“Kung Fu Panda 3”: 52 mind-blowing facts about the movie! (List)

1. Kung Fu Panda 3 is a 2016 3D American-Chinese computer-animated action comedy martial arts film, produced by DreamWorks Animation and Oriental DreamWorks, and distributed by 20th Century Fox.

2. It was directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni.

3. The film was written by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, produced by Melissa Cobb, and executive produced by Guillermo del Toro.

4. It is a sequel to the 2011 film Kung Fu Panda 2 and the third installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise.

5. The film features the voices of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, J. K. Simmons, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, Seth Rogen, David Cross, Bryan Cranston, Kate Hudson, and James Hong. Jean-Claude Van Damme and Randall Duk Kim reprise their roles as Master Croc and Oogway from the previous two films.

6. The film received a limited release in China on January 23 for a special three-hour sneak preview and was released day and date starting from January 28 in South Korea and Russia and on January 29 in the United States and Canada in 3D with other markets scheduled to be released in March and April.

7. The film, like its predecessors, received generally positive reviews from critics and the public. It had a bigger opening weekend in China than in the U.S. and Canada and in the latter market recorded the lowest opening among the franchise. As of March 15, 2016, it has grossed over $359 million worldwide.

8. In 2010, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg announced that the Kung Fu Panda franchise was planned to have six movies, or “chapters”, altogether.

9. In July 2012, Kung Fu Panda 3 was officially confirmed by Bill Damaschke, DWA’s chief creative officer.

10. The film was made as a co-production between DreamWorks Animation and Oriental DreamWorks, a Shanghai-based studio, founded in 2012 as a partnership between DreamWorks Animation and Chinese companies.

11. One third of the film was made in China, and the rest in the United States, at DWA.

12. This was the first time that any major American animated feature film had been co-produced with a Chinese firm.

13. The filmmakers worked closely with SAPPRFT to ensure the film’s release in China.

14. The film’s co-production status in China allowed the production companies to circumvent the country’s strict import quota and take a greater share of box-office revenue than imported films.

15. To ensure the film’s success in China, in addition to the English version, the Chinese version of the film was also fully animated, making them the only versions that will have the characters’ lips synchronized with their voices.

16. Kung Fu Panda 3 saw the crew from the second film reunite, including director Jennifer Yuh Nelson, producer Melissa Cobb, screenplay writers Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, and Guillermo del Toro as executive producer.

17. Initially, Nelson was directing the film alone, but by February 2015, Alessandro Carloni had joined her as a co-director.

18. According to the report, Carloni, who was an animation supervisor on the first film and a story artist on the second, joined Nelson following her request to strengthen “the director’s bench” to ensure that the film is completed in a timely manner.

19. Dennis Haysbert and Michelle Yeoh were supposed to return to voice as Master Ox and Soothsayer in the third film, but ultimately did not.

20. On April 9, 2013, DreamWorks Animation announced that Rebel Wilson, Bryan Cranston, and Mads Mikkelsen had joined the cast of the film.

21. By April 2015, J.K. Simmons had replaced Mikkelsen, whose character had been rewritten.

22. Five months later, Wilson was replaced by Kate Hudson due to an extended production schedule.

23. The studio had to reanimate previously completed scenes to reflect Hudson’s interpretation of the character.

24. The film’s antagonist, Kai, is the first supernatural villain of the Kung Fu Panda series. Described by del Toro as “the most formidable villain yet,” the creators wanted him to stand apart from his predecessors. Nelson reasoned: “You can’t go brawler because Tai Lung was brawler. You can’t go smarter because Shen was smarter. Where can you go? You have to go supernatural, bigger, and even more intimidating.”

25. On July 25, 2014, it was announced that Hans Zimmer would return to score the film.

26. The score includes performances from renowned Asian musicians such as Chinese pianist Lang Lang, Chinese cellist Jian Wang, Erhu virtuoso Karen Hua-Qi Ottosson returned for her 3rd time on Kung Fu Panda 3. This time not only on Erhu but also Zhong Hu and Gao Hu, erhu musician Guo Gan, and Taiwanese pop singer Jay Chou and Canadian-Taiwanese young singer Patrick Brasca.

27. The soundtrack album was released on January 22, 2016.

28. John Powell, who collaborated with Zimmer on the first two films, did not return for the third installment because of his work on Pan and Ice Age: Collision Course.

29. A portion of the score includes a melody from the song “I’m So Sorry” by the rock band Imagine Dragons. The Vamps recorded the song “Kung Fu Fighting” for the soundtrack.

30. In September 2012, it was announced that Kung Fu Panda 3 would be released on March 18, 2016.

31. On April 9, 2013, the film’s release date was moved back to December 23, 2015.

32. In April 2015, the release date was once again shifted, this time to January 29, 2016.

33. AMC Theatres partnered with Fox and DWA to play the movie in Mandarin at seven theaters and in Spanish at 14 locations in the U.S and Canada meaning there will be a mix of subtitled and dubbed formats of Kung Fu Panda 3. This will mark the first time that AMC is playing a major theatrical release in dubbed/subtitled Mandarin.

34. The film had a day-and-date release starting from January 28 in China, Russia, Ukraine, Jamaica and Puerto Rico and South Korea and the U.S. and Canada on January 29, 2016. Other markets will follow on March and April.

35. According to Deadline.com, the strategy behind such a staggered release was to take advantage of certain opportunistic dates which presented themselves such as the Chinese New Year in February for China.

36. As of March 15, 2016, Kung Fu Panda 3 has grossed $137 million in North America and $222 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $359 million.

37. Kung Fu Panda 3 has received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 85%, based on 130 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The site’s critical consensus reads, “Kung Fu Panda 3 boasts the requisite visual splendor, but like its rotund protagonist, this sequel’s narrative is also surprisingly nimble, adding up to animated fun for the whole family”. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 66 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating “generally favorable reviews”. In CinemaScore polls, cinema audiences gave the film an average score of “A” on an A+ to F scale. Women as well as under 25 gave the film an “A+” grade.

38. Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends is an RPG martial arts video game that features characters from all three Kung Fu Panda films. Developed by Vicious Cycle Software and published by Little Orbit, the game was released on December 1, 2015 for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo 3DS, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. The Wii U version was released on December 15, 2015.

39. Four of Angelina Jolie’s children, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, Pax Jolie-Pitt, Knox Jolie-Pitt and Zahara Jolie Pitt, are voice extras in the scene when Po talks to the pandas about a game plan.

40. Jackie Chan is the only actor to be voicing 2 different characters in the film’s English release (as Monkey) and Mandarin release (as Li/Po’s birth father).

41. During the traveling montage Po and his father endure on their way to the secret panda village, they pass by two large stones that sit on a equally stone like terrain and are slanted toward the right of the screen. Shrek and Donkey pass by these same stones on their way to Fiona’s castle in the first Shrek movie.

42. Jamie Campbell Bower was cast to voice Po’s real father but was replaced by actor Bryan Cranston. Neither of these Actors voiced Po’s Father at the End of Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011), instead being voiced by Experienced Voice Actor Fred Tatasciore (who also voiced Shifu in the Kung Fu Panda Video Games and the Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness (2011) TV Series).

43. This is the first time that any major American animated feature film has been co-produced with a Chinese firm.

44. This has been the longest wait for a sequel to a previous Dreamworks computer-animated film to date.

45. This will be J.K. Simmons’ first of two animated movies premiering in 2016. The second movie is Zootopia (2016).

46. Rebel Wilson was the original choice for Mei Mei, but dropped out due to schedule conflicts and was replaced by Kate Hudson.

47. The CEO of Dreamworks confirmed that this is not the last movie in the franchise and that 3 Kung Fu Panda films are planned ahead.

48. One third of the film was made in China, and the rest was made in the United States, at DWA.

49. Kai is the first Kung Fu Panda villain to not have a British accent.

50. The first “Kung Fu Panda” film to be distributed by Twentieth Century Fox, eight years ago since the end of DreamWorks Animation’s deal with Paramount Pictures in 2012.

51. Actors David Cross (Crane) and J. K. Simmons (Kai) previously worked together for 2010’s Megamind. 6 years later, in Kung Fu Panda 3, this is their second collaboration.

52. This is the first Kung Fu Panda film where Tigress wears different clothes. In the first and second films, she wore a red qipao with golden vine patterns and black pants. In this film, she wears a long-sleeved yellow tunic with red vine patterns and black pants.