Disney Animation's latest will be a test for new CCO Bush

Jared Bush is trying to make the heart of the media empire beat more consistently. 'Zootopia 2' will be a test, writes Brooks Barnes from Burbank, California

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From left, British actor Idris Elba, US actors Ginnifer Goodwin Jason Bateman and Ke Huy Quan at the UK premiere of Zootropolis 2 in London on Sunday.

(AFP)

"Permission to hug?" The Oscar-winning actor Ke Huy Quan had spoken the line six different ways. Soft. Bright. With a bit more hiss — he was voicing a character called Gary De'Snake in Zootopia 2, after all.

Alas, a seventh attempt was needed. "Maybe try one, like, out of the corner of your mouth," a disembodied voice suggested.

Mr Quan mopped sweat from the back of his neck with a towel and did his best.

"Oh, man, sounds so good!" the voice said. "Can we get one more with the slightest, slightest smile on the whole thing?"

The person putting Mr Quan through his recording booth paces that July morning was Jared Bush, who wrote Zootopia 2 and directed it with Byron Howard. In some ways, Mr Bush's push to get every syllable just right was standard filmmaker fastidiousness. But he also had a much bigger reason to strive for perfection.

Last year, Disney turned to Mr Bush to solve a problem at its 102-year-old animation studio. After more than a decade of uninterrupted success, Disney Animation had thrown a gear, serving up two humiliating clunkers in a row. Strange World, an adventure about a gay teenage boy and his three-legged dog, cost at least $220 million to make and market and took in $74 million worldwide. Wish, a poorly reviewed musical fantasy about an Afro-Latina teenager, cost an estimated $300 million and collected $255 million. (Disney splits ticket sales with theatres.)

So, Disney took action, removing Jennifer Lee as the division's chief creative officer and replacing her with Mr Bush, whose Disney Animation credits include writing or co-writing Moana (2016), Zootopia (2016) and Encanto (2021). The latter two films won Oscars.