PremiumKung Fu Panda 4 announced with a release date of 2024
The 2008 opening chapter of the Academy Award-nominated film, which stars Jack Black as the endearing bear Po, the Chinese panda, became DreamWorks’ highest-grossing original animated project.
Last Updated: 06.52 AM, Aug 14, 2022
Everyone will be kung fu fighting—Universal Pictures announced that a fourth film in the Kung Fu Panda series will be released in 2024. The film, which is set to be released on March 8, 2024, will be the first in the Kung Fu Panda franchise since 2016 when DreamWorks Animation completed a planned trilogy.
The Kung Fu Panda film series, set in ancient China and based on traditional martial arts, tells the epic story of wide-eyed Po, whose love of kung fu is rivalled only by his insatiable appetite.
Po (Jack Black) is an excitable panda bear living in a fantasy version of ancient China in the films. Po is chosen to be the Dragon Warrior, a prophesied kung fu master, in the first film in the franchise, which was released in theatres in 2008. Po trains under the wise Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) and overcomes his doubts to grow into a capable hero, defeating several dangerous foes and eventually reuniting with his long-lost birth parents throughout the film and its two sequels.
DreamWorks' highest-grossing original animated film, Kung Fu Panda, earned $631 million at the global box office. The films earned $1.8 billion in total revenue and spawned a franchise that includes several animated TV specials and three series, including The Dragon Knight, which debuted its first season on Netflix last month.
Aside from their financial success, the three Kung Fu Panda films received mostly positive reviews from critics. Kung Fu Panda 3 enchanted both children and adults with its spectacular set pieces. JK Simmons voices the blade-wielding bull spirit Kai, Jack Black as the title character, the rotund dumpling-muncher Po, and Dustin Hoffman returns as his diminutive guru Master Shifu.
In all honesty, it is in the more intimate moments that Kung Fu Panda shines, such as when Po discovers his biological father and embarks on a mission to embrace his panda identity while still making room in his life for his adoptive father, Ping. With Kate Hudson making a cameo as a ribbon-dancing panda temptress, this is a visually opulent children's film that will also appeal to adults.
Apart from the release date, no other details about the fourth film in the franchise have been revealed.