'Zootopia' ('Zootropolis'?) coming sooner than you think

The release date of Disney’s forthcoming theatrical feature Zootopia (Zootropolis in the U.K., Portugal, Turkey and other countries; Zootropola in Croatia and Zwierzogród in Poland) is March 4, 2016. But on January 19, 2016, the Disney merchandising machine will release a slew of tie-in books, published by Disney print subsidiaries or licensed by it. Most, but not all of them, will be juvenile-oriented. Some of them, such as the Disney Zootopia Ultimate Sticker Book or Judy Hopps and the Missing Jumbo-Pop, will be little more than picture books featuring the leading characters. Others, such as the Zootopia Big Golden Book, will also be picture books but will show a condensation of the movie’s plot. And a few, such as Zootopia: The Official Handbook, Zootopia Junior Novelization and DK’s Disney Zootopia: The Essential Guide, will be of interest to the adult enthusiast. No lavish The Art of Zootopia coffee-table art book has been announced yet, but there will undoubtedly be one by next March – or sooner.

Update 10/15: Cover art for most of the books discussed in this article have been revealed.

There were a The Art of Tangled, The Art of Wreck-It Ralph, The Art of Frozen, The Art of Planes (including Planes: Fire & Rescue) and The Art of Big Hero 6 – virtually every Disney animated feature of this decade.

The same goes for juvenile novelizations. There have been novelizations of Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph and all the others. I wrote a review of Planes: Fire & Rescue: The Junior Novelization for Dogpatch Press. Yeah, they’re all written down for kids, but they’re usually 122 pages (they’re written to a formula), and follow the movie script very closely. If you want a detailed story synopsis with all of the names, including the names of all the minor characters that may have gone past you too fast to catch in the movie, reading the novelization may be easier than freeze-framing the DVD to get them. These novelizations are usually published a couple of months before the movie is released – January 19th vs. March 4th here – so this will give you the whole movie plot 1½ months before Zootopia comes out.

Be aware that the novelization may have a few very minor differences. This is usually due to the movie’s having a few last-minute adjustments after the script has been given to the writer for the novelization. Dialogue quoted in the novelization may be different due to the voice actor ad-libbing the line differently and the director liking the ad-lib better.

But in general, look on Amazon.com on January 19th to get a detailed advance look at the story of Zootopia.