Malcolm Gladwell

On a recent snowy day, I took my four and a half year old to a movie theater on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

This was only her second time ever at the movies.

She was very excited.

I bought her a large tub of popcorn.

The theater was crowded.

We were there to see Disney's Zootopia II, a film that is now the highest-grossing animated movie of all time.

We sat enraptured for the better part of two hours.

And at the end, she turned to me and said, Thank you, Daddy.

And I said to her, Oh, this wasn't for you.

This was for me.

I'm on assignment.

My name is Malcolm Gladwell.

You're listening to Revisionist History, my podcast about things overlooked and misunderstood.

The story I'm about to tell you is the strangest Hollywood story you have ever heard.

It makes no sense.

It invites all manner of absurd speculation.

It's going to take us two episodes to unravel it.

And even then, your mind will be in such a swirl that you will almost certainly feel compelled to seize Utopia II for yourself.

And if you've already seen it...

to grab any one of your available children and see it again, and to whisper under your breath when you think your little companion isn't listening, WTF.