Hideo Kojima is one of the busiest people in video games right now. However, somehow the legendary developer has managed to find time in his busy schedule to voice a mole in Disney’s hit new movie, Zootopia 2.
Zootopia 2 premiered in theaters last week and has already grossed $566 million at the box office, the fourth-best opening weekend in movie history and the best ever for a movie notpart of the MCU. Disney’s work on the sequel isn’t done yet, though, as Zootopia 2 needs to be dubbed into other languages. When it’s time to record the Japanese dub, Kojima will be a part of the cast.
Hideo Kojima Is A Mole In Zootopia 2
Kojima will voice Paul Moldebrandt, a rather sleepy-looking mole who works in the Zootopia police department. Jared Bush, the movie’s director, approached Kojima with the opportunity to play a role in the movie, meaning it will be the first time the video game icon has ever lent his voice to an animated character.
“Since it came directly from director Jared Bush, I was incredibly honored and accepted without hesitation,” Kojima told Famitsu. “My participation was limited to a small scene, but even at the recording stage, the level of detail was impressive… I’m usually on the directing side, so I learned a lot from actually acting.”
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While he’s never done anything like this, Kojima has acted before, both in his own games and others, including cameo appearances in Cyberpunk 2077 and Control. This is a new experience for the former Metal Gear Solid director, however, and he has managed to squeeze it in during what appears to be one of the busiest periods of his career.
Kojima is currently working on at least two new games – OD and Physint. The Kojima Productions boss finds himself in the rather unique position of working for both PlayStation and Xbox at the same time. OD is up first and will be published by Xbox Studios, while Physint will be a PlayStation exclusive. Most likely a PS6 game as it seems unlikely the game will launch in time be be on PS5, unless it’s a cross-gen title.
He’s also overseeing so many Death Stranding adaptations that I’ve lost track of how many there are. I believe we’re up to at least two animated projects alongside the live-action movie.
It’s rather amusing to see Kojima being the one touted for a role in this way by Bush. The Death Stranding creator has become well known for befriending actors traditionally known for their movie work so that he can scan them and put them in his games. Now Kojima, a man intrinsically connected to the video game world, has been asked by a movie director to star in a film. I just hope it hasn’t pulled his attention away from finding that ghost he wants to scan.
- Release Date
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November 26, 2025
- Director
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Byron Howard, Jared Bush
- Writers
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Jared Bush
- Producers
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Jennifer Lee
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Ginnifer Goodwin
Judy Hopps (voice)
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Jason Bateman
Nick Wilde (voice)
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Ke Huy Quan
Gary De’Snake (voice)
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Jenny Slate
Dawn Bellwether (voice)
