What's more fun than a Kung Fu Panda? A whole village of Kung Fu Pandas.

On January 29, 2016, Kung Fu Panda 3 makes its international debut on both sides of the Pacific. It’s unusual to have a simultaneous world premiere, yet it’s an auspicious and strategic date for our old friend Po. On the weekend prior, two Chinese films enjoyed theatrical releases in the United States, both of which were already released in China. Another eagerly anticipated three-quel, Ip Man 3 starring Donnie Yen and Mike Tyson, debuted in America nearly a month after its Asian Christmas eve premiere date. The second was another Chinese kid’s film heavy on animation, China’s highest grossing film to date, Monster Hunt, which premiered in China last October. In America, late January is an awkward period for movie releases as it is in the wake of the Academy Award nomination announcements. But in Asia, this is a prime season, equal to the summer and holiday rushes of Hollywood. In Asia, people go to movies for Chinese New Year, which lands on February 8 for 2016.

They say the third time is the charm, but Po faced a lot of challenges with Part 3. Kung Fu Panda 3 was originally scheduled for release on December 23, 2015, for the holidays, but it got Jedi-tossed like an extra stormtrooper by Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which opened on schedule, six days prior that date. Initially rescheduled for March 18, 2016, Kung Fu Panda 3 was moved again last October, surely to take advantage of the Chinese New Year holidays. The Chinese market is key for Kung Fu Panda 3. More and more, moviemakers are targeting that market by shifting their story arcs just to accommodate Chinese tastes and restrictions. In 2012, the remake of Red Dawn went so far as to digitally change the commie villains from China to North Korea, which had little effect in the end as the film failed to garner distribution in either Asian nation.

As anthropomorphically awkward as this allusion is, Kung Fu Panda 3 is a cash cow. The franchise has earned almost $1.3 billion so far. However, following the trend for many global blockbusters nowadays, that cash is shifting from U.S. dollars to P.R.C. yuan. Kung Fu Panda 1 (2008) earned $215 million domestically and $613 million worldwide, $26 million from China, which placed fourth for foreign box office grosses behind the United Kingdom, France, and South Korea (in that order). Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011) earned less domestically at $165 million, but more worldwide at $665 million. China was responsible for $96 million of that, the top foreign earner by far (next was Russia at $31 million). DreamWorks Animation is hungry for a hit as their last two films, Penguins of Madagascar and Home underperformed at the box office. Penguins in particular was well below projections, dropping their share price by 8%.

However, Kung Fu Panda 3 isn’t quite DreamWorks. It’s Oriental DreamWorks, an unprecedented $330 million joint venture between DreamWorks, China Media Capital, Shanghai Media Group and Shanghai Alliance Investment Limited, founded in 2012 in the wake of Kung Fu Panda 2. It’s important to note that this is not a subsidiary of DreamWorks like DreamWorks Animation, DreamWorks Pictures, DreamWorks Records or DreamWorks Television. This is an independent enterprise, a joint venture between an American company and Chinese partners. Kung Fu Panda 3 is Oriental DreamWorks’ first feature film, a co-production with DreamWorks Animation, although Oriental DreamWorks was the licensed distributor for The Croods (2013) for China. Another yet-to-be-named original film project is slated for Oriental DreamWorks in 2018. The real power behind Oriental DreamWorks is that, as a Chinese company, it avoids the strict quotas on for-profit foreign films imported into the People’s Republic of China. This quota currently stands at 34 films per year.

 

 

China will get a different version of Kung Fu Panda 3. In the Hollywood version, the original voice cast returns: Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, James Hong, Seth Rogen, David Cross, Lucy Liu and, of course, Jackie Chan. Even Jean-Claude Van Damme reprises his role from Kung Fu Panda 2 as Master Croc in a quick cameo. The Chinese version swaps out the Hollywood A-list for a roster of Chinese superstars: Huang Lei, Jiang Wu, Yang Mi, Zhang Guoli, Zhu Zhu and the Chopstick Brothers. Jay Chou replaces Jackie Chan as Monkey and sings a Chinese title song. Alongside Chou, other notable Chinese musicians contributed to the soundtrack, notably the internationally-renowned pianist Lang Lang, as well as cellist Jian Wang and a master of the traditional Chinese stringed erhu Guo Gan. Jackie transfers to the role of Li Shan, Po’s panda poppa, who is voiced by Bryan Cranston in the Hollywood version. And while any veteran Kung Fu fan delights in the mismatched lips of English-dubbed films, the Chinese version adjusts the lip movements of the animated characters to match the Mandarin. Or perhaps, the lips were adjusted to English movements as much of the production was done in Shanghai.

The Hollywood version had its own cast shuffles. Mads Mikkelsen was originally cast as the new villain Kai, but had to leave due to scheduling issues. J.K. Simmons replaced him and arguably did a better job than Mikkelsen might have done. While Mikkelsen has shown his talent playing villains like the notorious Le Chiffre in Casino Royale (2006), he hasn’t done much voice work. Simmons has extraordinary comic timing and brings a long resume of voice work for animated features such as The Simpsons, Kim Possible, Major Lazer and The Legend of Korra. Another swap was Rebel Wilson, who was originally cast as nunchuk-wielding panda diva Mei Mei. The character was clearly modeled on Wilson, who has demonstrated her nunchuk skills in real life and, according to Kung Fu Panda 3 Director Jennifer Yuh-Nelson, once whipped a pair of pink padded nunchuks around her office. Unfortunately, Wilson had to drop out due to scheduling as well. She was replaced by Kate Hudson, and the production allegedly re-animated Mei Mei to adjust to Hudson’s take. However, in the final Hollywood version, Mei Mei is a fairly minor character, which is remarkable considering Hudson’s celebrity status. Mei Mei was originally supposed to be betrothed to Po from childhood, but that story arc vanished in the final cut.

 

 

The Panda Village in Kung Fu Panda 3 was teased at the end of Kung Fu Panda 2, blatantly setting up this three-quel. Kung Fu Panda 2 raised the bar on the original with lush 3D settings and eye-popping animation. Kung Fu Panda 3 continues to bolster the spectacle, modeling the Valley of Peace on Qingcheng Mountain in Sichuan (the production worked with Qingcheng Grandmaster Liu Suibin, who was recently featured on the cover of Kung Fu Tai Chi’s NOV+DEC 2015 issue). What’s more, Kung Fu Panda 3 introduces the psychedelic Spirit World, where dead Kung Fu masters live in a surreal floating space like Jedi force ghosts. The spirit sequences set the stage for some stunning 3D action. It’s the same level of gorgeous colorful animation expected of the franchise now.

However, for the most part, Kung Fu Panda 3 plays it safe. This is a family film, innocuous and inoffensive, predictable from scene to scene, exactly the sort of fare that is sure to please both China and Hollywood. In fact, it is so family that Jack Black’s son and several of Angelina Jolie’s kids have small voice roles in the film. Black is on point as usual, characterizing Po with his singular panache. Dustin Hoffman’s Shifu and Randall Duk Kim’s Oogway continue to proffer their fortune cookie wisdom and the snappy banter between the Furious Five is on par with the Avengers for its chuckle-inducing wit. The Panda Village is a little overdone, a bit of cuteness overload (pandas with huge adorable eyes – been there already with Puss in Boots (2011)). Nevertheless, Kung Fu Panda 3 remains funny, visually beautiful, and entertaining for young and old worldwide. In the end, it will be interesting to see if it grosses more in China or the United States.

Last August, a new panda was born at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. Little Bei Bei (2011) made his public debut in mid-January, just before the worldwide premiere of Kung Fu Panda 3. Just like Po, Bei Bei came just in time to wish us all a Happy Chinese New Year and hopefully help foster positive relationships between China and the United States.