Kung Fu Panda has become a bonafide success story for Dreamworks, with the animated franchise sitting among the studio’s highest-grossing films and expanding its box office gains ever since the first installment premiered in 2008. Since then, we’ve been treated to three additional entries into the universe, the most recent of which, Kung Fu Panda 4, arrives in March 2024.
Except for Despicable Me, Toy Story and Shrek, few animated franchises have reached the four-movie mark, and even fewer have gotten to five. So, what does this mean for the future of Kung Fu Panda? Will the ever-loveable Po (and the even more loveable Jack Black) grace our screen again for Kung Fu Panda 5?
Will there be ‘Kung Fu Panda 5?’
While Dreamworks has yet to officially announce whether there will be a fifth installment of Kung Fu Panda, we have been treated to some teases from those involved in the franchise. Stephanie Ma-Stine, who co-directed Kung Fu Panda 4, addressed Po’s fate in a recent interview, amid fan concerns that the character’s story was coming to an end after the events of the fourth movie.
Kung Fu Panda 4 revolves around Po’s quest to find his successor as the Dragon Warrior, and since he crowned a new one in Awkwafina’s Zhen, audiences wondered whether that spelt the end of Po’s story. Thankfully, Ma-Stine quelled those rumors, telling Variety that “this is definitely not the end of Po’s story” and urging fans to “look forward to more.”
The comments themselves are a strong indicator that a fifth Kung Fu Panda movie is on the horizon, but we have had other suggestions in the past that the universe will continue expanding. In 2010, it was reported that Dreamworks studio head Jeffrey Katzenberg had committed to six films for Kung Fu Panda. “Kung Fu Panda actually has 6 chapters to it,” Katzenberg said (per IndieWire), “and we’ve mapped that out over the years.”
While not much else has been confirmed concerning these comments, they at least reveal that a timeline beyond Kung Fu Panda 4 was in the works. As for what a fifth installment might entail, fans have suggested that the franchise continue Po’s character development to align with that of Oogway (voiced by Randall Duk Kim), the mentor who guided Po in the first film.
In any case, plot details (or even an official announcement) around Kung Fu Panda 5 remain unconfirmed. For now, we will just have to make do with the infinitely rewatchable franchise as it stands.