Hop on the case of #Zootopia hidden Easter Eggs.https://t.co/wSicyQXuCw
— Disney (@Disney) June 19, 2016
There's a lot to take in when you're exploring Zootopia.
And with six animal-filled burrows—Bunnyburrow, Little Rodentia, Rainforest District, Sahara Square, Savanna Central and Tundratown—rookie police officer Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) has a lot of ground to cover. Though the eagle-eyed bunny has a knack for spotting trouble, even she might miss the Hidden Mickeys in Walt Disney Animation Studios' buddy cop comedy.
Zootopia is currently the second highest-grossing film of 2016, with $984 million and counting. Ahead of its June 7 release on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD and Digital HD, directors Byron Howard and Rich Moore talked to E! News about how some of the Easter eggs were buried in the movie.
Five Hidden Mickeys are uncovered in the video above, but there are plenty more to be found. "I don't even know where they all are," Moore admitted. "I probably know the tip of the iceberg of the Hidden Mickeys."
Howard credited the "very sneaky" animators with giving fans a little something extra to discover. "Clawhauser is a good example. To our knowledge, he is the first Disney character to have a hidden Mickey on his person in one of his spots. That came from Cory Loftis, who designed him. So being cheeky and a sneaky guy like he is, he hid a Mickey onto his cheek."
"I don't know if I saw it right away," he added. "I think the first time I saw it on Clawhauser was when they did something called 'grooming,' which we do for all the mammal characters to put all the hair on: 'Hey, he's looking good. Wait a minute! Look at that cheek!' So, yeah, they're sneaky. People will sneak in the birthdates of their kids and do things like that."
According to Moore, a staff member "tries to keep track of all the Hidden Mickeys during production." The task is easier said than done, of course. "I don't think that there's any way they can keep track of all of them, because there's so many different artists," the filmmaker said. "A scene will go through so many different hands. I'm sure there's more than we know."
Several of the animators have worked with the directors on previous projects, including Bolt, Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph, so they have an idea of how far they can push the limits. "They kind of self-edit," Howard said. "I think they kind of know what they can get away with." The directors meet with the animators and do "issuings" before each scene goes into production. By the time they are reviewing dailies (where one-by-one, the animators show them a scene they are currently working on), Moore can't believe what they've created. "I'm surprised every day in dailies. I think, 'Well, I have an idea of how this is going to come back.' But then, my God! The level of acting and nuance this group of artists put into each and every scene that they work on is awesome," he said. "I'm just absolutely floored every day working with these guys and girls."
Howard went on to describe the process of "plussing," which he first heard about from some "old animators" who had worked with Walt Disney himself. "The idea is that when it goes from script to storyboard, the storyboard artist should be expected not only to represent what's in the script, but also to enhance it and plus it and make it better. Every time it passes to new hands, it should get better and better. The Hidden Mickeys, in a way, are sort of an example of that. It's people who care enough to kind of put a little extra into the scene to make it a little bit more fun, or say, 'Hey, wouldn't it be funny to make these two little elephants dressed as Anna and Elsa from Frozen walking around?'" he told E! News. "We're like, 'Sure! What the heck?'"
Zootopia is out June 7 on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD and Digital HD.