LOS ANGELES – After an eight-year hiatus, the beloved Kung Fu Panda animated franchise is finally back with a new sequel, Kung Fu Panda 4, opening in Singapore cinemas on March 7.

Jack Black returns as the voice of unlikely hero Po, a giant panda who in the first film, Kung Fu Panda (2008), became a martial arts master called the Dragon Warrior after fulfilling an ancient prophecy.

“It is great to be back with Kung Fu Panda and Po,” says the 54-year-old American actor at a Zoom press day this week.

Black is no stranger to animation or hit franchises. He did voice work on animated hits such as The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) and Ice Age (2002), and starred in the 2017 and 2019 sequels to the live-action fantasy adventure Jumanji (1995).

But playing the irrepressible Po feels different.

“It’s the role of a lifetime and I love it,” says the star, whose castmates this time include American comedienne-actress Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians, 2018), and Oscar winners Viola Davis (Fences, 2016) and Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All At Once, 2022).

After the 2011 and 2016 sequels, Kung Fu Panda – set in a fantastical version of ancient China with talking animals as characters – became the 10th highest-grossing franchise in animation history, with US$1.8 billion (S$2.4 billion) in box-office receipts worldwide.

It was also wildly popular in China, where it was praised for its authentic depiction of the culture – something the latest film’s American director Mike Mitchell took pains to replicate with everything from costumes to choreography, the latter inspired by Chinese wuxia movies.

The 53-year-old film-maker – who shared the director’s chair with animator Stephanie Ma Stine – says the fourth outing also puts a Chinese spin on contemporary Western songs.

The effect is meant to be comedic, but Oscar-winning German film composer Hans Zimmer (The Lion King, 1994) took it seriously.

“He brought in all this authentic Chinese instrumentation, including a superb Chinese flautist with all these different flutes. It was one of the best days we had recording the music for this film,” Mitchell says.

“And it was so funny to hear an Ozzy Osbourne heavy metal song, Crazy Train, played with authentic Chinese instruments, some of them very old.”

Mitchell, who directed animated blockbusters such as Trolls (2016) and The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019), says the production design also drew inspiration from tao tie, a mythical creature used as an ornamental motif in ancient Chinese art and design.

“That was a new thing we put throughout this film.”

And Kung Fu Panda 4 has more Chinese performers than any of the previous instalments.

American actress Lori Tan Chinn, the 75-year-old star of prison drama Orange Is The New Black (2013 to 2019), plays an elderly boar, while 38-year-old Malaysian comedian Ronny Chieng is an arowana fish.

Awkwafina, whose father is Chinese American, voices Zhen, a scrappy fox that Po must team up with to protect their valley from an emerging threat: the shapeshifting lizard sorceress known as The Chameleon (Davis).

As Po and Zhen butt heads, the movie explores the idea of mentors and successors.

It is fitting because Awkwafina picked up a lot from Black, with whom she also co-starred in Jumanji: The Next Level (2019).

“He’s just so easy to work with, and kind, funny and generous,” says the 35-year-old, who won a Golden Globe for the comedy drama The Farewell (2019).

And Mitchell credits Black as one of the key ingredients in the franchise’s success.

“It’s just simply that Jack Black is Po, the Kung Fu Panda. He’s so funny and so action-packed. I would show up again and again to watch this panda doing anything.

“And he’s just a kid at heart. No matter how much he levels up and keeps getting bigger and better, he’s still a fanboy and a kid.”

• Kung Fu Panda 4 opens in Singapore cinemas on March 7.