IP Co-Branding Content Isn't Riding a Trend, It's a Time-Sensitive Precision Test
Zootopia 2 premiered in mainland China on November 26, 2025. In just 43 days, it surpassed Avengers: Endgame to become the highest-grossing imported film in Chinese cinematic history, accumulating over 4.5 billion RMB at the box office. It held the monthly box office title for three consecutive months and exceeded 100 million viewings, making it the first imported film in Chinese cinema history to reach that milestone.
Behind these numbers was a fierce IP co-branding battle among more than 70 brands.
According to statistics, over 70 brands officially announced co-branding partnerships before and after the release of Zootopia 2, spanning categories such as designer toys, dining, apparel, jewelry, automotive, and snacks—Luckin Coffee, McDonald's, Uniqlo, POP MART, Chow Tai Fook, and MINISO. Every brand was competing for the exact same window: the peak user attention period during the film's theatrical release.
That window is strictly limited. For co-branded content during a theatrical release, the turnaround time from brief confirmation to campaign launch is often only a week or even less. Within this narrow timeframe, brands face more than just the challenge of "creating a good piece of content." They must conquer a triple challenge: delivering in an extremely short production cycle, passing the rigorous review of a top-tier IP holder, and delivering high-impact visuals tailored for high-exposure outdoor media.
The Zootopia 2 co-branded commercial produced by FansAI for MINISO was a direct response to this triple challenge. Delivered in 5 days, approved by Disney on the first pass, and launched on the 170-meter naked-eye 3D sky screen at West Lake in Hangzhou.
Creativity Begins with the Medium: The Telescope as a Gateway Between IP Worlds
The 170-meter naked-eye 3D sky screen at Gonglian CC in the Hangzhou West Lake Hubin commercial district serves as MINISO's premier offline exposure site in Hangzhou. MINISO LAND's flagship store opened here while simultaneously launching the Zootopia 2 co-branded series.
This placement setting defined the creative starting point: audiences stand in the shopping precinct looking up at a massive 170-meter display. This physical viewing context itself is a resource for creative leverage.
FansAI's creative solution selected the "telescope" as the core visual motif—a telescope is a device for observing another world, as well as a "portal" connecting distinct IP universes. Judy, Nick, and Gary the Snake—a new character in Zootopia 2—enter the world of MINISO through the lens of a telescope, flowing naturally between the narrative spaces of both IPs.
This creative solution delivered two distinct values:
- Narrative Level: The telescope provided a device for switching worldviews that required zero prior explanation; audiences instantly understood that "two worlds are intersecting."
- Copyright Level: Original scene design allowed creative expression to be maximized within the boundaries of Disney's IP usage rules, rather than directly reproducing movie scenes—a crucial judgment call for passing review smoothly.
The True Barrier to Passing Top IP Review: It's Not About Resemblance, It's About Accuracy
Many brands face the same dilemma when creating Disney co-branded content: "Will AI-generated Disney characters fail the approval review?"
The answer depends not on whether the content was created by AI or humans, but on whether the creators understand Disney's quality standards.
Disney's content review focuses heavily on character accuracy—Judy's facial proportions, fur texture, and eye direction; Nick's body posture, outfit details, and dynamic temperament; Gary the Snake's scale texture, movement mechanics, and interactive logic with other characters. Every detail is benchmarked against the original film, and any deviation will be flagged during review.
At the technical execution level, FansAI utilized Nano Banana to perform multi-view, high-precision modeling for the three characters, establishing standardized reference frames across different angles and lighting conditions. This ensured that every frame withstood scrutiny under extreme magnification on a naked-eye 3D screen. Seedance 2.0 handled dynamic generation, focusing on controlling physical plausibility during movement—every action of Gary the Snake coiling, running, and interacting with Judy and Nick had to adhere to character personality logic while maintaining frame-to-frame stability. Final compositing was completed through an AE composite workflow to ensure spatial relationships between characters and background environments were naturally preserved under naked-eye 3D perspective geometry.
However, while tools are accessible to all, discernment is built over time. Nano Banana can handle modeling, but determining the exact precision range required for Judy's facial features to pass Disney's review relies on aesthetic standards and acceptance experience accumulated across multiple IP co-branding projects by FansAI. FansAI maintains an internal quality assessment framework for IP content, providing data-backed criteria for decisions at every node rather than experimenting for the first time when faced with Disney.
5 days, single-pass approval through double review by both Disney and MINISO.
170-Meter Naked-Eye 3D Screen: Content Must Serve the Medium
The extreme aspect ratio of 170 meters by 18 meters on the Hangzhou West Lake sky screen presented another major technical challenge for content adaptation.
The visual logic of naked-eye 3D displays differs fundamentally from standard screens: it requires content to generate a sense of depth that "breaks through the screen" from specific viewing angles. This demands precise spatial design tailored to the display's perspective geometry during production, rather than simply scaling standard video footage.
The creative concept of the telescope fulfilled a second purpose here: the circular composition of a telescope lens naturally possesses depth. The dynamic motion of characters stepping from "inside the lens" to "outside the screen" created a realistic spatial penetration effect within the naked-eye 3D visual environment—aligning narrative logic directly with physical display characteristics.
According to reports from Shangcheng News, after the advertisement launched on the ultra-wide screen at Gonglian CC, it attracted large crowds of fans taking photos, becoming one of the core offline foot-traffic drivers during the Zootopia 2 campaign in Hangzhou's Hubin commercial area.
Insights for Brands: The Window Logic of IP Co-Branding Content
The co-branding battle around Zootopia 2 highlights a real dilemma faced by brands in top-tier IP partnerships: the IP hype window is fixed, production cycles are compressed, IP review standards are strict, and venue technical specifications are highly specialized.
When these four variables are compressed into a short time frame, content creators must possess integrated capabilities across creative execution, technical production, copyright compliance, and media adaptation—if any link fails, the market window closes.
The value of AIGC in this context isn't merely speed; it is delivering speed without compromising quality on any dimension. Restoring IP characters accurately, maximizing creativity within copyright boundaries, and adapting spatially for naked-eye 3D screens—achieving all these simultaneously requires a validated content science workflow, not just a set of tools.
Periodically, blockbuster films like Zootopia 2 create box office miracles and spark co-branding wars among brands. The content that truly stands out is not what gets produced fastest, but what gets creative execution, technical quality, copyright compliance, and media performance right in the shortest amount of time.
As IP co-branded content transitions from passive viewing to active participation, FansAI's Roto is exploring new frontiers: enabling users to interact with co-branded IP content using text or voice to generate personalized storylines in real time. When every viewing becomes a unique experience, the lifecycle and value boundaries of IP co-branding content will be fundamentally redefined.