Duke Weaselton Sells Animal-Parody Disney Movies

What's There

Duke Weaselton’s bootleg DVD stand carries animal-world versions of Disney Animation’s own titles — the official roundup names Moana, Big Hero 6 and Tangled. Moana did not open until nine months after this film.

Why It Matters

The joke works on two levels at once. Within the film it characterises Duke — a small-time hustler selling knock-offs on the street — and outside it, the knock-offs are the studio’s own catalogue rewritten for a world of animals. The sharper detail is the timing: Moana did not open until nine months after this film, so the bootleg stall is selling a film the audience could not yet have seen. Disney Animation had been using its features to trail the next one for years, but doing it through a counterfeit DVD stand is a more self-aware version of the practice than a straightforward preview cameo.

Source: Disney’s official Zootopia Easter egg roundup (Disney Latino, in Spanish): “En el stand donde Duke vende DVDs, el público puede ver varios títulos conocidos, como Moana (2016), Grandes Héroes (¡otra vez!) y Enredados (2010)” — Duke’s DVD stand carries Moana, Big Hero 6 and Tangled. A previous version of this entry also listed Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen 2 and Gigantic; the official roundup names none of those, and they have been removed.