Kung Fu Panda 4 Aims To Kick Box Office Butt

Not to assume, dear reader, that you regularly take in my musings on the box office and the movie industry in general. But if you do, I don't need to drone on about the bad year that it has been up to this point. Yes, "Dune: Part Two" is finally here to save us (to some degree), but ticket sales are still down dramatically compared to this point in 2023. It's a downturn the industry can ill afford right now. Luckily, another hero is on the horizon, and his name is Kung Fu Panda.

Universal and DreamWorks Animation's "Kung Fu Panda 4" arrives next weekend. While the return of Jack Black's Po may not ignore the box office on record-breaking levels, it should be more than enough to provide theaters with a little bump. Currently, the expectation is that the film will bring in anywhere between $30 and $39 million in its opening frame, per Box Office Pro. It will be opening against Blumhouse's horror film "Imaginary," which is looking to debut anywhere between $8 and $15 million. All of that, coupled with the holdover audience for "Dune," should make for a nice weekend overall.

When the latest "Kung Fu Panda" sequel hits theaters, it will be the first family-friendly animated film to debut since Illumination's "Migration" back in December. That film was also released by Universal, which has sort of become the go-to studio for family-friendly fare in the pandemic era. Universal has pretty much been eating Disney's lunch in that department, with Mouse House suffering major misfires like "Wish," which was one of 2023's biggest flops. That being the case, this movie figures to have staying power well beyond opening weekend, which is very good news.

The fourth film centers on Po (Black), who is tapped to become the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace. But first, he must quickly find and train a new Dragon Warrior before he can assume his new position. Meanwhile, a powerful shapeshifting sorceress named Chameleon (Viola Davis) sets her sights on stealing Po's Staff of Wisdom, which gives her the power to re-summon all the master villains that Po previously defeated. "Kung Fu Panda 4" was directed by Mike Mitchell ("Trolls"), with an A-list cast of voice talent including Awkwafina, Dustin Hoffman, James Hong, Bryan Cranston, Ian McShane, and recent Oscar-winner Ke Huy Quan.

2016's "Kung Fu Panda 3" opened to $41 million before legging out to $143 million domestically. More importantly, it made $521 million worldwide, meaning it made more than 72% of its money overseas. So, this is a franchise with global appeal. Granted, that included a whopping $154 million in China and, since the pandemic, American movies have not done particularly well in the country. Even so, if Universal kept the budget down on this one (which it's been doing with these animated features as of late), this movie could still be a hit without a windfall in China. "Kung Fu Panda" is a $1.8 billion franchise, after all.

"Migration," for example, cost just $72 million to make and has grossed, to date, $270 million worldwide. It also opened to just over $12 million, meaning it had incredibly long legs. Again, that's good news here; a lack of competition in the family movie arena leads to longer legs. That's exactly what happened with "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish," which made it to $485 million worldwide after an opening weekend of less than $13 million domestically. This all bodes well for Po's return.

"Kung Fu Panda 4" hits theaters on March 8, 2024.