Disney’s 2016 film Zootropolis quickly became a fan favourite.
The plot follows rabbit cop Lt Judy Hopps and fox con artist Nick Wilde as they team up to unravel a conspiracy involving the disappearance of predators in the city, also known as Zootopia.
The Disney movie was a box office smash hit, raking in over $1billion (£81million( and becoming the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2016, according to IMDB.
However, despite being out for nearly a decade, fans are only now noticing that the film goes by several different names.
TikTok user Jade Blue shared a video showing the movie on Disney+, but listed under the name Zootropolis. She captioned the video: “Is this the Mandela effect? Was this not called Zootopia? Am I going crazy? Help lol”.
Another user echoed her confusion: “This how I felt when I saw Harry Potter and the sorcerer stone as the philosopher stone.”
Jade isn’t alone in noticing the varying titles for the film. On the DisneyPlus forum on Reddit, one user queried why the movie seemed to have changed its name.
One person responded: “I have the primary account and it says Zootropolis. My mum has a secondary and hers says Zootopia. We are in Australia where it was released as Zootopia so who knows why it changed.”
Another added: “Australian here too. What makes things so odd to me is that it’s titled ‘Zootropolis’ for me but every mention of the city itself in the movie is still ‘Zootopia'”.
A third commenter shared: “Yes I’m in Florida and Rhode Island both say zootropolis now. Like last week it was zootopia. I put it on cuz I thought it was a sequel but it says continue watching so I must have already watched it that’s the only reason I knew it wasn’t a sequel.”
Why does Zootropolis have multiple names?
However, users quickly clarified that the movie has different titles globally. Initially, the film was set to be titled Zootopia worldwide, but Disney later decided to rename it ‘Zootropolis’ in the UK and most of Europe, with the exception of ‘Zoomania’ in Germany. When questioned about the name change, a Disney spokesperson explained that they wanted a unique title for the UK market.
Some also speculate that copyright issues played a role, as the name ‘Zootopia’ was already trademarked by Denmark’s Givskud Zoo, which had registered the name ahead of opening a new area for their 50th anniversary in 2016. The trademark held by Givskud Zoo includes rights to sell clothing, games, and educational services under the name “Zootopia.”
Had Disney retained the American title for international releases, it may have conflicted with Givskud Zoo’s trademark, particularly concerning merchandise plans.
This post was originally published on here
