer Clawhauser, who has a big head that is entirely made of spotted fur. Characters with noteworthy numbers of strands of hair or fur included both of the two lead characters, Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, who each had around 2.5 million hairs;
12614-741: Was born on January 12, 1957, in Hollywood , California . His mother, Jewell Mae (née Risley; 1918–2005), was an art teacher at Bell Gardens High School , and his father, Paul Eual Lasseter (1924–2011), was a parts manager at a Chevrolet dealership. Lasseter is a fraternal twin ; his sister Johanna Lasseter-Curtis, who became a baker based in the Lake Tahoe area, is six minutes older. Lasseter grew up in Whittier, California . His mother's profession contributed to his growing preoccupation with animation. He often drew cartoons during services at
12733-498: Was directed by Byron Howard and Rich Moore , co-directed by Jared Bush , and produced by Clark Spencer , from a screenplay written by Bush and Phil Johnston , and a story by Howard, Moore, Bush, Johnston, Jim Reardon , Josie Trinidad, and Jennifer Lee . The film stars the voices of Ginnifer Goodwin , Jason Bateman , Idris Elba , Jenny Slate , Nate Torrence , Bonnie Hunt , Don Lake , Tommy Chong , J. K. Simmons , Octavia Spencer , Alan Tudyk , and Shakira . The film follows
12852-760: Was directing the film and that Jason Bateman had been cast, but little else about the film was known at the time. Zootopia was first officially announced on August 10, 2013, at the D23 Expo , with a March 2016 release date. Research for the film took place in Disney's Animal Kingdom , as well as in Kenya and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park , where animators spent eight months studying various animals' walk cycles as well as fur color. Eight hundred thousand forms of mammals were created for and featured in
12971-455: Was for the titular character of the 2008 film Bolt , but the software they had used at the time was not ready for creating the realistic fur of the animals of Zootopia . Therefore, the studio's IT engineers developed the fur-controlling software "iGroom", which gave character designers precise control over the brushing, shaping, and shading of fur and made it possible to create a variety of eccentric character styles for each animal. The software
13090-649: Was hired to head Skydance Animation , a new animation division of Skydance Media formed in 2017. In a statement, Lasseter said "I have spent the last year away from the industry in deep reflection, learning how my actions unintentionally made colleagues uncomfortable, which I deeply regret and apologize for. It has been humbling, but I believe it will make me a better leader." An investigation conducted prior to his hiring found that no previous claims of sexual assault, propositioning or harassment had been filed against Lasseter, and "[...] there were no findings of secret settlements by Disney or Lasseter to any parties asking for
13209-931: Was honored with the Winsor McCay Award , the lifetime achievement award for animators. Disney announced that it would be purchasing Pixar in January 2006, and Lasseter was named the chief creative officer of both Pixar and Walt Disney Feature Animation, the latter of which he renamed Walt Disney Animation Studios . Lasseter was also named principal creative adviser at Walt Disney Imagineering , where he helped design attractions for Disney Parks . He oversaw all of Walt Disney Animation Studios' films and associated projects as executive producer. He reported directly to Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger , bypassing Disney's studio and theme park executives. He also received green-light power on films with Roy E. Disney 's consent. In December 2006, Lasseter announced that Disney Animation would start producing animated shorts – 2D, CGI, or
13328-499: Was not allowed to hire animators, he was given the title "Interface Designer"; "Nobody knew what that was but they didn't question it in budget meetings". Lasseter spent a lot of time at Lucasfilm in the San Francisco Bay Area in the spring of 1984, where he worked together closely with Catmull and his team of computer science researchers. Lasseter learned how to use some of their software, and in turn, he taught
13447-467: Was often repeating itself. Between 1980 and 1981, he coincidentally came across some video tapes from one of the then new computer-graphics conferences, who showed some of the very beginnings of computer animation, primarily floating spheres and such, which he experienced as a revelation. But it was not until shortly after, when he was invited by his friends Jerry Rees and Bill Kroyer , while working on Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983), to come and see
13566-579: Was produced by A113 Productions. Another reference is in The Truman Show when all the cameras on Truman's set are shown and one is labeled A113 but it is not confirmed whether it is a real reference or just a coincidence. The series finale of the children's show, Arthur , features a door labeled "A-113." In Toy Story 3 Andy's mom's minivan has "A113" on the license plate. John Lasseter John Alan Lasseter ( / ˈ l æ s ə t ər / LASS -ə-tər ; born January 12, 1957)
13685-657: Was produced in makeshift quarters in a giant warehouse in North Hollywood (together with Moana ) while Disney Animation's headquarters in Burbank was being renovated. On May 6, 2015, Bateman and Ginnifer Goodwin were announced as having been cast, respectively, in the roles of Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps. The filmmakers chose Bateman because they wanted an actor who could bring "a funny yet heartfelt side" with "a wily, dry-witted sort of voice". Bateman described his character as "a crafty, sarcastic schemer", remarking on
13804-521: Was re-released in Helios theaters across Poland on October 22, 2023. Zootopia grossed $ 341.3 million in the U.S. and Canada and $ 682.5 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $ 1.024 billion, against a budget of $ 150 million. On March 18, 2016, the film reached the $ 500 million mark, becoming the third consecutive Walt Disney Animation Studios film to reach the milestone after Frozen (2013) and Big Hero 6 (2014). On April 5, it became
13923-625: Was somewhat like James Bond . It was around this time that screenwriter Jared Bush was hired to work on the film; he was excited to work on a spy film because his own father and grandfather had worked for the Central Intelligence Agency . Howard and Bush continued to develop the film with the assistance of the Disney Story Trust, the studio's top creative personnel who meet regularly to review and discuss all projects in development. The most delightful part of
14042-490: Was taught by three members of Disney's Nine Old Men team of veteran animators— Eric Larson , Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston —and his classmates included future animators and directors like Brad Bird , John Musker , Henry Selick , Tim Burton , and Chris Buck . During his time there, he produced two animated shorts— Lady and the Lamp (1979) and Nitemare (1980)—which each won the student Academy Award for Animation. While at CalArts, Lasseter first started working for
14161-625: Was to end shortly, Lasseter visited a computer graphics conference in November 1983 at the Queen Mary in Long Beach , where he met and talked to Catmull again. Catmull inquired about The Brave Little Toaster , which Lasseter explained had been shelved. From his experience at Lucasfilm, Catmull assumed Lasseter was simply between projects since Hollywood studios have traditionally laid off employees when they lack enough productions to keep them busy. Still devastated at being forced out of
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