There’s a late-schedule change happening behind the scenes for DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 3. Despite being a few months before release, the filmmakers are replacing Rebel Wilson with Kate Hudson{
Of course, this being an animated adventure, it’s slightly easier than switching out an entire live-action performance, but still requires new recording sessions and altering the animation of the Mei Mei character to fit the new work by Hudson. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the change has happened because the production schedule extended, meaning it clashed with other work Wilson had to do.
The new movie’s story finds Jack Black’s Po confronting something he never thought possible – the return of his long-lost father, Li Shan (Bryan Cranston), although our hero doesn’t immediately twig that it’s his pops.
Still, the happy family reunion means that he is able to visit a secret panda paradise where many of his species are still living happily, including Mei Mei, who falls for our hero. But his joy is short-lived, as the supernatural villain Kai is soon sweeping across China, taking out the kung fu masters as he goes. Po is faced with the ultimate challenge: training up a village full of his laidback, clumsy, fun-loving panda brethren to become a fighting unit to take on the new threat.
With Jennifer Yuh Nelson once more in the director’s chair and Alessandro Carloni as co-director, Kung Fu Panda 3 sees the return of the regular voice cast including Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross and James Hong. It’ll hit our cinemas on March 18. Check out the teaser below.