The Big Picture
- Kung Fu Panda 4 will have a runtime of 94 minutes, making it the second longest in the franchise.
- The consistent runtime across the franchise takes into account the attention span of its target audience, which is children.
- The Kung Fu Panda franchise has expanded beyond the movies with three spin-off series, adding 146 episodes to the overall story.
Even though DreamWorks hasn’t been too generous with the quantity of trailers of Kung Fu Panda 4 – we’ve only seen one and the movie is just about a month away from its premiere – there are some important news via Fandango for fans of the franchise. The movie ticket sales platform included the title in its database, and with it its final runtime: 94 minutes, or one hour and thirty-four minutes.
This will make Kung Fu Panda 4 the second longest-running entry in the franchise, just one minute behind Kung Fu Panda 3. Additionally, this runtime keeps every entry in the franchise consistent, with installments having more or less the same length. While it may seem like too little for fans after an eight-year wait, we can’t forget that the Kung Fu Panda franchise is still aimed at kids and their attention span has to be factored in by studios.
Of course, not every Kung Fu Panda fan is a child: The kids who watched the first movie debut in theaters are now sixteen years older, and some of them will even take their own kids to watch the adventures of Po (voiced by Jack Black) and his friends for the first time. In any case, the modest runtime of Kung Fu Panda 4 assures that parents and kids will have a pretty good time in theaters.
There’s Still Plenty of ‘Kung Fu Panda’ For Fans
Even though the Kung Fu Panda film series has had long gaps between installments, fans of the fighting panda haven’t been left hanging. Ever since the first movie debuted, Po has starred in three spin-off series that have put him on fun and action-packed side quests. Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny and Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight have added a whopping slate of 146 episodes to the franchise, and the latest of them came out in 2023.
Kung Fu Panda 4 will center around Po’s attempt to retire after being the Dragon Warrior for a long time. Before he assumes another honorable position, however, he has to fight the Chameleon (Viola Davis), a warrior who is able to steal the fighting techniques of legendary fighters. The voice cast also features Awkwafina (Quiz Lady), Dustin Hoffman (The Meyerowitz Stories), James Hong (Everything Everywhere All At Once), Ian McShane (John Wick: Chapter 4), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) and Ke Huy Han (Loki).
Kung Fu Panda 4 is slated to premiere in theaters on March 8.
Kung Fu Panda 4
After Po is tapped to become the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace, he needs to find and train a new Dragon Warrior, while a wicked sorceress plans to re-summon all the master villains whom Po has vanquished to the spirit realm.
- Release Date
- March 8, 2024
- Writers
- Jonathan Aibel , Glenn Berger
- Studio(s)
- DreamWorks Animation
