Is Kung-Fu Panda 4 a Box Office Hit?

Summary

• Kung Fu Panda 4
  opened big with one of DreamWorks’ best box office weekends, second only to the first film in the franchise.
• Timing played a key role in
  Kung Fu Panda 4
  ‘s success, attracting audiences who were nostalgic for the original movies.
• Despite international release dates still pending,
  Kung Fu Panda 4
  is on track to be a profitable hit, exceeding its budget.

It has been eight years since Po, Master Shifu, and the Furious Five graced cinemas, which made the release of Kung Fu Panda 4 a big deal. Kung Fu Panda has been one of DreamWorks Animation’s biggest brands, and thanks to a stream of television shows, it has remained in the public eye in some shape or form. Many were wondering how the film would fare at the box office, particularly since the marketing for the movie kicked in so late and only released one trailer.

Kung Fu Panda 4 opened in theaters on March 8, 2024, and managed to take the number one spot from the critically acclaimed box office hit Dune: Part Two. With no major competition in its second weekend, it held the number one spot for two weeks in a row, something no entry in the Kung Fu Panda franchise has done before. Is Kung Fu Panda 4 a hit? Take a look and find out.

Kung Fu Panda 4 Had the Second-Biggest Opening Weekend in the Franchise’s History

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Kung Fu Panda 4 had an impressive $58 million opening weekend, making it the eighth highest-grossing opening weekend for a DreamWorks Animation movie. What is more impressive is that the film had the second-best opening weekend in the franchise behind only the first film, 2008’s Kung Fu Panda, which opened at $60 million. Kung Fu Panda 2 opened to $47 million in 2011, while Kung Fu Panda 3 had a $41 million opening weekend in 2016.

Something worth noting are the release dates. Kung Fu Panda opened in the summer, and Kung Fu Panda 2 tried to keep the momentum going, but despite positive reviews, it came in second over the Memorial Day weekend behind The Hangover Part 2. Kung Fu Panda 3 then broke convention and opened in theaters in January 2016, making an impressive $41 million for what is considered a slow month. Kung Fu Panda 4‘s March release date is timed to tie in with various weeks of spring breaks from schools across the country.

Why Did Kung Fu Panda 4 Break Out?

Kung Fu Panda 4‘s box office took many by surprise. Due to the eight-year gap between Kung Fu Panda 3 and Kung Fu Panda 4, as well as the previous film being considered a box office disappointment, many were wondering if this would be a high-profile misfire. Yet, there were many factors that contributed to Kung Fu Panda 4‘s success. The biggest is timing, both in terms of its release window and also in how its audience has grown up.

Kung Fu Panda 4 is the first major family film to hit theaters since Wonka and Migration in December 2023. As of this writing, Wonka has grossed $218 million domestically and remained in the top ten for twelve weeks. It only got knocked out the weekend Kung Fu Panda 4 was released. Meanwhile, Migration, which, at $12.4 million, had the lowest opening weekend in Illumination Entertainment’s history, became a sleeper hit and has since grossed $126 million domestically. It has since dropped out of the top ten this weekend after thirteen weeks of release.

Related: Why Lord Shen Is the Best Kung Fu Panda Villain

Both Migration and Kung Fu Panda 4 are Universal Pictures and released through their two animated film divisions, Illumination Entertainment and DreamWorks Animation, respectively. They clearly spaced these movies out to capitalize on the box office, and other studios failed to capitalize on the major opening in the January and February calendar to release a new family film. Warner Bros. Discovery has a completed family film in Coyote vs. Acme and some of this money Kung Fu Panda 4 made could have been there if they had released it. But, instead, they have decided to leave money on the table.

The other factor that certainly helped Kung Fu Panda 4 is the sheer amount of time the franchise has been around. Kung Fu Panda 4 arrives not only eight years after Kung Fu Panda 3, but also 16 years after the release of the first Kung Fu Panda. Kids who grew up with the original film are now old enough to not only be nostalgic for it, but maybe even have kids of their own. Millions of young people took part in the Gentle Minions meme in 2022 for the release of Minions: The Rise of Gru as they had fond memories of Despicable Me 3 from when they were kids, and both Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4 came out years after their previous film to build up audience nostalgia and for their core fanbase to grow up to have the movie as a chance to share with their kids. Kung Fu Panda 4 appealed both to kids who wanted to see a movie and also to older audiences who have fond memories of the previous movies.

Kung Fu Panda Compared to the Other Films

After ten days of release, Kung Fu Panda 4 has already grossed $107.7 million and $176.5 worldwide. Domestically, it seems to be gaining traction on both Kung Fu Panda 3, which finished domestically with $143 million, and if it holds well in the coming weeks, could surpass Kung Fu Panda 2‘s $165 million, but it will face competition in the coming weeks from Ghostbusters: The Frozen Empire and Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire. However, there is no major family film set to hit theaters until Garfield: The Movie on May 24, 2024. That leaves almost three whole months with no major family movie outings, giving Kung Fu Panda 4 an opportunity to cash in on just like how Migration and Wonka did with the big gap between their December release dates and Kung Fu Panda 4‘s March debut.

At $176.5 million worldwide, Kung Fu Panda 4 is far behind its predecessors, but there is a good reason for that. There are many international markets the film has not opened to yet. It will be released in Brazil, Italy, and Hungary on March 21st, with it hitting theaters in China, Finland, and Sweden on March 22nd. For the week of March 27th through April 4th, it will roll out its release in France, Australia, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Ireland, Canada, India, Taiwan, Vietnam, and New Zealand. Canada’s box office is also typically factored into domestic numbers, so the film could see a bump at the domestic box office carried by its Canada release. The Kung Fu Panda franchise does very well internationally and helps carry its box office numbers. For both Kung Fu Panda 2 and Kung Fu Panda 3, over 70% of their worldwide box office came from international markets.

What’s also worth noting is that Kung Fu Panda 4 has the lowest budget in the franchise, reportedly costing $85 million compared to the $130 million of Kung Fu Panda, $150 million of Kung Fu Panda 2, and $145 million of Kung Fu Panda 3. That means, currently at $107.7 million domestically, it has grossed more than its budget. The conventional Hollywood thinking is a movie needs to make back twice its budget to be profitable, so if Kung Fu Panda 4 can gross $170 million domestically, it is considered profitable, and even if it falls short of those domestic numbers, its worldwide gross will certainly carry it over the threshold.

Will There Be Kung Fu Panda 5?

It is safe to say Kung Fu Panda 4 is a hit, but the question now remains: What happens next? In between films, Kung Fu Panda had many television shows, including Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight on Netflix from 2022 to 2023, which likely served as good early marketing for kids to build hype for Kung Fu Panda 4 by introducing the franchise to a new younger audience. There is a chance another Kung Fu Panda series could be in the works, particularly following Kung Fu Panda 4‘s ending with Zhen (Awkwafina) training to become the new Dragon Warrior.

There is a strong chance that Kung Fu Panda 5 could be in development, but an announcement might not be anytime soon. Despite the box office and critical success of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, a sequel nor Shrek 5 has been confirmed. There are also many major behind the scenes changes happening at DreamWorks Animation.

Related: DreamWorks Animation’s 10 Highest-Grossing Films of All Time

Both Kung Fu Panda 4 and the upcoming The Wild Robot are the final two movies to be animated entirely in-house at DreamWorks, as the studio is shifting away from producing films in-house on their Glendale campus to rely more heavily on outside studios. This is a part of cost-cutting measures ordered by DreamWork’s parent company, Comcast-NBCUniversal. Cartoon Brew recently reported that departments are being cut in half, and the creative staff on features could be reduced by as much as, if not more than, 40-50%, which could include many layoffs and contracts not being renewed.

This certainly puts the status of Kung Fu Panda 5 up in the air. While Kung Fu Panda 4 has been a box office hit, as the studio makes cutbacks, layoffs, and a shift in their animation production, there is a chance that a fifth film will come much later, if at all. There was a five-year gap between Kung Fu Panda 2 and Kung Fu Panda 3, and with the eight-year gap following that, there is hope that Kung Fu Panda 5 will arrive between three and four years from now. Kung Fu Panda 4 is currently playing in theaters.