Following 10 years of service at Walt Disney Animation Studios, Rich Moore, director of Wreck-it-Ralph (and its sequel) and co-director of Zootopia, is leaving for Sony Pictures.
Many in the Zootopia community are aware of the movie’s co-director Rich Moore, who has made a name for himself in the fandom with his exuberant support of Wildehopps on twitter, where he would often reply to fans’ questions and make teasing posts about the potential behind Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps’ relationship. It was revealed just this week by Sony Pictures Animation that Rich Moore would be leaving his decade-long role at Disney to work for them into the future.
But this doesn’t spell the end for any future official Zootopia content, nor should it squash the hopes of Wildehopps shippers, either – not by a long shot! Rich Moore was one cog (albeit an important one) in a very well-oiled machine, and despite his departure from Disney, those left will surely work to create more magic to come. We at ZNN and the Zootopia community as a whole thank Mr. Moore for his aid in creating the movie that brought us all together, and for igniting the interests of fans across the world through his continued support of the community and what it stands for.
Honestly I feel worried for the sequel, Byron is flying solo now and I kind of thing it was a joint effort that made the film a huge success. Even with the messed up things John Lasseter did he guided the both of them to what become what is zootopia today. I think a lot of chances of also getting nick and judy officially shipped has dropped as well.
I wish him luck over there at Sony and he starts a new legacy there for himself.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the sequel. The toughest part of creating the first film was determining the world in which it existed. The groundwork has been very firmly established, and they have said in interviews that there was far too much of that world to fit in only the one movie. I don’t think they will have any trouble steering any number of stories from what they created just to present Zootopia. Look forward to a continuing rich tapestry of life without primates in upcoming continuations. I’m hoping for at least a trilogy.
Sony Pictures Animation:
The Good — Spiderman, into the Spiderverse
The Bad — Peter Rabbit
And The Ugly — The Emoji Movie