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, 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 as new characters. 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 evil
sorceress The Chameleon (Davis), before she steals the kung-fu abilities of all masters in China.
Directors Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni were asked about the possibility of a fourth Kung
Fu Panda film before the release of the third film in January 2016, with Nelson later saying in August
2018 that she was open to a fourth installment. DreamWorks officially announced the fourth film in
August 2022, with Mitchell, Ma Stine, and Huntley attached as director, co-director, and producer,
respectively, by April 2023. Most of the main voice cast, along with the return of Aibel and Berger as
writers and co-producers, was announced in December 2023, following Awkwafina's casting in May of that
year. Composer Hans Zimmer, who had scored for the previous three installments, the first two with John
Powell and the third alone, returned as composer alongside frequent collaborator Steve Mazzaro. Some
additional production assets were borrowed from Jellyfish Pictures.
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 positive reviews from critics
and has grossed over $529 million worldwide, making it the third highest-grossing film of 2024.
In the Valley of Peace, Po helps Li Shan and Mr. Ping open their new restaurant. Master
Shifu then tells Po that he must advance and become a spiritual leader, which means Po can no longer be
the Dragon Warrior and must find a suitable successor to take his place. Po struggles to choose the
right candidate as he does not want to lose his status as the Dragon Warrior, and he stumbles upon a fox
bandit named Zhen trying to steal ancient weapons from the Jade Palace. Po is able to outsmart Zhen and
send her to prison, but a group of mine workers tell him that Tai Lung has returned and destroyed an
entire quarry. Zhen reveals that Tai Lung's return was masqueraded by a sorceress known as The
Chameleon, who can shape-shift into any animal she wants as well as copying various kung fu techniques
simply by touching them.
With Zhen's assistance, Po heads to Juniper City to take down The Chameleon, little knowing that his
worried fathers are following them. After encountering a shifty tavern and fighting off the inhabitants,
they soon arrive at Juniper City. They are almost arrested and escape to the Den of Thieves, where they
receive aid from the den's leader Han, who is also a close friend of Zhen. From there, Po and Zhen head
to The Chameleon's lair until Po is captured. It is then revealed that Zhen has been acting as a double
agent for The Chameleon; her task was to acquire Po's Staff of Wisdom, which has the power to access the
Spirit Realm. Po almost manages to escape, but The Chameleon, taking the form of Zhen, fools him and
throws him off a cliff. He nearly falls to his death, but is rescued by his fathers, who convince him
that sometimes change can be good.
Using the staff, The Chameleon summons every deceased kung fu master and steals their techniques,
including Lord Shen, General Kai, and the real Tai Lung. After escaping for good, Zhen reunites with Po,
but he refuses to back down from facing The Chameleon, so she, Ping and Li head back to the Den of
Thieves to convince them to help them save Po. As they battle The Chameleon's army of Komodo dragons, Po
attempts to reason with The Chameleon to no avail. They battle, but when Zhen intervenes, The Chameleon
turns into a Chimera of several kung fu masters. After the battle, she then shifts into a copycat of Po,
fights him, and soon traps him in a cage. Putting his trust in Zhen, Po gives her the Staff of Wisdom,
with which she bests The Chameleon. Po, who was only pretending to be trapped, defeats The Chameleon
using the staff and returns all of the stolen kung fu to their owners, who show respect to Po and return
to the Spirit Realm, with Tai Lung taking The Chameleon with him.
While returning to the Valley of Peace, Po chooses Zhen as his successor, much to Shifu's annoyance.
Confident with his choice, Po and the Furious Five help train Zhen to become the next Dragon Warrior.
> Jack Black as Po, a giant panda who is set to become a spiritual leader after renouncing his title as
the Dragon Warrior.
> Black also voices The Chameleon's form of Po.
> Awkwafina as Zhen, a corsac fox who is a wanted thief and accompanies Po on his journey.
> Awkwafina also voices The Chameleon's form of Zhen.
> Viola Davis as The Chameleon, a nefarious shape-shifting chameleon sorceress that can copy others'
kung fu by absorbing their abilities and Zhen's boss.
> 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
became evil. Po vanquished him to the Spirit Realm in the first film and General Kai captured him
off-screen during the third film, but The Chameleon brings him back from the Spirit Realm. In this film,
Tai Lung is the secondary antagonist after being the main antagonist of the 2008 film.
> McShane also voices The Chameleon's form of Tai Lung.
> Ke Huy Quan as Han, a Sunda pangolin who is the leader of a den of thieves.
> Lori Tan Chinn as Granny Boar, an elderly female 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 seemingly
adoptive mother.
> Harry Shum Jr. as Scott, a fire-breathing crocodile who was sent to the Spirit Realm by Po.
On December 3, 2010, then-DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg said that there was
a possibility the series could have three more sequels after Kung Fu Panda 3, bringing it to a
six-film series. On January 13, 2016, Collider asked the filmmakers of Kung Fu Panda 3 about the
possibility of a fourth film. Co-director Jennifer Yuh Nelson stated, "It's one at a time. We
want to make this a perfect jewel, and then we'll see what happens after that". 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". On August 2, 2018, when asked about the possibility of Kung Fu Panda 4, Nelson
replied that she always saw the series as a trilogy, but was open for a fourth installment as long as
the franchise focused on Po.
In August 2022, DreamWorks Animation confirmed that Kung Fu Panda 4 was in production. At
CinemaCon in April 2023, more details for the film were revealed, such as the premise as
described by Jack Black. It was also announced that Mike Mitchell was set to direct the
film, with Stephanie Ma Stine co-directing and Rebecca Huntley producing. Mitchell was a creative
consultant on the first film and an executive producer on the third film. The film was originally
planned to be a live-action/animated hybrid, according to Ma Stine. Characters such as The
Chameleon (known as The Collecter) and Zhen would have been humans. This will all be eventually
scrapped.
By December 2023, it was reported that Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger returned to write the
screenplay. In February 2024, Darren Lemke was revealed to have co-written the screenplay.
Mitchell described Kung Fu Panda 4 as a love letter to the first film. Despite its connections to
previous entries in the series, he wanted the story to stand on its own. When producing the third film,
Mitchell felt that Po's character development from the first film was wrapping up due to finally
becoming the Dragon Warrior, so he wondered what if another sequel took "all that" away, leading the
filmmakers to find some "really great heavy themes" that they felt are important for the modern world.
Additionally, Mitchell wanted to evolve Po's character, introduce new characters, and expand the
franchise's world, feeling that the film took so long to be produced because the filmmakers wanted a
perfect story that could evolve Po by making him learn something to advance to the next level. He
described Po as having a black-and-white view of the world and wanted to pair him with a more morally
grey character, Zhen. Mitchell also wanted a character who Po can be frustrated by, like how Shifu gets
frustrated by him.
For The Chameleon, Mitchell sought to make her a more-brain-than-brawn kind of villain. He went on to
say that she is the smartest and most supernatural foe Po has faced. He described The Chameleon as a
mirror to Po in that both characters were underestimated by society for their bodies, but went on to
gain high status. He said, "So Po has become the greatest hero, and now she's the greatest villain".
Mitchell felt that one of the things the Kung Fu Panda franchise stands out for, aside from Black's Po,
are its villains, so he made sure that The Chameleon could be as formidable as Tai Lung, Lord Shen and
General Kai, hence his reasoning to specifically bring the former back into this sequel's story.
In May 2023, it was reported that Awkwafina had joined the voice cast of the film. In December
2023, it was announced that Ke Huy Quan and Viola Davis would join the cast, with the
latter playing the villain of the film, The Chameleon. Lori Tan Chinn and Ronny Chieng
were also announced as new cast members, with Ian McShane, Bryan Cranston, James Hong, and
Dustin Hoffman reprising their roles from the previous films. Mitchell stated that he is a fan of
McShane's work and that it was a "blast" to be able to work with him; had McShane refused to reprise his
role as Tai Lung, there was no alternate plan for the film's story, as filmmakers had "locked in" for
Tai Lung's return.
In December 2023, Mitchell stated that Masters Tigress, Monkey, Crane, Mantis, and Viper—known
collectively as the Furious Five—would make an appearance in the film and that they are "off on their
own individual missions", with producer Rebecca Huntley confirming that there would be "a glimpse of the
Furious Five". In a March 2024 Discord Q&A session in a fan server, co-director Stephanie Ma
Stine noted that the Furious Five were not originally going to appear despite protests from writers,
artists, and animators. Ma Stine explained that it was due to the costs of the original actors,
especially Angelina Jolie as Tigress. However, the marketing department told the filmmakers to
include them in a cameo appearance.
Mitchell stated that the film's fight scenes reflect advances in both technology
and kung fu, and took more influence from anime than previous films in the series.
Stunt performers from Marvel films joined production to give the animators moves to study
and use in the choreography. The Chameleon was DreamWorks' most complex character to animate,
with a total of 8,130 controls. While most of the animation for the film was provided by
DreamWorks Animation Glendale, Jellyfish Pictures—who previously worked with DreamWorks on
How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming, Spirit Untamed, The Boss Baby: Family Business, and
The Bad Guys—handled the additional asset production services using proprietary software like
Premo and Moonray.
Kung Fu Panda 4 and The Wild Robot will be the last two films to be made entirely
in-house at DreamWorks Animation, as Cartoon Brew reported on October 6, 2023, that the studio would be
moving away from producing films in-house in their Glendale campus to rely more heavily on outside
studios after 2024.
In December 2023, Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazzaro, the former of whom also composed for the first three films, were announced to compose the film's score. A cover of 'Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time" by Tenacious D is featured in the end credits. The album was released on March 8, 2024, simultaneously with the movie's release, by Back Lot Music.
Po returned to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in November 2023 as promotion for the film. The trailer for the film, featuring The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army", along with a poster, was released on December 13, 2023. The trailer was viewed over 142 million times in the first 24 hours across all social media, becoming the most-viewed trailer for a Universal animated film, surpassing The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Minions: The Rise of Gru, Sing 2 and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.
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.
Kung Fu Panda 4 was released on digital download on April 9, 2024, by Universal Pictures Home
Entertainment. A short film titled Dueling Dumplings was released alongside it.
As part of Universal's deal with Netflix, the film will stream on Peacock for the first
four months of the pay-TV window, before moving to Netflix for the next ten, and returning to Peacock
for the remaining four.