Shanghai Disney Resort announced on Wednesday plans to expand its theme park, bringing the characters and stories from one of The Walt Disney Company's newest and most popular animated films, "Zootopia", to life.

This will be the second major expansion of Shanghai Disneyland, which has welcomed millions of guests since its successful opening in June 2016. Zootopia will become the eighth themed section at the world's newest Disney park, and the first anywhere with a Zootopia theme. 

"We are thrilled to announce that Shanghai Disneyland will be home to the world's first Zootopia-themed land," said Bob Chapek, chairman of Parks, Experiences and Consumer Products of The Walt Disney Company. "The rapid expansion at Shanghai Disney Resort demonstrates our confidence and commitment to the company's future development in China."

The announcement comes less than a year after the opening of the resort's first major expansion – Disney·Pixar Toy Story Land – confirming its rapid success since its opening, and confidence in growing consumer demand for themed entertainment in China.

Zootopia will be unique to Shanghai Disneyland and will feature a new major attraction that blends Disney's storytelling abilities with state-of-the-art technology in order to bring this highly popular movie and its characters to life by inviting visitors to fully immerse themselves in the mammalian metropolis of Zootopia.

Yang Jinsong, chairman of Disney's Chinese joint venture partner for the Shanghai Disney Resort – the Shanghai Shendi Group – said: "Since the resort's Grand Opening in 2016, Shanghai Disneyland has gone from strength to strength, continuing to expand. 

"[It] has rapidly become one of the fastest growing Disney parks and one of the most visited leisure destinations in the country. This new expansion will provide our guests with an even richer selection of offerings, and will further boost our market competitiveness."

The development of the Zootopia-themed land follows on from the huge success of the animated movie "Zootopia" across the world, and particularly in China, where it broke box office records to become the country's No. 1 animated feature film of all time, grossing 1.52 billion yuan (US$235.59 million), while the characters and stories from the film have strongly resonated with Chinese visitors in buying Zootopia-themed merchandise, digital interactive games, etc.

With the construction of the Zootopia feature due to begin later this year, the new land will continue to be a key driver of multiple local industries from the construction, design and tourism sectors, and will help to create even more direct and indirect job opportunities in the local community.

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