Disney’s chief creative officer Jared Bush tapped Michael Giacchino to score the animated follow-up Zootopia 2. An Academy Award winner for Pixar’s Up, Giacchino has been a fixture on animated and tentpole projects since composing for 2004’s The Incredibles — his credits span Coco, Ratatouille, Inside Out and the original Zootopia, alongside work on Marvel, Star Wars, Disney live-action films and even his own directorial outing (including the unconventional MCU special Werewolf By Night).
What surprised the composer was a specific note from Bush and co-director Byron Howard after Giacchino delivered an early musical concept: “Can it be dumber?”
“The most insane score I’ve ever written”
At an early screening inside Walt Disney Animation Studios, Giacchino described scoring Zootopia 2 as a continual experiment in extremes: how far the music could veer into cartoonish territory while still supporting the film’s heart. “How cartoony can we get in the most incredible way?” he asked.
“This might be the most insane score I’ve ever written,” he said. “In one cue we go from homespun banjo to a ’70s cop-show vibe, spin into a French bistro, and then swing into heavy metal with full-on screaming. It’s erratic, but when it’s paired with the picture it lands.”
The studio repeatedly emphasized that cartoony spirit throughout the day. The sequel reunites mismatched partners Judy Hopps, a determined rabbit, and Nick Wilde, a sly fox (voiced again by Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman), as they pursue a slippery new antagonist — a snake played by Ke Huy Quan. Directors pushed to amplify the comedy this time while preserving the emotional core that anchored the first film.
“I loved the Warner Bros. cartoons,” Giacchino explained, citing Carl Stalling and the frenetic energy of Tom and Jerry as influences. “We had to hold onto the emotional story, but then go absolutely bonkers everywhere else.”
The sonic palette grew from that premise.
“We raided the percussion rental house,” he laughed. “We used a flapamba, an odd brass gong my son built in high school, and other homemade instruments my kids made over the years. Nothing was off the table. If someone offered a strange noise, Jared would just do this demonic ‘Yesssss’ and we’d put it in.”
Making music ‘dumb and dumber’
When asked what it means to “make the music dumber,” Giacchino said it’s an invitation to embrace silliness. “Cartoons taught us that instruments can do outrageous things — those eighth-grade, goofball sounds,” he said. “Dumber gives us permission to chase those impulses: what would you do with a trombone in middle school? Make weird noises. Or drop a ripping fiddle solo right in the middle of a tense action beat — choices you wouldn’t normally make, but that heighten the humor.”
He also stressed that directors shouldn’t have to translate musical terms. “Not everyone can talk about music technically, and that’s fine. Tell me the emotion you want — ‘sillier,’ ‘dumber’ — and I’ll interpret it. Vague, emotional direction is often the clearest path forward.”
Zootopia 2 vs. Empire Strikes Back
Image: 20th Century-Fox Film/Everett CollectionGiacchino said scoring a sequel forces a composer to decide when to honor familiar motifs and when to expand the soundscape. He looks to John Williams’ work on The Empire Strikes Back as a touchstone: rather than simply reusing earlier material, Williams broadened the palette to reflect fresh characters and settings.
“My rule is to identify what’s new and let that inform the music,” Giacchino said. “New characters and unexplored environments demand musical ideas that extend the world of Zootopia. That’s how a sequel earns its own life.”
Zootopia 2 will be in theaters on Nov. 26.
Source: Polygon
