'Zootopia 2' tops 2025 ticket sales in Korea as 'Avatar' gains ground

Disney's animated sequel outpaces all comers at record clip; James Cameron's sci-fi epic dominating since Wednesday debut

"Zootopia 2" (Walt Disney Co. Korea)

Disney is closing out the year with a potent one-two punch at the Korean box office.

According to the Korean Film Council's ticketing tracker, "Zootopia 2" had racked up 6.33 million admissions as of Monday morning, becoming the first 2025 release to crack the 6 million mark. The animated sequel overtook "Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle," previously the year's top-grossing title, on Thursday, just 23 days after its Nov. 26 opening.

The Jared Bush-directed follow-up to the 2016 original has shattered one record after another since hitting screens. It crossed 1 million admissions in its fourth day, notching the biggest single-day turnout for any 2025 release. By its fifth day, the tally hit 2 million -- the fastest any film has crossed that mark this year. Its opening weekend haul of 1.36 million was 2025's highest.

These figures place "Zootopia 2" at No. 5 on Korea's all-time animation leaderboard, trailing only Disney-Pixar titles: "Frozen 2" (13.76 million), "Frozen" (10.32 million), "Inside Out 2" (8.79 million) and "Elemental" (7.24 million).

The original "Zootopia" sold 4.71 million tickets during its nearly three-month run.

The sequel is proving just as dominant globally. Through Sunday, the buddy-cop comedy has pulled in $1.27 billion (1.87 trillion won) worldwide, according to studio estimates. Its $990 million haul outside North America puts it on track to become only the second animated feature after "Inside Out 2" to cross $1 billion overseas.

The only film poised to challenge "Zootopia 2" in the year-end box office is "Avatar: Fire and Ash," another Disney stablemate and the third installment in James Cameron's multibillion-dollar sci-fi franchise. The $400 million blockbuster opened in Korea on Dec. 17, two days ahead of its US premiere, and has held the top spot for five consecutive days.

"Avatar: Fire and Ash" (Walt Disney Co. Korea)

Over the weekend, "Avatar: Fire and Ash" drew 1.3 million moviegoers here, lifting its cumulative tally to 1.74 million. "Zootopia 2" placed second with 620,000 admissions over the same period.

Korea, with $13.6 million in grosses since its Wednesday opening, ranked as the fourth-largest international market after China, France and Germany, according to Variety.

Both the 2009 original "Avatar" and its 2022 sequel "The Way of Water" surpassed 10 million admissions in Korea -- the traditional benchmark for megahit status locally.