Kung Fu Panda (2008)
The first film: a noodle-shop panda is named the Dragon Warrior.
Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 DreamWorks Animation martial arts comedy directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne, written by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger from a story by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris, and the first film of the franchise. In an ancient China of anthropomorphic animals, the giant panda Po, a clumsy kung fu fan from the Valley of Peace, is unexpectedly named the Dragon Warrior just as the snow leopard Tai Lung is foretold to escape and attack the valley.
Quick Facts
- Director
- John Stevenson; Mark Osborne
- Screenplay
- Jonathan Aibel; Glenn Berger
- Story
- Ethan Reiff; Cyrus Voris
- Producer
- Melissa Cobb
- Editing
- Clare Knight
- Music
- Hans Zimmer; John Powell
- Studio
- DreamWorks Animation
- Released
- 15 May 2008, Cannes, 6 June 2008, United States
Lore & Background
Development began in October 2004. The film was first planned as a parody of martial arts films, but Stevenson chose to make an action-comedy wuxia film built on the hero's journey instead. Hans Zimmer scored it with John Powell, visiting China and recording with the China National Symphony Orchestra. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2008, opened in the United States on June 6 through Paramount Pictures, and grossed $632 million on a $130 million budget. Jack Black voices Po, with Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Randall Duk Kim and Jackie Chan among the cast.
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Elsewhere in Kung Fu Panda
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