Kung Fu Panda 3

Kung Fu Panda 3
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jennifer Yuh Nelson Alessandro Carloni
Produced by	Melissa Cobb
Written by	Jonathan Aibel Glenn Berger
Based on	Characters created by Ethan Reiff Cyrus Voris
Starring	Jack Black Bryan Cranston James Hong Dustin Hoffman Angelina Jolie J. K. Simmons Seth Rogen Lucy Liu David Cross Kate Hudson Jackie Chan
Music by	Hans Zimmer
Edited by	Clare Knight
Production companies	DreamWorks Animation Oriental DreamWorks
Distributed by	20th Century Fox CJ Entertainment (South Korea)
Release dates	January 23, 2016 (2016-01-23) (China) January 29, 2016 (2016-01-29) (United States)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States China
Language	English Chinese
Budget	$145 million
Box office	$517.7 million

Kung Fu Panda 3 is a 2016 3D American-Chinese computer-animated action comedy martial arts film, produced by DreamWorks Animation, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni. The film was written by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, produced by Melissa Cobb, and executive produced by Guillermo del Toro. It is a sequel to the 2011 film Kung Fu Panda 2 and the third installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise. The film features the voices of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, J. K. Simmons, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, Seth Rogen, David Cross, Bryan Cranston, Kate Hudson, and James Hong. Jean-Claude Van Damme and Randall Duk Kim reprise their roles as Master Croc and Oogway from the previous two films.

The film received a limited release in China on January 23 for a special three-hour sneak preview and was released starting from January 28 in South Korea and Russia and on January 29 in the United States and Canada in 3D. The film grossed $517 million worldwide.

Plot

In the Spirit Realm, Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) fights against an adversary named Kai (J. K. Simmons), who has defeated other kung fu masters in the realm and taken their chi, turning them into small jade charms. Oogway willingly gives in and also has his chi stolen, but not before warning Kai that the Dragon Warrior, Po (Jack Black), will stop him. Kai takes this as a challenge to steal the chi from the Dragon Warrior and returns to the mortal world. Meanwhile, Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) announces his retirement from teaching to begin his training to master chi and passes the role of teacher to Po. Excited at first, Po discovers that teaching kung fu is not as easy as he expected, as the Furious Five members Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Crane (David Cross), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu), and Monkey (Jackie Chan) are injured as a result. Po is demoralized as a teacher, which makes him question who he really is and whether he is the Dragon Warrior. In response, Shifu advises Po that instead of trying to be a teacher, he should try to be himself.

Po heads home to his adoptive father, Mr. Ping (James Hong), at his noodle shop, where a panda named Li Shan (Bryan Cranston) breaks Po's dumpling-eating record. They both soon learn that Li is Po's biological father and they bond with each other, much to Ping's jealousy. After introducing Li to Shifu and his friends, the valley is attacked by jade statues controlled by Kai. Po notices that some of the statues resemble past Kung Fu masters, several of whom had been dead. The team then learns through research that Kai was Oogway's old friend who fought with him as brothers-in-arms long ago. When Oogway was injured, Kai carried him until they reached a secret village of pandas, who healed Oogway using their chi. The pandas taught Oogway how to give chi, but when the power-hungry Kai decided to drain it from them to increase his power, Oogway defeated him and banished him to the spirit realm. To defeat Kai, Po must learn to channel chi himself, which Li offers to teach him by going to a secret panda village. Po, Li and Mr. Ping travel to the village while Shifu and the Furious Five stay behind. Although Po is eager to learn chi, he first learns the relaxed life of a panda in the village, which he feels grateful to be a part of.

After learning that many Kung Fu masters are missing, Shifu sends Crane and Mantis, along with Master Bear, Master Croc and Master Chicken, to find Kai, who steals all their chi. Kai then arrives at the Jade Palace and destroys it, but not before taking the chi of Monkey, Viper and Shifu, while Tigress escapes to warn Po. Afraid, Li and the pandas prepare to run away. When Po demands that Li teach him how to use chi, he confesses that he does not know how, and that he lied so he wouldn't lose his son again. Hurt over his father's misdirection, Po isolates himself and trains vigorously to confront Kai. Mr. Ping admits to Li that he was initially worried Po would be taken away from him, but realized that Li being a part of Po's life simply added to his happiness. Tigress confronts Po and tells him that he cannot defeat Kai without continuing to discover the secret of chi, during which Po confesses that the experience has him once more doubting his potential. Li and the villagers, having decided to stay, ask Po to train them so they can fight back. Po agrees and teaches them using their everyday activities as their assets and begins their plan to save their village.

Kai arrives and confronts Po, who had been waiting for him. Kai sends his jade statue minions to capture Po, but they are held off by the pandas and Tigress, distracting Kai. The plan works in holding off the army, but when Po tries to use the Wuxi finger hold on Kai to send him back to the Spirit Realm, he reveals that it can only work on mortals, not a spirit warrior. Kai gains the upper hand in their fight, but Po uses the Wuxi finger hold again on himself while gripping Kai, transporting them both. They fight again, with Kai regaining the advantage to subdue, and he begins petrifying Po. Using what they learned from Po and about who they are, Li, Tigress, Mr. Ping and the pandas are able to use their chi to save him. Po is able to use his chi to create a giant dragon figure which he uses to overload Kai, destroying him and restoring all the fallen masters to normal and transporting them to the mortal world.

In an ethereal golden pond, Grand Master Oogway appears to Po, and informs him his journey has come full circle, revealing his role by selecting Po as Dragon Warrior because of his descent from the ancient pandas, and his embodiment of the yin-yang. He also reveals his role in alerting Li to Po's survival, and declares Po his true successor. By choice, Po wields a mystic green yin-yang staff bestowed by Oogway to return to the mortal world. He and his extended family all return to the Valley, where they continue practicing their chi, as Po proudly gazes upon his legacy in the spot where his journey began.

Cast

Main article: List of Kung Fu Panda characters

• Jack Black as Po
• Bryan Cranston as Li Shan, Po's biological father and the uncle of Dim and Sum
• Dustin Hoffman as Master Shifu
• Angelina Jolie as Master Tigress
• J.K. Simmons as Kai, a yak. A powerful and vicious spirit warrior who was the former brother-in-arms of Oogway and has a supernatural ability to steal other warriors' chi.
• Seth Rogen as Master Mantis
• David Cross as Master Crane
• Lucy Liu as Master Viper
• Jackie Chan as Master Monkey
• James Hong as Mr. Ping
• Kate Hudson as Mei Mei
• Randall Duk Kim as Grand Master Oogway
• Jean-Claude Van Damme as Master Croc
• Fred Tatasciore as Master Bear
• Stephen Kearin as Master Chicken
• Steele Gagnon as Bao
• Barbara Dirikson as Grandma Sarah, an elderly giant panda.
• Al Roker as Dim, the twin brother of Sum who is the nephew of Li Shan and the cousin of Po.
• Willie Geist as Sum, the twin brother of Dim who is the nephew of Li Shan and the cousin of Po.
• Radzi Chinyanganya as Mi
• Pax Jolie-Pitt as Yoo
• Knox Jolie-Pitt as Ku Ku
• Zahara Jolie-Pitt as Meng Meng
• Shiloh Jolie-Pitt as Shuai Shuai
• Liam Knight as Lei Lei
• Lindsey Russell as Peony

Production

Development

In 2010, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg announced that the Kung Fu Panda franchise was planned to have six movies, or "chapters", altogether. In July 2012, Kung Fu Panda 3 was officially confirmed by Bill Damaschke, DWA's chief creative officer.

The film was made as a co-production between DreamWorks Animation and Oriental DreamWorks, a Shanghai-based studio, founded in 2012 as a partnership between DreamWorks Animation and Chinese companies. One third of the film was made in China, and the rest in the United States, at DWA. This was the first time that any major American animated feature film had been co-produced with a Chinese firm. The filmmakers worked closely with SAPPRFT to ensure the film's release in China. The film's co-production status in China allowed the production companies to circumvent the country's strict import quota and take a greater share of box-office revenue than imported films. To ensure the film's success in China, in addition to the English version, the Chinese version of the film was also fully animated, making them the only versions that will have the characters' lips synchronized with their voices.

Casting

Kung Fu Panda 3 saw the crew from the second film reunite, including director Jennifer Yuh Nelson, producer Melissa Cobb, screenplay writers Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, and Guillermo del Toro as executive producer. Initially, Nelson was directing the film alone, but by February 2015, Alessandro Carloni had joined her as a co-director. According to the report, Carloni, who was an animation supervisor on the first film and a story artist on the second, joined Nelson following her request to strengthen "the director's bench" to ensure that the film is completed in a timely manner. Dennis Haysbert and Michelle Yeoh were supposed to return to voice as Master Ox and Soothsayer in the third film, but ultimately did not.

On April 9, 2013, DreamWorks Animation announced that Rebel Wilson, Bryan Cranston, and Mads Mikkelsen had joined the cast of the film. By April 2015, J.K. Simmons had replaced Mikkelsen, whose character had been rewritten. Five months later, Wilson was replaced by Kate Hudson due to an extended production schedule. The studio had to reanimate previously completed scenes to reflect Hudson's interpretation of the character.

The film's antagonist, Kai, is the first supernatural villain of the Kung Fu Panda series. Described by del Toro as "the most formidable villain yet," the creators wanted him to stand apart from his predecessors. Nelson reasoned: "You can't go brawler because Tai Lung was brawler. You can't go smarter because Shen was smarter. Where can you go? You have to go supernatural, bigger, and even more intimidating."

Music

On July 25, 2014, it was announced that Hans Zimmer would return to score the film. The score includes performances from renowned Asian musicians such as Chinese pianist Lang Lang, Chinese cellist Jian Wang, erhu virtuoso Karen Hua-Qi Ottosson (returned for her third time on Kung Fu Panda 3, this time not only on erhu but also on zhonghu and gaohu), Erhu musician Guo Gan, Taiwanese pop singer Jay Chou and Canadian-Taiwanese young singer Patrick Brasca. The soundtrack album was released on January 22, 2016. John Powell, who collaborated with Zimmer on the first two films, did not return for the third installment because of his work on Pan. A portion of the score includes a melody from the song "I'm So Sorry" by the rock band Imagine Dragons. The Vamps recorded the song "Kung Fu Fighting" for the soundtrack. Chinese pop singer Luhan also recorded the song "Deep" for the movie.

Track Listing

Kung Fu Panda 3 (Music from the Motion Picture)
Soundtrack album by Hans Zimmer
Released	January 22, 2016
Label	Sony Classical Records

No.	Title	Performer(s)	Length
1.	"Oogway's Legacy"	Hans Zimmer, Lang Lang	2:00
2.	"Hungry for Lunch"	Zimmer	1:15
3.	"The Power of Chi"	Zimmer	4:12
4.	"The Arrival of Kai"	Zimmer	2:01
5.	"A New Father"	Zimmer	3:13
6.	"The Hall of Heroes"	Zimmer	2:59
7.	"The Legend of Kai"	Zimmer	4:01
8.	"The Panda Village"	Zimmer	3:39
9.	"Mei Mei's Ribbon Dance"	Zimmer	2:05
10.	"Jaded"	Zimmer	3:54
11.	"How To Be a Panda"	Zimmer	1:53
12.	"Portrait of Mom"	Zimmer, Lang	1:48
13.	"Po Belongs"	Zimmer, Lang	2:52
14.	"Kai is Closer"	Zimmer	3:15
15.	"Two Fathers"	Zimmer	3:11
16.	"The Battle of Legends"	Zimmer	3:31
17.	"The Spirit Realm"	Zimmer	3:18
18.	"The Dragon Warrior"	Zimmer	2:51
19.	"Passing the Torch"	Zimmer	4:15
20.	"Father and Son"	Zimmer	3:00
21.	"Kung Fu Fighting (Celebration Time)"	Shanghai Roxi Musical Studio Choirs, Metro Voices London	2:59
22.	"Try"	Jay Chou, Patrick Brasca	4:00
23.	"Kung Fu Fighting"	The Vamps	3:05

Promotional Single

No.	Title	Performer(s)	Length
1.	"Deep (海底)"	Luhan	4:02

Release

On September 10, 2012, it was announced that Kung Fu Panda 3 would be released on March 18, 2016. On April 9, 2013, the film's release date was moved back to December 23, 2015. In December 2014, the film was moved forward to its original release date of March 18, 2016, to avoid competition with Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. In April 2015, the release date was once again shifted, this time to January 29, 2016. AMC Theatres partnered with Fox and DWA to play the movie in Mandarin at seven theatres and in Spanish at 14 locations in the U.S and Canada meaning there will be a mix of subtitled and dubbed formats of Kung Fu Panda 3. This will mark the first time that AMC is playing a major theatrical release in dubbed/subtitled Mandarin. The film had a day-and-date release starting from January 28 in China, Russia, Ukraine, Jamaica and Puerto Rico and South Korea and the US and Canada on January 29, 2016. Other markets will follow on March and April. According to Deadline.com, the strategy behind such a staggered release was to take advantage of certain opportunistic dates which presented themselves such as the Chinese New Year in February for China.

Home media

Kung Fu Panda 3 was released digitally on May 13, 2016, and will be released on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D on June 28, 2016.

Reception

Box office

As of May 26, 2016, Kung Fu Panda 3 has grossed $142.8 million in North America and $374.6 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $517.4 million.

In the United States and Canada, early tracking suggested the film will open to about $40–45 million, with Box Office Mojo reporting as high as $53 million, which was on par with Kung Fu Panda 2's $47.7 million opening in 2011 but much lower than the original film's $60.2 million opening in 2008. However, DreamWorks Animation and Fox were being more conservative suggesting a "mid–$40 million" opening. The lower end of the projection was because of winter and only 4% of all K–12 schools were off per Rentrak. According to digital data monitored and compiled by Moviepilot from various online social activities like Facebook likes, YouTube views, tweets and Google search among others, it predicted an opening of $48–50 million. Paul Dergarabedian, senior analyts at Rentrak said the film, "should land somewhere between the first two installments" noting that after moviegoers – mostly from the East Coast – were affected by the 2016 United States blizzard, patrons, mostly families, would be on the look-out for entertainment movies which Kung Fu Panda 3 delivers. On January 27, two days before the film's release, Fandango reported that Kung Fu Panda 3 was the top advance ticket seller for the weekend, outstripping previous DWA films Home as well as Kung Fu Panda 2 at the same point in their sale cycles. Box office pundits also noted that the film didn't face any serious competition with its counterparts of newly released films such as The Finest Hours and Fifty Shades of Black, as well as holdovers The Revenant and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, as all were expected to gross around $10 million. In China, expectations were high for the film with Nancy Tartaglione of Deadline.com reporting a bigger opening weekend than the US and a bigger total gross. Conservative estimates for its Middle Kingdom opening were at $35 million and rising to well upwards of $50 million. Even before the film's official release in China, it was already projected to emerge as the highest-grossing animated film there, a record held by Monkey King: Hero Is Back ($153 million) at that time, with local box office analysts predicting at least RMB 2 billion ($300 million) for its final gross since it had the added benefit of opening a week before the Chinese New Year, as well as Valentine's Day and debuting amidst the school holidays, the Lunar New Year blackout period in which foreign films are banned from entering the state meaning lesser competition and longer legs, and since it has the special privilege to run throughout the period and is also not limited to running 30 days in theatres.

The film was not screened for Thursday night previews in the US On its opening day, it made $10.5 million which is the lowest among the series but nonetheless topped the box office. The demographics on its opening day were evenly split with 56% women, and 58% of the crowd under 25. During its opening weekend, it earned $41.2 million from 3,955 theatres, easily topping the box office and marking the biggest January opening for an animated film (breaking The Nut Job's record), and third-ever biggest January opening, but recorded the lowest opening among the series. It retained the top spot at the box office during its second weekend – during the Super Bowl weekend – after falling 48.5% to $21.2 million and despite facing competition with three new wide releases; Hail, Caesar!, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and The Choice. This was in line with second film's 49.9% second weekend drop. It was finally overtaken by Fox's own Deadpool in its third weekend after adding $19.8 million after the later opened to $132.7 million.

Internationally, the film earned $75.7 million in its opening weekend from six overseas markets with 77% ($58.3 million) coming from China alone. In its second weekend, it was overtaken by The Revenant which took the top spot while Kung Fu Panda 3 fell to No. 2. In South Korea, it opened at No. 1 earning $11.4 million from 1.6 million admissions between Thursday and Sunday on 1,364 screens and represented about 65% of the market share. However, this was slightly lower than the last instalment's $12.8 million opening. Roughly $380,000 of the total gross came from 17 IMAX screens. It fell to No. 2 in its second weekend after adding another $4.1 million and being dethroned by A Violent Prosecutor. In Russia, where a flu epidemic was declared in Moscow a week prior to the film's release, it managed to open at No. 1 with $5.1 million on 1,190 screens which is well below the $15 million opening of its immediate predecessor at the end of May 2011. It topped the box office there for two consecutive weekends. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it easily took the top spot in its first weekend with $6.8 million (including $2.29 million in previews) from 583 theatres dethroning London Has Fallen, although this was down from its two predecessors. It also topped the box office there for two straight weekends. Elsewhere, Mexico opened with $4.9 million, Italy with $3.6 million and had the biggest opening for Dreamworks Animation in Germany ($1.8 million), Hong Kong ($1.37 million) and Argentina ($1.27 million). As of February 14, it has grossed $24.1 million and $9 million in South Korea and Russia respectively. It will next open in Australia and New Zealand.

The film was released in China on January 22, 2016 in a limited release, a week before its United States release. It had a 3-hour special sneak preview where it earned $6.4 million from two different versions of the film topping the daily box office charts. This broke the previous Saturday preview record held by Surprise: Journey to the West. Buoyed by good word-of-mouth, it had a single day opening of ¥107 million ($16.3 million) from over 15,000 screens which is the biggest of 2016 thus far and second biggest for an animated movie behind the $18.8 million opening of Minions in 2015 and including previews from its Saturday showings earned a total of $23.1 million (unofficial figure) which is one of the biggest opening and single day gross in China. It grossed a total of $40–43 million (including previews) in just two days. Through its opening weekend, it earned an estimated $52.2 million (per Entgroup), setting a new record for an animated film (breaking Minions' previous record) from 278,000 screenings in over 15,000 screens viewed by over 9.38 million people accounting for 75% of ticket sales from Friday to Sunday and including previews made ¥384.4 million ($58.3 million). It was No. 1 on Friday ($15.6 million), Saturday ($19.1 million) and Sunday ($16.1 million). It made $3.8 million from 272 IMAX screens, a new record for an animated film besting the previous four day $2.87 million gross record held by How to Train Your Dragon 2. Despite having an opening weekend much higher than the US, box office analysts felt the figures to be somewhat disappointing given the rapid expansion of the Chinese movie industry, good word-of-mouth and Chinese-American co-production that the film could've benefited from. Jonathan Papish of China Film Insider attributed the mediocre opening to the film's release timing; it opened a week ahead of the Lunar New Year which is historically one of the slowest moviegoing periods of the Chinese release calendar during which millions of Chinese travel back to their hometowns during chūnyùn (春运), the largest annual mass human migration in the world where people devote less time for leisure activities such as going to the movies. The following weekend, it fell precipitously by 70% and added $15.4 million which is the biggest second weekend drop for a Hollywood film since Spectre dropped 75% in its second weekend in 2015. The huge amount of drop can be attributed to the Chinese New Year since the film struggled to find audiences amidst the holiday. Nevertheless, it has passed $100 million in just two weekends with $101.65 million and remains as the biggest market for the film even ahead of the US and Canada. By February 8, Kung Fu Panda 3 witnessed steep decline in the number of screenings as well as in generating overall revenue. It saw only 8,864 to 9,212 showings since a bulk of the screens were devoted to the arrival of big Chinese films like The Mermaid, From Vegas to Macau III and The Monkey King 2. In comparison, the three films had a combined 186,717 showings. After two straight wins at the Chinese box office, it was finally surpassed by The Mermaid in its third weekend. On February 21, it passed Monkey King: Hero Is Back to become the highest-grossing animated film of all time in China with 975 million yuan ($149.1 million) only to be overtaken by Disney's Zootopia the next month on March 20. On April 11, 2016, it became the 2nd animated movie to gross more than 1 billion yuan in the Chinese box office after Zootopia.

Critical response

Kung Fu Panda 3 received highly positive reviews from critics and audiences alike. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a rating of 86%, based on 144 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Kung Fu Panda 3 boasts the requisite visual splendor, but like its rotund protagonist, this sequel's narrative is also surprisingly nimble, adding up to animated fun for the whole family". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 66 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". In CinemaScore polls, cinema audiences gave the film an average score of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Women as well as under 25 gave the film an "A+" grade.

IGN gave the film score of 8.5 out of 10, saying, "Kung Fu Panda 3 offers a fun-filled, action-packed conclusion to DreamWorks' endearing animated series." Screen Rant awarded it 2.5 out of 5, saying "At times, it's a beautiful movie, filled with likable characters, as well as digestible gags, that should keep kids smiling and giggling – but, with a plethora of more ambitious animated options out there, passable might not justify the money (or time) required for a viewing." Glenn Kenny of RogerEbert.com awarded it 3 out of 4 stars, saying "In spite of its abundant action – and for all the interspecies mashups, this is as much an action-adventure animated movie as it is a funny-animal animated movie – is a pretty relaxing experience for the adult viewer." Entertainment Weekly awarded it a score of B, saying it was "Just complicated enough to reward steady viewers and just simple enough for parent escorts to enjoy without much prior knowledge." The Hollywood Reporter awarded it a positive review, saying "While the storyline, in which Jack Black’s dumpling-downing Dragon Warrior is reunited with his biological father, doesn’t quite fulfill its prophecies, dramatically speaking, visually speaking it’s all quite impressive — one of those very rare animated features that completely justifies its 3D glasses." The Escapist awarded it 3 out of 5, saying "It's a perfectly fine film, and if all you want is "more of the same," it won't disappoint." Forbes awarded it a mildly positive review, saying "While visually gorgeous and generally entertaining, this third installment of the DreamWorks Animation franchise is a comedown from the first two superb entries." Variety also awarded it a positive review, saying "A winning lightness of touch prevails in this delightful continuation of the durable DreamWorks franchise."

Accolades

Award	Category	Winner/Nominee	Result
Saturn Awards	Best Animated Film	Kung Fu Panda 3	Pending
MTV Movie Awards	Best Virtual Performance	Jack Black	Nominated

Video game

Main article: Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends

Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends is an RPG martial arts video game that features characters from all three Kung Fu Panda films. Developed by Vicious Cycle Software and published by Little Orbit, the game was released on December 1, 2015 for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo 3DS, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. The Wii U version was released on December 15, 2015.

Sequels

DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg has said that it is confirmed that the series will see 3 more sequels after Kung Fu Panda 3, bringing it to a six-film series.

On January 13, 2016, Collider asked the filmmakers of Kung Fu Panda 3 about the possibility of a fourth film. Co-director Jennifer Yuh Nelson said, "It’s one at a time. We want to make this a perfect jewel, and then we’ll see what happens after that." Co-director Alessandro 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."

External links

• Official website
• Kung Fu Panda 3 at IMDb
• Kung Fu Panda 3 at Box Office Mojo
• Kung Fu Panda 3 at Rotten Tomatoes
• Kung Fu Panda 3 at Metacritic