After Po is tapped to become the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace, he needs to find and train a new Dragon Warrior, while a wicked sorceress plans to re-summon all the master villains whom Po has vanquished to the spirit realm.
Kung Fu Panda 4 is a 2024 American animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is the fourth installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise and the sequel to Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016). The film was directed by Mike Mitchell, co-directed by Stephanie Ma Stine (in her feature directorial debut), written by Darren Lemke and the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, and produced by Rebecca Huntley. It features Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, James Hong, Bryan Cranston, and Ian McShane reprising their roles from the previous films, with Awkwafina, Ke Huy Quan, Ronny Chieng, Lori Tan Chinn, and Viola Davis joining the cast. In the film, Po (Black), who must find and train his successor as the new Dragon Warrior, teams up with fox bandit Zhen (Awkwafina) to defeat the evil sorceress, the Chameleon (Davis).
Kung Fu Panda 4 premiered at the AMC 14 Theater at The Grove in Los Angeles on March 3, 2024, and was theatrically released in the United States on March 8. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics and has grossed over $80 million, becoming the fifth highest-grossing film of 2024 domestically.
Zhen manages to convince the Den of Thieves to help her rescue Po. Meanwhile, Tai Lung learns that Po has lost the Staff of Wisdom, causing him to lose more faith in him. Po tries to fight The Chameleon to get his staff back, but gets overwhelmed and before she can deliver the final blow, Zhen intervenes. The Chameleon transforms into a hybrid of several creatures and the three of them fight. Zhen falls into the rubble, while the Chameleon turns into Po to fight him and traps him in a cage.
Putting his trust in Zhen, he gives her the Staff of Wisdom, with which she summons a majestic dragon, sending the Chameleon crashing into the wall. Not accepting defeat easily, the Chameleon attempts to kill Po again, but Po uses the staff to defeat her and is able to return all of the stolen kung fu back to their owners. Realizing that he was wrong about Po, Tai Lung gives his respect and acknowledges him as the Dragon Warrior. Po opens a spiritual doorway and sends all the masters back to the Spirit Realm, with Tai Lung taking the Chameleon with him.
Back at the Valley of Peace, Zhen is ready to return to prison, but Po decides to choose her as his successor, much to Shifu’s annoyance. Confident of his choice, Po, with the help of the Furious Five and a reluctant Shifu, begins to train her to become the next Dragon Warrior.
Voice cast
- Jack Black as Po, a giant panda who is set to become a spiritual leader after renouncing his title as the Dragon Warrior.
- Awkwafina as Zhen, a corsac fox who is a wanted thief and accompanies Po on his journey.
- Viola Davis as The Chameleon, a nefarious shape-shifting chameleon sorceress that can copy others’ kung fu by absorbing their abilities.
- Dustin Hoffman as Master Shifu, a wise red panda and Po’s master.
- James Hong as Mr. Ping, a Chinese goose and Po’s adoptive father
- Bryan Cranston as Li Shan, Po’s biological father.
- Ian McShane as Tai Lung, a snow leopard who was Shifu’s adopted son and former disciple until he turned to evil. Po vanquished him to the Spirit Realm in the first film and Kai captured him off-screen during the third film, but the Chameleon brings him back from the Spirit Realm.
- Ke Huy Quan as Han, a Sunda pangolin who is a leader of a den of thieves.
- Lori Tan Chinn as Granny Boar, an elderly boar who can take out her tusks and use them as weapons.
- Ronny Chieng as Captain Fish, a green arowana that lives in a pelican’s mouth, ,who is his stepmother.
In the training montage during the film’s end credits, the Furious Five appears in silence except for Mantis, as Seth Rogen briefly voiced him through screams. Both Lord Shen and General Kai appear in the film, though they have no dialogue. YouTuber Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson has a cameo as Panda Pig, a pig with black-and-white paint who is one of the candidates for the next Dragon
Release
Theatrical
Kung Fu Panda 4 premiered at the AMC 14 Theater at The Grove in Los Angeles on March 3, 2024, and was released in the United States on March 8, with showtimes a day prior. The film was shown at the Columbia University School of the Arts on March 1, 2024.
Future
On December 3, 2010, then-DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg officially confirmed that the series could see two more sequels after Kung Fu Panda 4, bringing it to a six-film series.Mitchell and Huntley were asked on December 13, 2023, if Katzenberg’s original plan would still be carried out, to which Mitchell said that Kung Fu Panda 4 may launch a new trilogy if no one gets tired of seeing Jack Black return as Po, while Huntley affirmed that the filmmakers behind Kung Fu Panda 4 focused on making it the franchise’s “greatest” film and that whether sequels will be made is something to discuss later.
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