The fourth film centers on Po (Black), who is tapped to become the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace. But first, he must quickly find and train a new Dragon Warrior before he can assume his new position. Meanwhile, a powerful shapeshifting sorceress named Chameleon (Viola Davis) sets her sights on stealing Po’s Staff of Wisdom, which gives her the power to re-summon all the master villains that Po previously defeated. “Kung Fu Panda 4” was directed by Mike Mitchell (“Trolls”), with an A-list cast of voice talent including Awkwafina, Dustin Hoffman, James Hong, Bryan Cranston, Ian McShane, and recent Oscar-winner Ke Huy Quan.
2016’s “Kung Fu Panda 3” opened to $41 million before legging out to $143 million domestically. More importantly, it made $521 million worldwide, meaning it made more than 72% of its money overseas. So, this is a franchise with global appeal. Granted, that included a whopping $154 million in China and, since the pandemic, American movies have not done particularly well in the country. Even so, if Universal kept the budget down on this one (which it’s been doing with these animated features as of late), this movie could still be a hit without a windfall in China. “Kung Fu Panda” is a $1.8 billion franchise, after all.
“Migration,” for example, cost just $72 million to make and has grossed, to date, $270 million worldwide. It also opened to just over $12 million, meaning it had incredibly long legs. Again, that’s good news here; a lack of competition in the family movie arena leads to longer legs. That’s exactly what happened with “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” which made it to $485 million worldwide after an opening weekend of less than $13 million domestically. This all bodes well for Po’s return.
“Kung Fu Panda 4” hits theaters on March 8, 2024.