Kung Fu Panda (franchise)

Kung Fu Panda
Creator	DreamWorks Animation Ethan Reiff Cyrus Voris
Films and television
Films	Kung Fu Panda (2008) Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011) Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)
Short films	Secrets of the Furious Five Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Scroll
Animated series	Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness
Theatrical presentations
Plays	Kung Fu Panda: Arena Spectacular
Games
Video games	Kung Fu Panda Kung Fu Panda: Legendary Warriors Kung Fu Panda World Kung Fu Panda 2 Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends
Audio
Soundtracks	Kung Fu Panda Kung Fu Panda 2

The Kung Fu Panda franchise from DreamWorks Animation consists of three films: Kung Fu Panda (2008), Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011) and Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016). The first two were distributed by Paramount Pictures, while the third film was distributed by 20th Century Fox. Three shorts, Secrets of the Furious Five (2008), Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special (2010) and Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters (2011), were also released. A television series for Nickelodeon television network, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, premiered in the fall of 2011.

The franchise, set in a fantasy wuxia genre version of ancient China populated by humanoid animals, features the adventures of Po Ping, an obese giant panda, who was improbably chosen as the prophesied Dragon Warrior. Although his status is initially doubted, Po proves himself worthy as he strives to fulfill his destiny and learn about his past with his new friends.

The film series has been highly acclaimed with its first two features being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature as well as numerous Annie Awards while the television series has won 11 Emmy Awards. Furthermore, this acclaim is particularly enthusiastic in China, where the series is hailed as not only an excellent contribution to the wuxia genre, but for its impressively knowledgeable understanding of Chinese culture and heritage for an American movie production. In addition, both the first two films were the most successful animated feature film for their years^[1] and the second is currently the biggest worldwide box office success for a movie directed solely by a woman (Jennifer Yuh Nelson).

Film series

Kung Fu Panda (2008)

Po, a clumsy, overweight panda, is a kung fu fanatic who lives in the Valley of Peace and works in his goose father Mr. Ping's noodle shop, unable to realize his dream of learning kung fu. One day, a kung fu tournament is held for the elderly spiritual leader of the valley, Grand Master Oogway, to determine the identity of the Dragon Warrior, the one kung fu master capable of understanding the secret of the Dragon Scroll, which is said to contain the key to limitless power. Everyone in the valley expects the Dragon Warrior to be one of the Furious Five—Tigress, Monkey, Mantis, Viper, and Crane—a quintet of kung fu masters trained by Master Shifu to protect the valley. To everyone's surprise, Oogway chooses Po, who had accidentally stumbled into the tournament arena after arriving late.

Refusing to believe that Po can be the Dragon Warrior, Shifu subjects Po to torturous training exercises in order to discourage him into quitting. Determined to change himself into someone he himself can respect, Po perseveres in his training and befriends the Furious Five, who had previously mocked Po for his lack of skill in kung fu. Po soon learns that he must fight Tai Lung, an evil kung fu warrior who has escaped from prison to take revenge for being denied the Dragon Scroll, and despairs he will be unable to defeat him. However, Shifu discovers that Po is capable of martial arts when motivated by food, and successfully trains him to learn kung fu. After his training is complete, Po is given the Dragon Scroll, which he discovers to be blank. However, Po realizes that the key to limitless power lies within himself, allowing him to defeat Tai Lung and restore peace to the valley.

Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)

Po now lives his dream as a kung fu master and protects the Valley of Peace alongside the Furious Five. However, he is thrown into internal conflict when he begins having flashbacks of his mother and learns from Mr. Ping that he was adopted as an infant. Shortly after, Po and the Five are sent on a mission to stop the evil peacock Lord Shen from using a newly developed weapon, the cannon, to conquer all of China and destroy kung fu tradition. Po remains tormented by thoughts of being abandoned by his real parents until he is guided by a wise old soothsayer to embrace his past, and remembers that his parents risked their lives to save him from Shen, who had set out to exterminate all pandas after learning of a prophecy that he would be defeated by "a warrior of black-and-white". Po achieves inner peace, which allows him to destroy Shen's new weapon, defeat Shen, and accept Mr. Ping as his father. However, during the last scene of the movie it shows Po's biological father realizing his son is alive.

Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)

Some time after the events of the second film, Shifu relinquishes his duties as master of the Jade Palace to Po, claiming that the next step of his own apprenticeship is to oversee the Furious Five's training. While struggling with this new responsibility, Po rejoices upon reuniting with his biological father, Li. However, news that the spirit warrior and collector Kai had returned to the mortal realm and is stealing the Chi of masters from all over China reach the Valley of Peace and Po and the others discover from a scroll left by Oogway that Kai can only be defeated by the power of Chi, a technique known only by the panda colonies, thus Po and Li set to the secret Panda Valley in order to have Po learn it. Po eventually discovers that Li had deceived him because the pandas had forgotten at all about how to manipulate the Chi and he just wanted to protect his son from Kai, much to Po's disappointment. Once making amends with his father, Po joins forces with the pandas to make a stand against Kai, mastering the power of Chi in the occasion and using its power to destroy him for good. After returning to the Valley of Peace, Po spends his days spreading the teachings of Chi.

Future

DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg has said that it is possible that perhaps the series will see 3 more sequels after Kung Fu Panda 3, bringing it to a six-film series.^[2]

On January 13, 2016, Collider asked the filmmakers of Kung Fu Panda 3 about the possibility of a fourth film.^[3] 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."^[3] 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."^[3]

Television series

Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness

Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness is an animated television series based on the Kung Fu Panda film series, set between the first two films. The show was originally intended to first air in 2010, but it was delayed and officially premiered on Nickelodeon on November 7, 2011. Of the series's voice cast, only Lucy Liu, Randall Duk Kim, and James Hong reprise their roles from the films as Viper, Oogway, and Mr. Ping. The first season, consisting of 26 episodes, ended on April 5, 2012. The second season aired from April 6, 2012 to June 21, 2013 and also consisted of 26 episodes. A third season began airing June 24, 2013 and consists of 28 episodes.

Short films

Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five (2008)

Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five is an animated short film that serves as a semi-sequel (or spin-off) to Kung Fu Panda and appears on a companion disc of the original film's deluxe DVD release. It was later broadcast on NBC on February 26, 2009, and is available as a separate DVD as of March 24, 2009. The film has a framing story of Po (in computer animation), telling the stories of his comrades in arms, the Furious Five, which are depicted in 2D cel animation.

Kung Fu Panda Holiday (2010)

Kung Fu Panda Holiday (also known as Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special) is a 2010 television special that premiered on NBC on November 24, 2010. It tells a story of Po, who is assigned to host the annual Winter Feast by Master Shifu, despite his wishes to spend the holiday with Mr. Ping.

Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters (2011)

Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters is an animated short film that was released on December 13, 2011 as a special feature attached to the Kung Fu Panda 2 DVD and Blu-ray. It tells the backgrounds of the masters of Gongmen City: Thundering Rhino, Storming Ox, and Croc.^[4]

Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Scroll (2016)

Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Scroll is an animated short film officially released as a bonus feature in the Kung Fu Panda: Ultimate Edition of Awesomeness Blu-ray pack in January 2016. ^[5] Secrets of the Scroll details the forming of the Furious Five, and their first fight together against a common enemy. Unlike previous Kung Fu Panda short films, Secrets of the Scroll has yet to be released on its own DVD or Blu-ray.

Panda Paws (2016)

A new short film, Panda Paws, was released with the Blu-ray of Kung Fu Panda 3.^[6] Panda Paws involves the character Mei Mei competing with Bao at the "Spring Festival."^[7]

Releases

Box office performance

The films series grossed over $1.8 billion making the Kung Fu Panda franchise the seventh highest-grossing animated franchise (behind Shrek, Ice Age, Toy Story, Madagascar, and Despicable Me) and the third highest-grossing DreamWorks Animation's franchise behind Shrek and Madagascar.

Critical and public reception

Each Kung Fu Panda film has received highly positive reviews, with critics often praising the animation, voice acting, and character development.

Cast and characters

• A dark gray cell indicates the character does not appear in the film, special, or TV series.
• *(y) indicates the actor portrayed the role in a flashback scene when the character was younger.
• *(c) indicates a cameo appearance.

Crew

Video games

• Kung Fu Panda is a video game loosely based on the first film, released by Activision in June 2008 for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360.
• Kung Fu Panda: Legendary Warriors is a sequel to the video game Kung Fu Panda. It was published by Activision on November 5 and December 5, 2008 for the Nintendo DS and Wii, respectively.
• Kung Fu Panda World is a virtual world online game released on April 12, 2010.
• Kung Fu Panda 2 is a video game that takes place after the events of the second film. It was developed and published by THQ on May 23, 2011, for Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360.
• Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends is a fighting game developed by Vicious Cycle Software and published by Little Orbit. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Nintendo 3DS and Wii U on December 1, 2015.^[20]

Arena show

Directed by international entertainment director, Franco Dragone, best known for Le Rêve and House of Dancing Waters, Kung Fu Panda: Arena Spectacular is an in-progress live arena show, featuring characters from the Kung Fu Panda. Combining circus and Chinese acrobatics as well as arena show effects, the production was supposed to be released around the same time of Kung Fu Panda 2.^[21] After a multi city casting tour in 2010,^[22] the production went behind closed doors until late 2011 when a new set of audition dates were announced for the following year.^[23] However, shortly before the announced January 2012 auditions, it was announced that both Franco Dragone and DreamWorks had decided to postpone the live show's opening date, canceling all auditions.^[24]

Themed land

A themed area Po's Kung Fu Garden was opened in 2012 at DreamWorks Experience, one of the themed lands at the Australian theme park Dreamworld. As of 2012 Po's Kung Fu Garden consists only of a small area featuring a Po photo opportunity. In late 2012, additional rides and attractions were added to the area.

Chronology

In order of the Kung Fu Panda franchise history:

1. Kung Fu Panda (2008)
2. Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five (2008)
3. Kung Fu Panda Holiday (2010)
4. Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
5. Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness (2011–2016)
6. Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters (2011)
7. Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Scroll (2016)
8. Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)
9. Panda Paws (2016)

Notes

References

External links

• Official website