Kung Fu Panda 3

Since the introduction of the Best Animated Feature Oscar at the 74th Academy Awards in 2002, we’ve seen a steady exponential increase in animated movies over the years. Pixar, and, by extent, Disney, has usually dominated the competition, with eight wins out of ten nominations, followed by DreamWorks and Disney’s animation studio. This year, we have a record 27 movies eligible for the award, and while the Academy can pick only five to nominate, for now it’s anyone’s game.

Kung Fu Panda 3 once again led the box office this weekend, but like its lower-than-expected opening weekend, it’s not as impressive as anyone was hoping or expecting. DreamWorks Animation’s sequel managed to fend off a trio of newcomers, but each of those films disappointed in their own ways, leading to a shrug-worthy top 10 that feels like Hollywood just accepting that everyone is going to be watching the Super Bowl instead of going to the movies.

The victory of of Kung Fu Panda 3 at the box office this weekend conjures one of the most common questions you have to ask yourself when keeping a constant eye on the charts: when is a hit not a hit? Sure, the third film in DreamWorks Animation’s series did open at number one and its numbers are very good, but they’re lower than you’d think. In any case, it still fared significantly better than the rest of the competition this week — all of the other new releases simply flopped.

All throughout the previous Kung Fu Panda films, Jack Black’s Po thought he was all alone, having been orphaned as a cub and raised with nary another panda in sight…until now. That all changes with Kung Fu Panda 3, in which Po meets his long-lost family and his father takes him to their hidden panda village in a magical moment you can preview for yourself via a new clip from the upcoming sequel.

DreamWorks has released a new trailer for Kung Fu Panda 3, featuring all sorts of adorable panda antics and one delightfully exasperated red panda kung fu master. Jack Black is back as Po, who embarks on his greatest journey yet — but first, there’s a bit of a family reunion in store.

It’s not unusual for an animated film to replace members of its voice cast before release — Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur notably did this when it underwent a creative revamp, replacing pretty much all of its actors to make sure the casting was more accurate to the newer vision. Kung Fu Panda 3 hasn’t undergone any huge changes, though it is replacing at least one of its cast members prior to release.

By the time Kung Fu Panda 3 hits theaters, it’ll have been five years since the previous adventure of Jack Black’s Po and his martial artist animal buddies. For the kids weened on the first two movies, that’s practically a lifetime. Considering the diminishing creative (but certainly not financial) returns between Kung Fu Panda and Kung Fu Panda 2, will anyone care about this movie when it ultimately lurches into theaters? Consider that question as soon as you click play on the trailer above.

The first Kung Fu Panda film established that Jack Black’s Po had been adopted and his entire family was no longer living. But the first images from Kung Fu Panda 3 reveal quite the contrary — not only is Po’s family alive and well, but there’s a whole bunch of them, including some cute baby pandas.

Just last week, DreamWorks announced that it would be cutting 500 jobs and scaling its animated movie releases down from three a year to just two. At the time, it was unclear how this would affect the projects they currently have in development, but the company has just revealed an updated release schedule, with a few changes to note—in particular, ‘How to Train Your Dragon 3’ has been pushed back, and ‘B.O.O.: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations’ is back in development, but is still not scheduled for release.

We've known 'Kung Fu Panda 3' was coming in the near future, but now the film is starting to add to its cast. Alongside series stalwarts Jack Black, Angelina Jolie and Seth Rogen, Bryan Cranston, Mads Mikkelsen and Rebel Wilson have joined the cast.