Shanghai, December 5, 2023 – On the eve of International Volunteer Day on December 5, and the official opening of the world’s first Zootopia-themed land on December 20, Shanghai Disney Resort hosted a special screening of the Walt Disney Animation Studios film Zootopia at the resort’s iconic Walt Disney Grand Theatre to promote wildlife conservation in China.
Guests representing several prominent environmental non-profit organizations and outstanding environmental volunteers from these organizations were invited to enjoy the highest grossing foreign animated film in China’s box office history to date and reconnect with the story’s beloved mammalian characters.
Before the screening, Shanghai Disney Resort reaffirmed Disney’s longstanding commitment to promoting wildlife conservation by announcing a donation of RMB 1 million to the China Environmental Protection Foundation (CEPF), helping to launch the two-year “My Hometown Animals and Me,” a national conservation education campaign. The first phase of the program will encourage students in grades three to nine across the country to tell stories from their unique perspectives on how they observe, learn and protect wildlife in their lives. The campaign will help promote greater efforts to protect wildlife and their habitats so that the animals which inspired the residents in the world of Zootopia continue to live and thrive in their natural habitats. This program will also fund a series of “My Hometown Animals and Me” themed handbooks, written by various experts in the fields of biodiversity and nature education. These handbooks will be distributed to schools beginning with Shanghai, Yunnan province and Sichuan province and leveraged for offline interactive courses to promote care for nature and foster the environmental awareness of biodiversity conservation among primary and secondary school students.
To further build awareness and inspiration, the resort introduced leading actress Zhao Liying as the first Zootopia Tourism Authority Official Ambassador. Zhao Liying shared a greeting message via video to the audience, expressing her excitement for the opening of Zootopia, her personal passion for wildlife conservation, and encouraged the audience to participate in the “My Hometown Animals and Me” conservation education campaign.
“At Shanghai Disney Resort, we proudly embrace our role in protecting the magic of our natural world by supporting conservation of wildlife and their habitats for future generations,” said Andrew Bolstein, Senior Vice President of Shanghai Disney Resort. “Disney Animations’ Zootopia mirrors the harmony we strive to achieve between different species in our own world, and we are thrilled to celebrate International Volunteer Day together with our non-profit and volunteer organizations to inspire action towards a happier and healthier planet.”
Shanghai Disney Resort is committed to reducing environmental footprint, caring for wildlife and their habitats, and creating stories that inspire action. The commitment has led to the establishment of an annual tradition. Each year in the month of April, Shanghai Disney Resort celebrates “Earth Month,” providing a platform for various organizations to spotlight endangered animal species and their habitats across the country. This event is an embodiment of the support from Shanghai Disney Resort towards practicing responsible citizenship, through direct action and engagement with non-profit organizations and grassroots volunteers. This collective effort is part of what is called Disney Planet Possible – tangible actions to put possibility into practice and inspire optimism for a brighter, more sustainable future.
As Zootopia in Shanghai Disneyland prepares to officially welcome guests on December 20, 2023, the importance of wildlife conservation is spotlighted in the representation of a mammalian metropolis where animals, both predators and prey, live together in harmony, a contrast with the challenges which real wildlife and their habitats face each day. Through the messages of living in harmony with nature shared in the city of Zootopia, Shanghai Disney Resort hopes guests will gain a greater passion to promote wildlife conservation in their own communities and hometowns, so that animals large and small continue to thrive throughout our real world.
