DreamWorks’ Original Plan Makes Kung Fu Panda the Fast and Furious of Animation
There is a certain comfort in growing up with our beloved characters and joining them on the self-exploratory journey that they embark on. From characters like Woody and Nemo to heroes like Lightning McQueen and Po, we have witnessed their lives from one movie to another, changing and adapting as they go.
With Dreamworks’ Kung Fu Panda 4 hitting the theatres recently, we see people enjoying the movies that were once a part of their childhood. These movies mean more than just sequels to some fans, reflecting a fading part of their cherished youth. But what happens with Dreamworks Studio makes more movies than necessary, ruining the satisfying legacy of the characters?
Will There Be More Kung Fu Panda Movies?
While fans would love to see hilarious Po go on more adventures with the Furious Five, there’s only a limited number of storylines you can create with a set of characters. After a brilliant trilogy, the fourth movie was released this year and it opened to less-than-great reviews. On one hand, this might mean the end of the Kung Fu Panda franchise since fans seem saturated with the thought behind the movie. On another level, the mediocre response to the movie might be because of something the fourth part got wrong.
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Similar to what Dreamworks did with the Shrek franchise, it appears they want to recreate the legacy with Kung Fu Panda. The former movie saw four movies, countless spinoffs, and video games in its heyday. Back when the studio head Jeffrey Katzenberg announced Kung Fu Panda 2, he revealed that they might plan 2 trilogies or 6 movies in total to showcase Po’s bright Kung Fu laden future. In an interview with Empire magazine, he said,
“Kung Fu Panda actually has 6 chapters to it, and we’ve mapped that out over the years.”
We don’t know for sure if Kung Fu Panda 4 is the beginning of a new trilogy or if new movies will follow based on stand-alone terms. However, one thing is for sure. Dreamworks is hell-bent on milking the cash cow until the very last dollar. Making franchise after franchise, they are banking big bucks on characters that saw great responses from the audience and finding newer angles to explore their worlds.
Mike Mitchell, the director of the Kung Fu Panda franchise, recently claimed that more sequels are absolutely possible. In an interview with Next Best Picture, he said,
“It’s very possible. Like, I don’t think anyone will ever get tired of seeing Jack Black as this panda. I mean, he just is this panda. He comes up with all of the ‘skadooshes,’ all the ‘sha-sha-booeys’ and stuff. We could watch him forever.”
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Even when the third chapter was released, the makers agreed that they would focus on one movie at a time. However, they were also aware of the evolution Po undergoes in becoming the Dragon Warrior. While many fans across the world, young and old alike, love Po and the Kung Fu Panda movies, there is a looming fear that Dreamworks might ruin the legacy of the movie just to make more movies. We hope this franchise does not end up becoming the Fast and the Furious of animation, made only for face value without adding any value to the characters.
Which Dreamworks Sequels Can We Expect in the Future?
In the Empire interview, Katzenberg also mentioned the other successful movies that later became franchises that brought in loads of money for Dreamworks. From Madagascar to How to Train Your Dragon, he spoke about the future of these films with a focus on putting the studio on top of the animation pioneers. How to Train Your Dragon is another masterpiece in Dreamworks’ catalog, a unique take on a once-scared community that goes on to tame and ride dragons. He expressed,
“How To Train Your Dragon is at least three: maybe more, but we know there are a least three chapters to that story. There are actually 8 books. But there are elements of them that actually… as you know, there are many islands in the world of Berk, and different things there, so we’ll see. But right now, today, we know that there are three for sure that we want to tell and there may be more. We haven’t thought, you know, how do we continue beyond that.”
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We have already seen three movies in the franchise, a story that has its perfect ending. The studio has not recently commented or announced new projects in that space and honestly, we hope they don’t. The story is perfect as it ended. Moreover, Katzenberg added that he plans to end Madagascar right where it started, in the New York Zoo where the characters come to accept their fate. We can only hope for Dreamworks to make informed decisions based on what the fans want out of the characters rather than being stubborn on raking in more big bucks.
