Kung Fu Panda franchise

It was just released today in China.

Edited by Ikedatakeshi on Mar 22nd 2024 at 12:33:54 AM

So we won't really know the weekend box office until Monday.

So now that everyone has seen number 4, what does everyone think about this maybe being the start of a new trilogy and future Kung Fu Panda projects in generale?

KFP 4 was not a franchise ruiner like TS 4 but its readily apparent its a sign of bad things to come going forward.

I thought Kung Fu Panda 4 was pretty great, about as good as the other 3 movies (granted, that may be because I don't absolutely adore 2 like some people do, I think all four movies are solid 8/10s). I'm looking forward to seeing what direction they go in, whether shifting to Zhen as the protagonist or keeping Spiritual Leader Po as the main character.

And Toy Story 4 was absolutely not a franchise-ruiner, what? It did just as well as 3 in theaters and spawned multiple successful spin-off shorts. It had some controversy, but was overall well-received despite it.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Mar 23rd 2024 at 10:24:34 AM

If you liked it, then it must be AN AMAZING movie. But the amount of drama behind the scenes and how people had to fight the higher ups to include most of the good stuff in the movie is seriously concerning. Not to mention how everything will be outsourced now.

Oh yeah, the background stuff is super concerning. It's kind of a miracle the movie ended up as good as it did. Hopefully, they learn the right lessons from the feedback, like those obviously fake leaks last page were saying.

I dont think just feedback is going to change their minds... What WILL is the MILLIONS the movie is making right now. The movie is unexpectedly doing great I think.

Hopefully, they listen to feedback on why the movie is doing well, in that people like the serious moments, wholesome dialogue, thematic morals, and martial arts stuff. That's really the core of every Kung-Fu Panda movie.

Well according to Stephanie Ma Stine, it seems that the executives (who I presume were talking about) had limited influence so I wonder how feedback would count.

I do admit a bit more space for dramatic moments in the future. Overall I enjoyed the film, and hope to see it continue, it just feels the right place to continue on from, also I don't think anyone will get tired of Jack Black playing Po.

I think all 4 needed was that subplot of Shifu being kidnapped, plus maybe one more scene of Po training Zhen, and the movie would have been golden.

Saw the film last night with a friend/co-worker. I enjoyed it. It's probably a little better than the third one actually.

I think that's the most common consensus which I think is a more positive thing.

I'd rather take more of Po's dads shenanigans than the panda village.

I still have not seen the fourth movie, but one criticism I heard is that the Chameleon's backstory makes no sense; she was rejected from learning kung fu because she was "too small", even though Mantis and Viper are both smaller than her, and even the same movie has a gag about a "Master Chipmunk" who is also implied to be very small.

Lee and Ping were great, the "two dads" gay metaphor was taken about as far as it could have without being explicit and getting into weird interspecies dilemmas. I was a tad disappointed we didn't get to see them do any fighting, but the joke of Lee just pretending he was a total badass was so funny every time that it made up for it.

And that kind of joke is hard to do well without getting into cringe comedy territory, I was impressed they managed to thread that needle by adding other elements, like Lee's weight shifting the bar around.

It wasn't just about being small, it was also about being weak and a lizard. We've seen that animal racism is a thing in this world. That said, I do hope the DVD short shows her backstory, we never get a flashback. And Viper would be bigger than her, she's really small.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Mar 24th 2024 at 1:59:04 AM

I saw a lot of bashing of the Chameleon because her "entrance" was weak compared to "entrances" of previous villains (who often showed themselves to be able to fight through many foes with ease, while Chameleon simply knocked one dude down a stairs) and while Chameleon was hyped as as Po's deadliest foe, she goes down relatively easy during the final battle (two hits from the magic staff brough her down).

Why no one else had responded to this post of my?

I think the problem is that chameleon only fought Po once and thus already made to lose, compared to the others where they encountered Po multiple times (and with Tai Lung, already showing to be formidable).

There's also that "I will kick you" scene and the receiving end still ended up living, but I guess the idea is that she needs them alive and under the thumb.

Because we know literally nothing about KFP 5. It may end up being on par with the first two or even worse than the latter two. And I guess none of us would be happy if the latter happened, but there's no point getting upset about it now.

I wrote that post since Kung Fu Panda 4 looks to me as Ice Age: Continental Drift - a good movie with wasted story and characters who already has a fan-rewrite (there's a rewrite of Continental Drift by [[https://www.youtube.com/@kittyslypaws746 Kitty Slypaws]], but I don't know where to find it). That's why I'm worried that potential Kung Fu Panda 5 will end up like a Collision Course.

Why would it?

There is no way to know how a sequel that haven't even been made or considered yet could end up the same way as a sequel of equal number ended up already. They are not even of the same cloth.

Edited by Trainbarrel on Mar 24th 2024 at 2:37:34 PM

It will in big parts depend on how seriously Dreamworks is gonna take the mixed feedback 4 has gotten and what lesson they're gonna take from it.

Sadly, KFP 4 was not a hit in China after all...

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/china-box-office-kung-fu-panda-4-opening-weekend-1235859397/

It's still done well at least. 300 million is great on an 80 million budget movie

Budget vs Box Office for Kung Fu Panda movies:

• Kung Fu Panda 1: $130M budget, $631M box office

• Kung Fu Panda 2: $150M budget, $665M box office

• Kung Fu Panda 3: $145M budget, $521M box office

• Kung Fu Panda 4: $85M budget, $268M box office so far

4 is doing fine. It's made back half of 3's box office on just over half the budget. The internal rule for whether something is a success goes:

• Box office < budget: massive bomb

• Box office = budget: bomb

• Box office 2x budget: broke even (because movies take time and effort to make, making back twice the budget shows the studio that the movie was even worth making over investing that time and effort into making a different movie)

• Box office 3x budget: success

• Box office 4x budget: massive success

By those metrics, 1 and 2 were massive successes, 3 was a success, and 4 is already a success. And it hasn't even left theaters. If 4 ends with a box office of $340M, that will mean it's a massive success.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Mar 25th 2024 at 3:24:45 AM