Nine years on, Judy and Nick team up again

Disney directors, cast preview 'Zootopia 2' at online press event for Korean media

From left: Director Jared Bush, Ginnifer Goodwin, Ke Huy Quan and producer Yvett Merino attend a virtual press conference for "Zootopia 2" on Tuesday. (Walt Disney Co. Korea)

"I know that I cannot put a jigsaw puzzle together if all of my pieces are the same shape," Ginnifer Goodwin said Tuesday in a virtual press conference.

The actor, returning as bunny cop Judy Hopps in "Zootopia 2," was explaining what the film is really getting at beneath all the slapstick chase scenes and talking-animal jokes. "You need all of the pieces to be all different shapes in order to make a beautiful puzzle."

Nine years after the original film topped $1 billion worldwide and drew 4.6 million cinemagoers in Korea, the sequel reunites the now world-famous bunny-fox duo for another case — this time involving Gary, a poisonous pit viper who shows up in Zootopia for reasons nobody can quite figure out.

It's a long-awaited follow-up to a film that became one of Disney's highest-grossing animated features and took home the 2017 Oscar for best animated feature. North American trackers are already projecting a haul in excess of $125 million across the long US Thanksgiving holiday after it opens on Nov. 26. Korea is looking at a strong showing too, especially with minimal competition from domestic releases in the year-end box office.

Director Jared Bush explained how the sequel picks up just one week after the original ended, an unusually tight timeline that lets the characters' flaws bubble up while giving them room to grow. "We really had to start to push them out of their comfort zones," he said. "Making sure that we're visiting new places was really important to us."

Goodwin jumped on that point. "Judy might, perhaps, have a problem with listening and micromanaging. Nick might have a problem with taking things a bit too seriously," she said. "We really get to grow and change with them on screen in real time from the get-go."

"Zootopia 2" (Walt Disney Co. Korea)

Ke Huy Quan, joining the franchise as the voice of Gary, said he initially questioned whether Disney had the right actor when they offered him the part. "I didn't think my voice sounded scary at all," he said.

But once he learned that Gary would be the first reptile to set foot in Zootopia in over a century — as a character that forces the community to reckon with its prejudices — he could not wait to get on board. "I wanted the audience to really feel what he was going through, especially when he experiences so many stereotypes and labels in life being this scary snake," he said.

The production pushed technical limits.

With 67 animal species, 178 characters and multiple new environments to bring to life, the film upgraded to Pixar's cutting-edge Presto 3D software, allowing for richer lighting effects and more vibrant color palettes. Producer Yvett Merino noted the challenge of coordinating over 700 people through the process. "A lot of times it's hard to shift quickly when the story needs to change," she said. "We make sure that we are all on the same page; we all communicate."

Music is expected to play a major role too, just as it did in the original with Shakira's Grammy-nominated "Try Everything." Oscar winner Michael Giacchino has returned to score the sequel, bringing 80 musicians into the studio for sessions that Bush described as almost improvisational in nature. For the celebratory anthem "Zoo," Shakira has been by Ed Sheeran and Blake Slatkin to create what the director called "this incredible banger of a song."

Quan brought it back to what drives the whole thing: a celebration of difference and diversity in a world that seems increasingly bent on dividing itself.

"As humans we have a propensity to shy away from people who are different than us," he said. "If we embrace each other's differences, the world will be a better place."

"Zootopia 2" opens in local theaters Nov. 26.