Gener: Animation, Action, Adventure
Director: Mike Mitchell, Stephanie Stine
Writers: Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger, Darren Lemke
Duration: 1h 34m
Stars: Jack Black, Awkwafina, Viola Davis

Kung Fu Panda 4 is an American martial arts animated comedy movie released in 2024 DreamWorks Animation is the producer of the movie and is released by Universal Pictures. It is a sequel to Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016) and the fourth entry in the Kung Fu Panda series. Mike Mitchell directed the movie, Stephanie Ma Stine co-directed it, Darren Lemke and Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger wrote the screenplay, and Rebecca Huntley produced it.

Joining the cast as new characters are Awkwafina, Ke Huy Quan, Ronny Chieng, Lori Tan Chinn, and Viola Davis. Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, James Hong, Bryan Cranston, and Ian McShane reprise their roles from the previous movies. The movie follows Po (Black), who has to discover and train a new Dragon Warrior, partnering with fox bandit Zhen (Awkwafina) to take down the evil sorceress Chameleon (Davis) before she takes away all of the masters’ kung-fu skills.

On March 3, 2024, Kung Fu Panda 4 made its theatrical debut at the AMC 14 Theater at The Grove in Los Angeles. On March 8, the film was released nationwide. With a global box office total of $362 million, the movie has earned favorable to mediocre reviews from critics and is now the fourth highest-grossing movie of 2024.

Kung Fu Panda 4 Movie Voice Cast:

• Jack Black as Po
• Awkwafina as Zhen
• Viola Davis as The Chameleon
• Dustin Hoffman as Master Shifu
• James Hong as Mr. Ping
• Bryan Cranston as Li Shan
• Ian McShane as Tai Lung
• Ke Huy Quan as Han
• Lori Tan Chinn as Granny Boar
• Ronny Chieng as Captain Fish
• Harry Shum Jr. as Scott

Production:

Development

Former CEO of DreamWorks Animation Jeffrey Katzenberg hinted on December 3, 2010, that Kung Fu Panda 3 might have three additional sequels in the series, making it an altogether of six films series. The producers of Kung Fu Panda 3 were questioned by Collider on January 13, 2016, regarding the potential for a fourth movie. Co-director Jennifer Yuh Nelson stated “With the sequels, we don’t want to try to have them feel open-ended,”.

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”. When asked on August 2, 2018, Nelson stated that she always thought of the Kung Fu Panda series as a trilogy, but she was open to a fourth entry as long as it kept Po at the center of the plot.

DreamWorks Animation declared in August 2022 that Kung Fu Panda 4 was under production. Additional information on the movie was disclosed at CinemaCon in April 2023, including Jack Black’s description of the plot.[14] Additionally, it was revealed that Rebecca Huntley would produce, Stephanie Ma Stine would serve as co-director, and Mike Mitchell would serve as the film’s director. Mitchell served as executive producer of the third movie and creative consultant for the first. Ma Stine claims that the movie was initially intended to be a live-action/animated mix. Zhen and The Chameleon would have been human characters. All of this will ultimately be ignored.

Writing

It was announced in December 2023 that Glenn Berger and Jonathan Aibel were back to work on the screenplay. It was disclosed in February 2024 that Darren Lemke co-wrote the screenplay. Mitchell called Kung Fu Panda 4 an homage to the original movie. He wanted the story to stand alone, even if it had links to previous installments in the series. Mitchell wondered what would happen if a sequel took away “all that” because he felt that Po’s character development from the first movie was coming to an end with him finally becoming the Dragon Warrior. This thought led the filmmakers to discover some “really great heavy themes” that they believed were significant for the modern world.

Mitchell also intended to expand the world of the franchise, add new characters, and develop Po’s character. Mitchell felt that the reason the film took so long to make was because the creators wanted a flawless tale that would push Po to the next level by forcing him to learn something. He felt Po had a bipolar perspective on the world and that Zhen, who had a more complex moral compass, would be a better fit for Po. Mitchell also desired a character who could frustrate Po in the same way that he frustrates Shifu.

Mitchell tried to create the Chameleon a villain with more brains than muscle. He continued by saying that she is the most cunning and otherworldly opponent Po has encountered. He compared Chameleon to Po, saying both figures were seen negatively by society due to their physical appearances but eventually rose to positions of great influence. He said, “So Po has become the greatest hero, and now she’s the greatest villain”.

Mitchell made sure that the Chameleon could be just as powerful as Tai Lung, Lord Shen, and General Kai because he believed that one of the things that made the Kung Fu Panda franchise unique, aside from Black’s Po, was its villains. This is why he specifically included the former back into the plot of this sequel.

Casting

It was announced in May 2023 that Awkwafina has joined the movie’s voice cast. It was revealed in December 2023 that Viola Davis, who plays The Chameleon’s antagonist, and Ke Huy Quan would be joining the cast. In addition, Lori Tan Chinn and Ronny Chieng were revealed as new cast members, with Dustin Hoffman, Ian McShane, Bryan Cranston, and James Hong all returning from their previous roles. Filmmakers had “locked in” for Tai Lung’s comeback, so if McShane had declined to play the character, there would have been no other plot for the movie, according to Mitchell, who said working with him a “blast” and a fan of his work.

Producer Rebecca Huntley confirmed that there would be “a glimpse of the Furious Five” after Mitchell announced in December 2023 that Masters Tigress, Monkey, Crane, Mantis, and Viper—collectively known as the Furious Five—would appear in the movie and that they are “off on their own individual missions”. Co-director Stephanie Ma Stine mentioned that the Furious Five was not initially planned to appear despite objections from writers, painters, and animators during a March 2024 Discord Q&A session in a fan server. Ma Stine clarified that it was because of the original artists’ expenses, particularly for Angelina Jolie’s role as Tigress. But the producers were instructed to put them in a cameo appearance by the marketing department.

Release:

Kung Fu Panda 4 Movie Release Dates:

• March 3, 2024 (The Grove)
• March 8, 2024 (United States)

Theatrical Release

On March 1, 2024, the movie was screened at the Columbia University School of the Arts. March 3, 2024, marked the opening of Kung Fu Panda 4 at the AMC 14 Theater at The Grove in Los Angeles. The film was released in the United States on March 8, 2024, with showtimes one day earlier.

OTT & Home Media

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has scheduled April 9, 2024, for the digital download release of Kung Fu Panda 4.

Kung Fu Panda 4 Movie Box Office Collection:

Kung Fu Panda 4 has made $155.5 million in revenue in the US and Canada and $207.1 million in other markets as of April 2, 2024, for a total of $362.6 million globally.

Kung Fu Panda 4 opened in 3,900 theaters in the US and Canada on the same weekend as Imaginary and Cabrini, with an estimated gross of $45–50 million. The opening day gross for the movie was $19.4 million, which included $3.8 million from Thursday night previews. After breaking records at the box office and being the highest opening weekend for a DreamWorks Animation movie since Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted in 2012, it went on to make its $58 million debut. After a 48% decline to $30.1 million in its second weekend, the movie maintained its top spot. In its third weekend, it brought in $16.5 million, placing third behind new releases Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and Dune: Part Two.

Where Can I Watch Kung Fu Panda 4:

There are several illegal websites which offer Kung Fu Panda 4 online streaming. But if we talk about the legal ones Kung Fu Panda 4 is not yet released on any OTT platform.