| Kung Fu Panda 4 | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Mike Mitchell |
| Written by | |
| Produced by | Rebecca Huntley |
| Starring | Jack Black |
| Cinematography | Joshua Gunther |
| Edited by | Christopher Knights |
| Music by |
|
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 94 minutes[2] |
| Country | United States[3] |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $85 million[4] |
| Box office | $547.7 million[5][6] |
Kung Fu Panda 4 is a 2024 American animatedmartial artscomedy film directed byMike Mitchell and written byDarren Lemke,Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. The fourth film in theKung Fu Panda franchise, it was produced byDreamWorks Animation. It featuresJack Black,Bryan Cranston,James Hong,Ian McShane, andDustin Hoffman reprising their roles from the previous films. In the film,Po—who must find and train his successor as the new Dragon Warrior—teams up with fox bandit Zhen to defeat evil sorceress The Chameleon, who plans to steal the kung-fu abilities of all deceased masters in China.
DreamWorks announced the fourth film in August 2022, with Mitchell, Stephanie Ma Stine, and Huntley attached as director, co-director, and producer, respectively, by April 2023. In December 2023, most of the main voice cast, along with the return of Aibel and Berger as writers and co-producers, were confirmed. Lemke's involvement was confirmed in February 2024. ComposerHans Zimmer, who had scored for the previous three installments, returned as composer alongside frequent collaborator Steve Mazzaro.
Kung Fu Panda 4 premiered at the AMC 14 Theater atThe Grove in Los Angeles on March 3, 2024, and was theatrically released in the United States on March 8 byUniversal Pictures. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and was commercially successful, grossing $547.7 million worldwide on an $85 million budget, outgrossing its predecessor to become theninth-highest-grossing film of 2024. The film received three nominations at the52nd Annie Awards and one nomination at the52nd Saturn Awards for Best Animated Feature.
While Po helps his fathers—his biological father Li Shan and his adoptive father Mr. Ping—open their new restaurant, Master Shifu tells him that he must advance and become the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace, which means Po can no longer be the Dragon Warrior and must find a suitable successor to take his place.
Po struggles to choose the right candidate as he does not want to lose his status, and he stumbles upon afox bandit namedZhen trying to steal ancient weapons from the Jade Palace. Po outsmarts Zhen and sends her to prison, but a group of mine workers tells him thatTai Lung has returned from the Spirit Realm and destroyed an entire quarry. Zhen reveals that Tai Lung's return was masqueraded by a sorceress known asThe Chameleon, who can shape-shift into any animal she wants as well as copying various kung fu skills simply by touching them.
Po and Zhen join forces and travel to Juniper City to take down The Chameleon, with the former unaware that his fathers, worried that he will not stand a chance against her, are following them. After visiting a shifty tavern and fighting off the inhabitants, Po and Zhen soon arrive at Juniper City and are almost arrested, but they are able to escape thanks to the Den of Thieves, where they receive aid from Han, the den'spangolin leader and Zhen's old mentor. From there, Po and Zhen head to The Chameleon's lair until Po is captured. It is then revealed that Zhen has been acting as a double agent for The Chameleon, and was tasked to acquire Po's Staff of Wisdom,[a] which has the power to access the Spirit Realm. Po almost manages to escape, but The Chameleon, taking Zhen's form, fools him and throws him off a cliff, much to Zhen's horror. He nearly falls to his death but is rescued by the timely arrival of his fathers, who convince him that sometimes change can be good.
Using the staff, The Chameleon summons every deceased kung fu master and steals their skills, including three of Po's past enemies;Lord Shen,General Kai, and the real Tai Lung. After defecting for good, the guilt-stricken Zhen reunites with Po and apologizes for betraying him, but he refuses to back down from facing The Chameleon, so Zhen, Mr. Ping and Li head back to the Den of Thieves to convince them to help them save Po. As they battle The Chameleon's army ofKomodo dragons, Po tries to reason with The Chameleon to no avail, although she does give the staff back to him as she no longer needs it. They battle one-on-one, but when Zhen intervenes, The Chameleon turns into aChimera made up of several kung fu masters. Eventually, she shifts into Po himself and fights him, and quickly traps him in a cage before reverting to her original form.
Putting his trust in Zhen, Po gives her the staff, with which she bests The Chameleon. Po, who was only pretending to be trapped, defeats The Chameleon and returns all of the stolen kung fu to their owners, who show respect to Po and return to the Spirit Realm, with Tai Lung finally acknowledging Po as the Dragon Warrior and forcibly taking The Chameleon with him. While returning to the Valley, Po chooses Zhen as his successor, much to Shifu's dismay, and trains her to become the next Dragon Warrior, becoming confident with his choice.
Additionally,the Furious Five is featured in a non-speaking appearance in the end credits, excludingSeth Rogen providing screams for Mantis. Lord Shen and General Kai also have non-speaking appearances when The Chameleon is summoning villains from the Spirit Realm, including a clique of past Kung-Fu masters.YouTuberJimmy "MrBeast" Donaldson has acameo appearance as Panda Pig, a pig painted black-and-white who is one of the five candidates for the next Dragon Warrior.[9]
On December 3, 2010, then-DreamWorks Animation CEOJeffrey Katzenberg said that there was a possibility the series could have three more sequels afterKung Fu Panda 3, bringing it to a six-film series.[10] On January 13, 2016,Collider asked the filmmakers ofKung Fu Panda 3 about the possibility of a fourth film. Co-directorJennifer Yuh Nelson stated, "It's one at a time. We want to make this a perfect jewel, and then we'll see what happens after that". Co-directorAlessandro Carloni said, "With the sequels, we don't want to try to have them feel open-ended. We want it to feel like a completed journey, and we feel this movie does. And then, if a fantastic story presents itself, great".[11] On August 2, 2018, when asked about the possibility ofKung Fu Panda 4, Nelson replied that she always saw the series as a trilogy, but was open to a fourth installment as long as the franchise focused onPo.[12]
In August 2022, DreamWorks Animation confirmed thatKung Fu Panda 4 was in production.[13] AtCinemaCon in April 2023, more details for the film were revealed, such as the premise as described byJack Black.[14] It was also announced thatMike Mitchell, the director ofShrek Forever After andTrolls, was set to direct the film, with Stephanie Ma Stine co-directing and Rebecca Huntley producing.[15] Mitchell was a creative consultant on the first film and an executive producer on the third film. The film was originally planned to be alive-action/animated hybrid, according to Ma Stine. Characters such as The Chameleon (known as The Collector) and Zhen would have been humans. This would all eventually be scrapped.[16]
By December 2023, it was reported thatJonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger returned to write the screenplay.[17] In February 2024,Darren Lemke was revealed to have co-written the screenplay.[1] Mitchell describedKung Fu Panda 4 as a love letter tothe first film.[8][18] Despite its connections to previous entries in the series, he wanted the story to stand on its own.[18] When producing the third film, Mitchell felt that Po'scharacter development from the first film was wrapping up due to finally becoming the Dragon Warrior, so he wondered what if another sequel took "all that" away, leading the filmmakers to find some "really great heavy themes" that they felt are important for the modern world.[19] Additionally, Mitchell wanted to evolve Po's character, introduce new characters, and expand the franchise's world,[20] feeling that the film took so long to be produced because the filmmakers wanted a perfect story that could evolve Po by making him learn something to advance to the next level.[19] He described Po as having a black-and-white view of the world and wanted to pair him with a more morally grey character, Zhen. Mitchell also wanted a character who Po can be frustrated by, like how Shifu gets frustrated by him.[8]
For The Chameleon, Mitchell sought to make her a more-brain-than-brawn kind of villain.[8] He went on to say that she is the smartest and most supernatural foe Po has faced.[21][18] He described The Chameleon as a mirror to Po in that both characters were underestimated by society for their bodies, but went on to gain high status. He said, "So Po has become the greatest hero, and now she's the greatest villain".[18] Mitchell felt that one of the things theKung Fu Panda franchise stands out for, aside from Black's Po, are its villains, so he made sure that The Chameleon could be as formidable as Tai Lung, Lord Shen and General Kai, hence his reasoning to specifically bring the former back into this sequel's story.[19] Lord Shen, Kai, and the Furious Five were added to the film at the last minute.
In May 2023, it was reported thatAwkwafina had joined the voice cast of the film.[22] In December 2023, it was announced thatKe Huy Quan andViola Davis would join the cast, with the latter playing the villain of the film, The Chameleon.[23][24]Lori Tan Chinn andRonny Chieng were also announced as new cast members,[8] withIan McShane,Bryan Cranston,James Hong, andDustin Hoffman reprising their roles from the previous films.[7][25] Mitchell stated that he is a fan of McShane's work and that it was a "blast" to be able to work with him; had McShane refused to reprise his role as Tai Lung, there was no alternate plan for the film's story, as filmmakers had "locked in" for Tai Lung's return.[19]
In December 2023, Mitchell stated that Masters Tigress, Monkey, Crane, Mantis, and Viper—known collectively as the Furious Five—would make an appearance in the film and that they are "off on their own individual missions", with producer Rebecca Huntley confirming that there would be "a glimpse of the Furious Five".[8][21] In a March 2024Discord Q&A session in a fan server, co-director Stephanie Ma Stine noted that the Furious Five were not originally going to appear despite protests from writers, artists, and animators. She explained that it was due to the costs of the original actors, especiallyAngelina Jolie as Tigress. However, the marketing department told the filmmakers to include them in acameo appearance.[26] Ma Stine also expressed interest in havingSungWon Cho be part of the film.[27]
Mitchell stated that the film's fight scenes reflect advances in both technology andkung fu,[8] and took more influence fromanime than previous films in the series.[18] Stunt performers fromMarvel films joined production to give the animators moves to study and use in the choreography.[8] The Chameleon was DreamWorks' most complex character to animate, with a total of 8,130 controls.[28] While most of the animation for the film was provided by DreamWorks Animation Glendale,Jellyfish Pictures—who previously worked with DreamWorks onHow to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming,Spirit Untamed,The Boss Baby: Family Business, andThe Bad Guys—handled the additional asset production services using proprietary software like Premo and Moonray.
Kung Fu Panda 4 andThe Wild Robot were the last two films to be made entirely in-house at DreamWorks Animation, asCartoon Brew reported on October 6, 2023, that the studio would be moving away from producing films in-house in their Glendale campus to rely more heavily on outside studios after 2024.[29]
In December 2023,Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazzaro, the former of whom also composed for the first three films, were announced to compose the film's score.[30] Acover ofBritney Spears' "...Baby One More Time" byTenacious D is featured in the end credits. The album was released on March 8, 2024, simultaneously with the film's release, byBack Lot Music.
Po returned to theMacy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in November 2023 as promotion for the film.[31] The trailer for the film, featuringThe White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army", along with a poster, was released on December 13, 2023. The trailer was viewed over 142 million times in the first 24 hours across allsocial media, becoming the most-viewed trailer for a Universal animated film, surpassingIllumination'sThe Super Mario Bros. Movie,Minions: The Rise of Gru, andSing 2, as well as DreamWorks' ownPuss in Boots: The Last Wish.[32]
Kung Fu Panda 4 premiered at the AMC 14 Theater atThe Grove in Los Angeles on March 3, 2024, and was released in the United States on March 8,[33][13] with showtimes a day prior.[34] The film was shown at theColumbia University School of the Arts on March 1, 2024.[35]
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment releasedKung Fu Panda 4 fordigital download on April 9, 2024, and on4K Ultra HD Blu-ray,Blu-ray, andDVD on May 28. Physical copies contain anaudio commentary, behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, recreational activities, and a short film titledDueling Dumplings.[36][37]
The film was made available to stream onNBCUniversal'sPeacock streaming service in the US on June 21, 2024.[38] As part of an 18-month deal withNetflix for Universal's animated films, the film streamed on Peacock for the first four months of the pay-TV window, before moving to Netflix for the next ten beginning on October 21,[39] and returning to Peacock for the remaining four beginning on August 21, 2025.[39][40][41]
Kung Fu Panda 4 grossed $193.6 million in the United States and Canada and $354.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $547.7 million.[6][5]Deadline Hollywood calculated the film's net profit as $178 million, accounting for production budgets, marketing, talent participations and other costs; box office grosses, television and streaming, and home media revenues, makingKung Fu Panda 4 the eighth-most profitable blockbuster of 2024.[42]
In the United States and Canada,Kung Fu Panda 4 was released alongsideImaginary andCabrini, and was projected to gross $45–50 million from 3,900 theaters in its opening weekend.[4][43] The film made $19.4 million on its first day, including $3.8 million from Thursday night previews.[44][45] It went on to debut to $58 million, topping the box office and becoming the highest opening weekend for a DreamWorks Animation film sinceMadagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted in 2012.[46][47] The film made $30.1 million in its second weekend (a drop of 48%), remaining in first.[48] It made $16.5 million in its third weekend, finishing in third behind newcomerGhostbusters: Frozen Empire andDune: Part Two.[49]Kung Fu Panda 4 completed its domestic theatrical run on June 6, 2024.[50]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 71% of 164 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "Kung Fu Panda 4 offers enough eye-catching entertainment to sustain the franchise's young fans, although it's starting to feel like this series is running out of steam."[51]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 54 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[52] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale (the same as thefirst film), while those polled byPostTrak gave it an 80% overall positive score, with 59% saying they would recommend it.[45]
Frank Scheck ofThe Hollywood Reporter wrote, "With its new settings and characters, including Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan as a pangolin leader of a den of thieves and Ronnie Chieng as a fish that lives in a pelican's mouth,Kung Fu Panda 4 clearly aims to refresh the franchise. But it's really more of the same, which is not such a bad thing when you consider that the series has grossed some $1.8 billion so far (and that's not including the spin-off projects, including various television series and video games). Its appeal still lies largely in Black's hilarious vocal performance which has lost none of its charm."[53] Emma Stefansky ofIGN gave it a positive score of 7 out of 10, stating while the Furious Five are absent, "Kung Fu Panda 4 gives martial arts panda Po a new friend, a new adversary, and a new job, while keeping the stylized animation and exciting fight scenes that make this series a delight".[54] Wilson Chapman ofIndieWire gave the film a B− and wrote: "Black can, at this point, play this role in his sleep, but he still gives it his all in his fourth go around, and his pitch perfect comic timing and lovable earnestness makes the journey an easy one to take."[55]
ForThe New York Times, Claire Shaffer complimented the film's art direction and Black and Awkwafina's chemistry; overall, she felt it "is an enjoyableKung Fu Panda movie, even if it's missing some of the pizazz of the earlier ones."[56] A review inLe Devoir took notice of the reduced production budget, writing "the images are less spectacular" and it brought "the franchise back to the essence of the art of cartoon (but by computer all the same), its Disneyesque characters, and the settings, still rich in depth and color, of the Valley of Peace, this fantastic reproduction of Ancient China."[57]DiscussingFilm gave it 4 stars out of 5 and wrote "Kung Fu Panda 4 is not a sequel many thought we needed but one we'll be happy that it exists. It features the best action DreamWorks has ever created and the story pushes Jack Black's Po in an exciting direction".[58]
Owen Gleiberman ofVariety unfavorably compared the film to its predecessors, writing, "Even after 16 years of Po, you want to hear Jack Black's voice charged with that youthful cockeyed exuberance, rather than the older-and-wiser aura he exudes here. You also wish the movie had better jokes. Mitchell, co-directing with Stephanie Stine, doesn't stage the action bouts with the surreal freedom that animation makes possible. Po goes through the motions, but I'm sorry, the kick is gone."[59] Similarly,The Boston Globe's Odie Henderson expressed disappointment with the film's villain and action sequences, concluding "I enjoyed the first three adventures of the Dragon Warrior, but the best thing he can do now is to give this series a much needed skadoosh, sending it to rest in the cinematic spirit realm."[60]
Christy Lemire, in her review forRogerEbert.com, wroteKung Fu Panda 4 "struggles to justify its existence. It lacks both the delicate artistry and warm wit of its predecessors. The subtle sense of spirituality is long gone; in its place are frantic action sequences."[61] In a mixed review for theLos Angeles Times, Katie Walsh stated: "Though visually dazzling,Kung Fu Panda 4 shows a flabby franchise in need of punch."[62]
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annie Awards | February 8, 2025 | Best Animated Feature | Kung Fu Panda 4 | Nominated | [63] |
| Outstanding Achievement for Animated Effects in an Animated Production | Zachary Glynn, Alex Timchenko, Kiem Ching Ong, Yorie Kaela Kumalasari and Jinguang Huang | Nominated | |||
| Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in an Animated Feature Production | Patrick Guisiano | Nominated | |||
| NAACP Image Awards | February 22, 2025 | Outstanding Animated Motion Picture | Kung Fu Panda 4 | Nominated | [64] |
| Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards | July 13, 2024 | Favorite Animated Movie | Nominated | [65] | |
| Favorite Male Voice from an Animated Movie | Jack Black | Nominated | |||
| Favorite Female Voice from an Animated Movie | Awkwafina | Nominated | |||
| Saturn Awards | February 2, 2025 | Best Animated Film | Kung Fu Panda 4 | Nominated | [66] |
| Visual Effects Society Awards | February 11, 2025 | Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature | "Juniper City" – Benjamin Lippert, Ryan Prestridge, Sarah Vawter and Peter Maynez | Nominated | [67] |
| Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature | Jinguang Huang, Zhao Wang, Hamid Shahsavari and Joshua LaBrot | Nominated |
In May 2024, following the commercial success ofKung Fu Panda 4, Mitchell suggested that a fifth film could happen, but it would likely not be until at least 2027 due to the lengthy production process.[68]
Thu., March 7 digital 2:00, 3:15, 4:55, 6:00, 7:45, 8:30, 11:15
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