First Kung Fu Panda 3 Stills Reveal New Characters

DreamWorks Animation has debuted, via USA Today, the first three stills from their upcoming Kung Fu Panda 3, set to hit theaters January 29, 2016. In the gallery viewer below, you can take a first look at new characters voiced by Bryan Cranston and Rebel Wilson. The “Breaking Bad” star plays Li, the father of Jack Black’s Po, who has been living in a secret panda village alongside Wilson’s Mei Mei, an aspiring panda ribbon dancer.

“That is the most shockingly adorable place,” says Jennifer Yuh Nelson, who co-directs the animated sequel with Alessandro Carloni. “There are nurseries filled with gaggles of baby pandas. A lot of how the pandas play was inspiration for the movie.”

Continuing on his now legendary adventures of awesomeness, the film’s story sees Po facing two hugely epic, but very different threats: one supernatural and the other a little closer to home. This chapter in the continuing adventures of Kung Fu Panda features a script by series writers Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger.

Also lending their voices to the new franchise entry are Gary Oldman, Dustin Hoffman, David Cross, Angelina Jolie, Michelle Yeoh, Mads Mikkelsen, Danny McBride, Lucy Liu, Seth Rogen, Jackie Chan and James Hong.

The first two chapters of DreamWorks Animation’s popular Kung Fu Panda franchise opened in 2008 and 2011. Both films were honored with Academy Award nominations for Best Animated Feature Film. Together, they have generated approximately $1.3 billion at the worldwide box office.