Why is Zootropolis 2 called Zootopia in the US?
Disney fans confused as to why animation needed different titles across the Atlantic
Disney is enjoying a strong pre-Christmas box office showing with its latest animation, despite the marketing headache of Zootropolis 2 having a different name in America.
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While US and British cinema-goers will have seen exactly the same film on either side of the Atlantic, there has been some confusion about why there are alternative titles.
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Zootropolis was released as Zootopia in the US when it came out in 2016 - and the sequel has been consistent, with “2” being added to the same name in the respective markets.
The film, directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, appropriately went to number two in the UK box office on its opening weekend, taking just shy of £6 million.
Although losing out to Wicked 2 (which has the same name in both the UK and US!) Zootropolis / topia has so far made $530m worldwide from a $150m budget.
But what is with the different names?
Why is Zootopia called Zootropolis in the UK?
Zootopia is called Zootropolis in the UK because Disney was unable to trademark that name in Europe due to a Danish zoo with the same name.
The concept of a mythical city of animals is actually more in line with Zootropolis, formed from the word ‘metropolis’, than a heavenly place formed from the word ‘utopia’.
An additional quirk is that the film could not be called Zootropolis either in Germany as that name clashes with a copyright of a 2010 book. The German version is thus called Zoomania.