The fourth installment of the animated martial arts movie Kung Fu Panda will be released after nearly eight years. The third installment, which was released in 2016, was long before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The computer-animated comedy film is one of the most successful animated movie series.
That being said, Dune: Part Two‘s Sandworms have a fair amount of competition on their second outing this weekend as Kung Fu Panda 4 will be vying for the first spot at the domestic box office. Family movie lovers are not getting rid of the panda anytime soon as it has been teased that Kung Fu Panda 5 will happen.
Kung Fu Panda 5 is Seemingly Going to Happen
The Kung Fu Panda franchise, produced by DreamWorks Animation, began in 2008. Set in a fantasy wuxia genre version of ancient China, populated by anthropomorphic animals, the franchise follows a giant panda, Po Ping on its adventures after he is dubiously chosen as the Dragon Warrior according to the prophecy.
Despite initially doubting himself and having others do the same, Po has proved himself worthy of the title he has received and perseveres in all challenges in his way to fulfill his destiny. The fourth installment of the franchise sees him on the lookout for his successor as the new Dragon Warrior while simultaneously fighting against The Chameleon, the shapeshifting enemy, with the help of Zhen, a fox bandit.
At the movie’s premiere at the AMC 14 Theater at The Grove in Los Angeles, co-director Stephanie Ma-Stine assured Variety that a fifth movie will happen, saying:
“This is definitely not the end of Po’s story. Please look forward to more.”
While a lot of actors returned to reprise their roles in this fourth movie, some new actors joined the cast too. Actors like Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, James Hong, Bryan Cranston, and Ian McShane have reprised their roles from the previous movies. Awkwafina, Ke Huy Quan, Ronny Chieng, Lori Tan Chinn, and Viola Davis joined the cast as new characters.
Kung Fu Panda 4 is Estimated to Have a Good Box-office Collection in Its Opening Weekend
With Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two up for its second weekend run after its opening last weekend, it is projected to add $40-45 million to its worldwide gross (via Variety). On the other hand, Kung Fu Panda 4 is estimated to have a $45-50 million opening weekend.
Although the reviews of the fourth Kung Fu Panda movie have not been too good, the movie is expected to do good at the box office due to the lack of enough family films. The fourth film has a budget of $85 million, which is quite less compared to the past three movies, which had budgets of roughly $150 million. Only time will tell if Kung Fu Panda 5 will be able to do as well as its predecessors at the box office.
Kung Fu Panda 5 will be theatrically released in the U.S. on March 8, 2024.
