Zootopia 2 Photo: VCG

Disney's animation blockbuster Zootopia 2 is grossing record box-office numbers in China as the cinemas are packed, and more moviegoers are queuing up to snap up tickets during the weekend, according to Chinese media outlet National Business Daily on Tuesday.

The film has received a rating of 8.5/10 on Chinese review platform Douban. 

Some cinemas scheduled three screenings in the early hours of Saturday, with the last show starting at 00:45 am and ending at 2:33 am, the NBD reported.

Over the weekend, many theater managers observed that the bustling atmosphere in cinemas felt reminiscent of the Spring Festival season.

According to data from online ticketing platform Maoyan, it is estimated that on Saturday, the single-day box office of Zootopia 2 topped 700 million yuan ($98.99 million), while the film's total box office forecast is adjusted to hit 4.263 billion yuan.

This year, the single-day box office record is held by Chinese animation star Ne Zha 2, released during this year's Spring Festival season, with 866 million yuan. The performance of Zootopia 2 seems to catch up, rapidly.

"It seems that Zootopia 2 has no competitors. Some cinemas with fewer screening halls are showing this film for the entire day," Li Yanlu, manager of Ji'nan New Century Cinema in East China's Shandong Province, was quoted as saying.

A moviegoer who saw the film on Saturday night told the Global Times that Beijing's CBD is way more crowded than usual, because a movie theatre was screening the film and many moviegoers had cosplayed as the film's animated stars - Judy and Nick.

As of 23:00 pm on Saturday, the cumulative box office of Zootopia 2 had exceeded 1.4 billion yuan. It is almost certain that the film, at its current rate, will surpass The Fate of the Furious - which earned 2.67 billion yuan in China - to become the second-highest-grossing imported film in China.

It may challenge the champion, also from Disney, Avengers: Endgame, which has grossed 4.25 billion yuan.

According to analytics platform Dengta.com, the screening share of Zootopia 2 on Saturday reached 77.9 percent, while its box office share reached a rare high of 94.9 percent.

According to the latest data from Maoyan, shared with the Global Times on Tuesday, the movie has grossed $274 million in the Chinese mainland market.

Global Times