Disney Facts!

Facts 4441-4470: Zootopia Themed Page

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Zootopia opens in theaters tomorrow, and it already has a 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes! The World Premiere must have done pretty well then. 

Onto the facts! 

Fact #4441
At 108 minutes, this is the longest movie by Walt Disney Animation Studios except for the anthology film Fantasia, released in 1940.

Fact #4442
It was November 2014 when the production team decided to change the story to emphasize Judy Hopps as the main character rather than Nick Wilde. To help with the difficulties of the late sudden change, Rich Moore was hired as a director alongside Byron Howard and Jared Bush. 

Fact #4443
In Big Hero 6, Honey Lemon's smartphone case looks like Nick Wilde. 

Fact #4444
Nick Wilde's design is heavily based off of Robin Hood.

Fact #4445
This is the third film in the Disney Animated Features canon to have anthropomorphic animals with no humans or non-anthropomorphic animals. The other two being Robin Hood, released in 1973, and Chicken Little, released in 2005.

Fact #4446
Mr. Otterton's full name, Emmitt Otterton, is a reference to the Emmett Otter's Jug-Band Christmas TV special, according to Byron Howard.

Fact #4447
Kristen Bell who voiced Princess Anna in Frozen is the voice of DMV Sloth, Priscilla.

Fact #4448
The actor who plays Peter Moosebridge is a real news anchor in Canada. ... Woot! Woot!

Fact #4449
Bears are scratching their backs against trees in a similar manner as Baloo. 

Fact #4450
Like most of the films that came before Zootopia when Lasseter first started to run Disney Animation, the film did some major research before heading into production. So they started researching animals at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Florida, where the animal experts helped give them a great foundation. 

Fact #4451
Zootopia has different neighborhoods to help celebrate cultures and climates. Saraha Square is like an upscale Monte Carlo with lots of casinos and shopping centers. Director Byron Howard joked that they took a research trip to Las Vegas to help design Sahara Square. Tundra Town is the polar opposite of that, which in inhabited by polar bears and arctic shrews. The Rainforest district is hot and humid. 

Fact #4452
About 80% of the designs that were created, do not get used in the movie. 

Fact #4453
Trees in Zootopia have about 30,000 leaves on them. 

Fact #4454
For the role of Nick Wilde, they wanted to find someone "Who could be charming, who could be smart and not be totally off-putting, and a total a-hole?"

Fact #4455
Even though Goodwin shoots Once Upon A Time in Vancouver, and Bateman is busy with films here in the states, both made the time to record their voices together to have natural chemistry. 

Fact #4456
Directors Bryon Howard and Rich Moore are in the film as nosy neighbors who eavesdrop on Judy.

Fact #4457
Early on, the citizens of Zootopia wore collars that prevented them from doing their natural behavior. This idea was scrapped. 

Fact #4458
Sometimes Disney Animation Studios' John Lasseter would stop by to see the progress of a film. In this case he stopped by to see how Zootopia was going. At this time, Character CG Supervisor Dave Komorowski revealed to us that Lasseter had seen a moment in the film where Nick was trying to eat a "tiny tiny" piece of cake, and that he wanted to see Nick's reaction and struggle with eating it. So to film reference for it, the animators filmed Lasseter trying to eat a little piece of cake that sat on top of a nickel. 

Fact #4459
The world of Zootopia is so huge that there are cities that had to get cut out of the film, but they exist on the map. The Meadowlands is all sheep. Outback Island is an Australian district. There is a nocturnal district with a city of caves, and there are probably other cities with reptiles and birds. 

Fact #4460
The characters in Zootopia are never just standing around. There's always a little story or a little something going on, which you often don't even notice until a second viewing. 

Fact #4461
The character of Bogo, the police chief, needed to be intimidating whenever he was on the screen. To get the feel right, they looked at body builders who are also in the Sheriff's department or are police officers. They realized that none of them could button their top button, so they went with that style for Bogo. 

Fact #4462
There are 64 unique species in Zootopia.

Fact #4463
Artists designing Assistant Mayor Bellwether were inspired by the lambs in the old Disney films "Make Mine Music" and "Melody Time." 

Fact #4464
Artists were inspired by Mufasa from Disney's classic film "The Lion King" when creating the look of Mayor Lionheart. 

Fact #4465
Nathan Warner, director of cinematography-layout, got a pat on the back from a real-life cheetah during their research trip to Africa. The rescued animal that caretakers had introduced to the filmmakers seemingly took offense to the camera Warner carried and leapt up to let him know. Both filmmaker and cat were just fine following the event. 

Fact #4466
When artists realized that real rabbits actually have a split upper lip, they decided to forego authenticity in this case and kept Judy's lip all together. 

Fact #4467
In Zootopia, they create a parody for the Apple iPhone. But instead of an apple, if you look closely on the back of their phones, it's a carrot.

Fact #4468
There were 550 people involved in the making of Zootopia. 

Fact #4469
According to Co-Director Jared Bush, there were over 1,170 drafts of Zootopia before the final cut.

Fact #4470
 Animators spent a lot of time researching how the hair of each animal falls, the true color of their hair, and how that hair moves in the wind. 

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I hope you all enjoyed these facts as much as I did!