The long-awaited sequel to Disney’s Zootopia is almost here, and the film hones in on the power of partnership.

In Zootopia 2, fans find Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde taking on a whole new form of responsibility as they serve as rookies in the police force. While this will be a pretty chill year, the unlikely duo serves up adventure like never before and welcomes a new reptile friend along the way.

What the evolution of ‘Zootopia’ looks like nearly a decade later

“Ten years is a long time in general, but in the technology world, it’s like almost a lifetime, because so much has changed,” said Zootopia 2 producer Yvett Merino in our recent crew interview for Blavity’s Shadow and Act when asked how the advancement of technology has affected the new film.

She added, “We’re so excited that we were able to implement Presto into our pipeline with this film. It’s never easy implementing new software into a pipeline, especially with a sequel, where we have characters that were built in the old pipeline and animated with Maya. We work closely with our artists. They all kind of came together with our software engineers to make sure that the evolution of the pipeline kind of worked well for everyone, and we were able to kind of work in both worlds.”

Her colleague and co-head of story on the film, David VanTuyle, echoed the sentiment.

“We’re always looking to the real world, like people and stuff,” he said. “As artists, we’re always studying people and animals and that kind of thing and trying to figure out a way ot get that into the film. Going back to this one, and partnerships, and Nick and Juday’s relationship, was our main goal. And, again, asking, ‘Where are these characters now?’ Even with some of the returning characters like Flash or Mr. Big, just trying to figure out what’s the new thing we could put these characters in?”

Introducing reptiles to the ‘Zootopia’ world.

From the beginning, Zootopia 2’s director, writer, and chief creative officer, Jared Bush, and director Byron Howard had a vision for introducing reptiles to the world.

With the sequel, now personified by the introduction of a snake by the name of Gary, that shakes up the mundane life of rookie cops Judy and Nick.

“To have a snake be that emotive, he’s such a vulnerable character,” Howard told us. “I think it’s not an easy feat to say, now the snake’s gonna do something that’s gonna make you cry. That’s dozens of people working on this. Talented artists. It’s also technicians going and figuring out the software to make that work.”

Bush added, “Every animal has these incredible superpowers, you’re gonna see that in this movie, there’s some really special things that they can do, in our research. It was actually interesting, because humans, as mammals, like mammals more.”

He continued, “They actually contribute more to mammal research than reptile research, and so doing the research in this was a little more difficult than the first film, because there wasn’t as much to draw from. Some of the things we found out are that some snakes, you may not assume this would be true, are great parents. You would never think that some snakes find each other and slither side to side, which to me, I didn’t believe. There are these really interesting things along the way that you find, preconceived notions, about what these guys are that are completely wrong.”

The art behind animation

During the event that previewed the film, which includes original music from Shakira, Zootopia 2 composer Michael Giacchino led a live band that showcased the process behind scoring the movie.

At the conclusion of his segment, the notable musician revealed that “animation doesn’t happen unless you have collaboration,” speaking to the most rewarding part of the process, which the head of animation, Chad Sellers, and Kira Lehtoma also elaborated on.

“The most rewarding part is sort of the final product when you see, I mean, I think for us, we have a privileged opportunity, because we get to know all the little behind-the-scenes stories and all the people that threw out the idea that goes into the final frame. But, when you sit there in the audience, and people are laughing at the right spot, and they’re crying at the right spot, it’s like you see that teamwork comes all together.”

Sellers added, “When it comes to just the collaboration and the amount of people it takes tom make one small thing happen, and just the passion that you see everyone bring every day, and knowing that we are such a team, and we have each other’s back, all trying to achieve the same great film, I think, seeing it, at the end of the day, and when it’s all finished on the big screen, you just remember those days where everybody’s just working towards the same gola, and it finally happens and it’s amazing.”

Zootopia 2 premieres in theaters across the United States on Nov. 26.

Watch the full interviews below:

Zootopia 2

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