History Trivia / KungFuPanda3

* ShipSinking: [[https://youtu.be/oKaY_8QLACs?si=y4wR5EFO5OBUQKrf&t=601 In an interview for the movie's promotion]] director Jennifer Yuh Nelson has stated she knows people want Tigress and Po to become a couple, however she feels Tigress is better off as an independent female character rather than being reduced to the role of a love interest. [[ShippingGoggles Not that this has stopped fans of the ship]].

*** For that matter, a Facebook post by Stephanie Ma Stine, co-director of ''Kung Fu Panda 4'', stated that Tigress and Po were supposed to become romantically involved.

** The art book shows concept art of a storyline where Tigress would get hit by a poisonous arrow and Po would carry her all the way to the panda village to nurse her back to health. Interestingly, this is the same plot describing Oogway and Kai's backstory.

** Instead of Po and the Five being introduced by going to Mr. Ping's for breakfast, Po would have arrived ahead asking Mr. Ping to do his laundry, then removing his pants just as the Five arrived, much to Po's embarrassment.

** The art book shows concept art of some heavy ShipTease where Tigress would get hit by a poisonous arrow and Po would carry her all the way to the panda village to nurse her back to health. Interestingly, this is the same plot describing Oogway and Kai's backstory.

* ActingForTwo: Creator/JackieChan reprises his role as Monkey in the English dub while voicing Po's father, Li Shan, in the Chinese dub. He had previously voiced Monkey in the Chinese dub of the two previous films as well, but is replaced by Jay Chou for this film. Special mention goes to the fact that Chan couldn't simply record the two languages in the same studio. No, he had to travel all the way between the US and China to do so. That's some dedication to a voice acting role.

** Originally, Li Shan would sleep on the palace, and despite Po's optimism to show his Kung Fu abilities, Li refuses everything Po's likes to do, because he says that's not what a panda should do and that he doesn't belong on the Valley of Peace but rather with his kind. He then lies on the floor and says to Po to leave tomorrow with Po looking concerned.

** Po's father was voiced by Creator/FredTatasciore in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2'' in a small cameo. Creator/BryanCranston replaces him for this movie.

* ActingForTwo: Creator/JackieChan voices Monkey in the English dub and Po's father, Li Shan, in the Chinese dub. He had previously voiced Monkey in the Chinese dub of the two previous films as well, but is replaced by Jay Chou for this film. Special mention goes to the fact that Jackie Chan couldn't simply record the two languages in the same studio, no, he had to travel all the way between the US and China to do so. That's some dedication to a voice acting role.
* ChannelHop: The previous two films in the franchise were Distributed by Creator/{{Paramount}} Pictures, with this film being distributed by Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox.

** In the Latin American Spanish dub, Master Shifu and Master Oogway were voiced by Pedro Amendariz Jr., and Esteban Siller, respectively, for the first two movies. Due to both of them passing away before the third movie was dubbed, Shifu and Oogway were voiced by Creator/OctavioRojas and Creator/PedroDAguillonJr this time.

* YoYoPlotPoint: Po needs to figure out who he is and explore his past. Again.

* YoYoPlotPoint: Po needs to figure out who he is. Again.

* DuelingMovies: With two other animated features: ''WesternAnimation/NormOfTheNorth'' (which also has a bear as the lead who is trying to preserve their homeland; this movie ironically features another ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' alumnus, Korra's voice actress Janet Varney, in a cameo), and ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'' (which '''also''' has Creator/JKSimmons in it and features anthropomorphic animals, the third movie in the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon after ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'' and ''WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle'' to use them). ''Norm of the North'' temporarily earned a 0% on Website/RottenTomatoes and was subsequently crushed at the box office. Needless to say, Creator/{{Disney}} have obviously fared much better than Creator/{{Lionsgate}} did, as ''Zootopia'' received highly positive reviews and beat ''Kung Fu Panda 3'' at the box office. Although, this doesn't stop the two films from having mostly FriendlyFandoms.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/KungFuPanda The Dragon Warriors own page]].

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Mei Mei was originally meant to be in an ArrangedMarriage with Po from a young age, and had [[LoveMakesYouCrazy gone a little crazy from waiting for him]], but this idea was eventually scrapped.
** Li Shan, Po's father, was originally pitched as having a stern personality, but the creators feared this would make him unlikable and made him more relaxed and fun-loving instead.
** The art book shows concept art of some heavy ShipTease where Tigress would get hit by a poisonous arrow and Po would carry her all the way to the panda village to nurse her back to health. Interestingly, this is the same plot describing Oogway and Kai's backstory.
** There exists a character model for a jade jombie Tigress, implying she would have had her chi taken by Kai too.
** Instead of Po and the Five being introduced by going to Mr. Ping's for breakfast, Po would have arrived ahead asking Mr. Ping to do his laundry, then removing his pants just as the Five arrived, much to Po's embarrassment.
** A subplot that was ultimately cut from the finished movie was that Po, Shifu, and the Furious Five would have held off the jombie Masters at a standoff, at which point, the undead Masters would run off, rather than to dissipate into green orbs of light, as they had in the finished movie, but not before one quick skirmish, in which Master Porcupine fired three of his quills from his bow, one of them hitting Mr. Ping, who dove in front of Po to take the shot. In that subplot, Li Shan would have tended to Mr. Ping's injuries, and Mr. Ping would have blamed himself for being a burden to Po, partially due to the toxins of the quill affecting his brain.

* TheOtherDarrin: Po's father was voiced by Creator/FredTatasciore in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2'' in a small cameo. Creator/BryanCranston replaces him for this movie.
** In the Latin American Spanish dub, Master Shifu and Master Oogway were voiced by Pedro Amendariz Jr., and Esteban Siller, respectively, for the first two movies. Due to both of them passing away, Shifu and Oogway were voiced by Creator/OctavioRojas and Creator/PedroDAguillonJr this time.

** Creator/RebelWilson recorded most of her dialogue as Mei Mei when the character's original storyline was still in place. When the subplot was cut and the production schedule was extended, Wilson was unable to return to record her new dialogue, and was ultimately replaced with Creator/KateHudson. The change happened so late that Wilson was actually credited in some of the film's early trailers.

* ChannelHop: The previous two films in the franchise were Distributed by Paramount Pictures, with this film being distributed by 20th Century Fox.

* DuelingMovies: With two other animated features: ''WesternAnimation/NormOfTheNorth'' (which also has a bear as the lead who is trying to preserve their homeland; this movie ironically features another ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' alumnus, Korra's voice actress Janet Varney, in a cameo), and ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'' (which '''also''' has Creator/JKSimmons in it and features anthropomorphic animals, the third movie in the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon after ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'' and ''WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle'' to use them). ''Norm of the North'' temporarily earned a 0% on Website/RottenTomatoes and was subsequently crushed at the box office. Needless to say, Creator/{{Disney}} have obviously fared much better than Creator/{{Lionsgate}} did, as ''Zootopia'' received highly positive reviews and beat ''Kung Fu Panda 3'' at the box office. Although, this doesn't stop the two films from having mostly FriendlyFandoms.

** Creator/FredTatasciore (Master Bear) briefly voiced Li Shan in the second movie.

* RefittedForSequel: At one point, the original film had Tai Lung leading a gang of evil warriors, one of whom was a [[http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/kungfupanda/images/1/13/Four-armed-yak.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160206234110 "Four-Armed Yak Demon God on Fire"]]. The character's design was reused for Master Ox in [[WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2 the second film]] (albeit with only two arms]], while the character's concept as a demonic spirit inspired the creation of Kai for this film.

** Kai was originally going to be voiced by Creator/MadsMikkelsen, but he was replaced with Creator/JKSimmons when the character went through a rewrite.
** Similarly, Mei Mei was for a long while meant to be voiced by Creator/RebelWilson, but she had to bow out when the production schedule got extended. Mei Mei's role went to Creator/KateHudson instead. The change happened so late that you can still see Rebel Wilson being credited in some of the trailers.

** Kai was also originally part of Tai Lung's gang and was designed as a "Four-Armed Yak Demon God on Fire" as seen [[http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/kungfupanda/images/1/13/Four-armed-yak.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160206234110 here]]. But he was later redesigned to have two arms and became the BigBad of this movie.