Kung Fu Panda 3

Kung Fu Panda 3 closes Po's first trilogy. Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, who also made the second film, with Alessandro Carloni, it opened in the US on 29 January 2016. Made for $145 million, it grossed $521 million worldwide, the lowest total in the series.

The first major US-China animated co-production

The film was co-produced by DreamWorks Animation and Oriental DreamWorks, a Shanghai studio, with about a third of the animation done in China. That status let it bypass China's quota on foreign films. The Mandarin version was fully re-animated so the characters' lips match the Chinese dialogue.

Chi, from the training hall to the screen

The third film moves on from the animal styles of the first two to an idea every kung fu or qigong practitioner knows: chi (qi), the life energy that Chinese internal arts cultivate through breathing and posture. Kai steals it from the masters he defeats, and Po must learn to master it to stop him. There is also a coaching lesson: Po learns that students do not all learn the same way, and builds training around what each panda in the village already does well.

Voices and reception

Jack Black returns as Po, Bryan Cranston plays his father Li Shan and J. K. Simmons is General Kai, with Dustin Hoffman and Angelina Jolie back as Shifu and Tigress. Reviews were positive (87% on Rotten Tomatoes), but it was the first film in the series not nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. It earned four Annie Award nominations.