According to Variety, For the first time since it became an independent company, DreamWorks Animation has a full development slate that will help satisfy the company's two-picture-per-year release schedule through at least 2009.

As part of that transition, the company's 2008 calendar is now set, with Jack Black vehicle Kung Fu Panda joining the recently announced Madagascar 2.

Influenced by cartoonish live-action pics like Kung Fu Hustle, Panda will star Black as the voice of a lazy panda prophesied to save the Valley of Peace.

The pic will be directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne. Melissa Cobb will produce from a screenplay by Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab.