Nick Wilde, Nibbles Maplestick and Judy Hopps in Marsh Town In Zootopia 2
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Shawn S. Lealos
Published 22 minutes ago
Shawn S. Lealos is an entertainment writer who is a voting member of the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle. He has written for Screen Rant, CBR, ComicBook, The Direct, The Sportster, Chud, 411mania, Renegade Cinema, Yahoo Movies, and many more.
Shawn has a bachelor's degree in professional writing and a minor in film studies from the University of Oklahoma. He also has won numerous awards, including several Columbia Gold Circle Awards and an SPJ honor. He also wrote Dollar Deal: The Story of the Stephen King Dollar Baby Filmmakers, the first official book about the Dollar Baby film program. Shawn is also currently writing his first fiction novel under a pen name, based in the fantasy genre.
To learn more, visit his website at shawnlealos.net.
Sign in to your ScreenRant account Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recapDisney Animation has had countless sequels to its classic movies, but only a few of them were sent into theaters. Walt Disney Studios released its first animated movie in 1937 with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It wasn't until the 1990s that Disney began releasing animated sequels, although most of them went straight to video.
That said, all the way back in 1990, Disney released its first animated sequel into theaters, and it wasn't a movie that many would've guessed would get one. Since that time, the Mouse House has been slightly picky about which movies it deems deserving of theatrical follow-ups, but recent box office success almost guarantees Disney sequels at this point.
This list only includes Disney animated films and does not include those from Disney-owned studios like Pixar.
Return To Never Land (2002)
Wendy sitting with Danny in Return to Never Land
Return to Never Land was a 2002 Disney animated sequel, and the second one to go to theaters after Disney began considering these wide releases in 1999. However, it also ended up as one of the worst Disney theatrical movies ever made, despite the film it followed being so beloved. This continued the story of Peter Pan.
Taking place years after Peter Pan met Wendy and the two had their grand adventure, Wendy is now an adult and a mother of her own kids. Little Jane has no time for make-believe, although her brother Danny wants to be a swashbuckler like his mother's stories about the boy who never grew up.
The film had some interesting ideas, including Jane's refusal to believe, costing Tinker Bell her magic, and the eventual reunion of Pan, still a boy, and the now grown-up Wendy. However, critics were lukewarm, giving the film mostly negative reviews, calling the songs "forgettable" and the story "lackluster." The magic of Peter Pan was missing.
The Jungle Book 2 (2003)
Baloo dancing in The Jungle Book 2
Released in 2003, The Jungle Book 2 arrived in theaters four decades after the original movie was released in 1967. The film picks up after Mowgli is living in the village with his adopted family, but he realizes he misses his animal friends too much. He then runs away and returns to Baloo to live again in the jungle.
However, Shere Khan is still around, and he wants revenge against Mowgli for their last encounter. The biggest problem with this Disney animated sequel is that it just tells the same story all over again, with Mowgli trying to survive with his animal friends as the vicious villain tries to hunt him down.
This might have worked for the straight-to-video sequels Disney had made up to this point, but a theatrical release needed more, both in the quality of the story and the animation, which was subpar for Disney at this point. This movie ended Disney's theatrical release of sequels for almost a decade.
Fantasia 2000 (1999)
a shot from Fantasia 2000
Possibly the best animated Disney sequel in its attempts at bringing old movies back for new fans, Fantasia 2000 had some big things going for it. The movie followed one of Disney's scariest animated movies, the original Fantasia in 1940, and kept both the scares, the brilliant abstract animation, and the music intact.
This Disney animated sequel expanded on the original movie by introducing eight new animated sequences, and it also kept the tendency to use classical music as the template. Names like Beethoven, George Gershwin, and Stracinksy had music in the film, and there were even some guest stars like Steve Martin, Bette Midler, and Quincy Jones.
The animation was stunning and far surpassed the two Disney animated sequels that followed it by leaps and bounds. If Disney had tried to do more sequels like this, and kept the animation as great as it was here, they might not have stopped after the next two theatrical flops soured the Mouse House on the idea of theatrical sequels.
The Rescuers Down Under (1990)
The Rescuers Down Under
It might be a surprise to know that the first animated Disney sequel to screen in theaters arrived in 1990. Released in 1990, The Rescuers Down Under was the sequel to the fun 1977 animated film, The Rescuers, one of the last great Disney animated releases before a series of disappointments in the 1980s.
The Rescuers Down Under takes the heroic mice to Australia to help find a missing boy, who was kidnapped by a villainous poacher. This was not only Disney's first animated sequel in theaters, but their first animated sequel at all, with a new management team (including Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg) deciding to give it a try.
The Rescuers Down Under was a fantastic movie, but it didn't do great at the box office, only grossing $47.4 million worldwide. That said, it has a high 85% fresh Rotten Tomatoes score, and it was part of the new upward trend for Disney animation as it entered the '90s and prepared for its revival.
Moana 2 (2024)
Moana looking to the horizon with a tree behind her in Moana 2
Moana 2 was a 2024 Disney animated sequel that continued the story of a young woman who saved her island village in the last movie and spent the last three years exploring other islands, looking for other people to help connect to the ocean. Unlike the previous four films, this was a sequel made based solely on box office success.
The original Moana came out in 2016 and made $687 million at the box office, while earning two Oscar nominations. The sequel, which brought back the voice cast (Auliʻi Cravalho as Moana and Dwayne Johnson as the demigod Maui) and furthered the story from the first film. However, while it was good, it wasn't up to the original movie.
Both Moana and Moana 2 were fantastic stories about a young woman finding herself and saving her people when they need her. In that area, the sequel was a success. However, the songs were a clear drop from the first movie, and the story just didn't quite match up to what came before, making it the worst of the recent Disney animated sequels.
Zootopia 2 (2025)
Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps in Partner Therapy In Zootopia 2
Zootopia 2 is the sequel to the smash 2016 Disney animated hit Zootopia. Of all the recent Disney animated sequels, this is the one that had the longest wait time between movies. What is most surprising is that, while it took nine years to get the sequel, only a few weeks passed since the first movie ended in the story.
The first movie saw Judy Hopps become the first bunny to make it into the Zootopia police force. She had to face bigotry inside the police force and the rampant racism of other animal species in her work as she hunted down abducted animals with a shifty fox named Nick Wilde. This time, Nick is Judy's police officer partner.
The movie keeps the same themes alive, as a snake shows up and people are as judgmental and hateful of it as they were of foxes. While this is a brilliant sequel and better than most original movies coming out these days, it still falls behind two other Disney animated sequels, but that doesn't discount how great Zootopia 2 is.
Ralph Breaks The Internet (2018)
Wreck-It Ralph and Vanellope von Schweetz in Ralph Breaks The Internet
Disney tried something different when it made Wreck-It Ralph as it was the most Pixar-like movie they had ever made. It had nothing to do with princesses and took the action inside a video game, something that seemed very unlike Disney at the time. What resulted was a huge hit that fans loved, and it warranted a sequel.
Wreck-It Ralph made $496 million and was nominated for an Oscar. After meeting Ralph, a video game villain who was actually a good guy, and Vanellope, a young woman who was previously a glitch in her own game, the sequel took their story in a fascinating direction. Instead of retelling the same story, this was a tale about friendship.
This is what all sequels should strive to do. This showed a completely different story when Ralph had to figure out what his friendship with Vanellope meant when she decided she wanted to do something else with her life. It was heartwarming and thoughtful, and one of Disney's best movies.
Frozen II (2019)
Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, and Sven in Frozen 2
Ralph Breaks the Internet proved that Disney animated sequels could be successful in theaters. As a result, it wasn't a shock that the next movie to do so was Disney's most successful animated sequel release. In 2013, Frozen made $1.280 billion at the box office, and it was clear Disney had a massive hit on its hands.
It took six years to get Frozen 2 made and into theaters because Disney wanted to ensure that the story would match up to the first, a shock for a major studio that usually makes these decisions on a financial basis. Frozen II used more complex animation tech in the film and tried to one-up the first movie visually.
This Disney animated sequel follows sisters Anna and Elsa and their friends into an enchanted forest to figure out more about Elsa's magical powers. It surpassed the first film, making $1.453 billion at the box office, while earning an Oscar nomination. It was such a success that a third movie is coming to theaters in 2027.
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