Northern Praying Mantis is a style of Chinese martial arts, sometimes called Shandong Praying Mantis after its province of origin. It was created by Wang Lang (王朗) and was named after the praying mantis, an insect, the aggressiveness of which inspired the style. One Mantis legend places the creation of the style during the Song dynasty when Wang Lang was supposedly one of 18 masters gathered by the Abbot Fu Ju (福居), a legendary persona of the historical Abbot Fu Yu, to improve Shaolin martial arts. However, most legends place Wang Lang in the late Ming dynasty.
In Chinese martial arts, there are fighting styles that are modeled after animals.
Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 American animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The first installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise, it was directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne, from a screenplay and story respectively written by the writing teams of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, and Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris. The film stars the voices of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Randall Duk Kim, James Hong, Dan Fogler, Michael Clarke Duncan and Jackie Chan. The film, set in a version of ancient China populated by anthropomorphic animals, centers on a bumbling panda bear named Po (Black), a kung-fu enthusiast living in the Valley of Peace. When the savage snow leopard Tai Lung (McShane) is foretold to escape imprisonment and attack the Valley, Po is unwittingly named the "Dragon Warrior", a prophesied hero worthy of reading a scroll that has been intended to grant its reader limitless power.
Skunk Fu! is an Irish-British animated action adventure fantasy comedy television series featuring the fables and adventures of anthropomorphic animals protecting their valley using martial arts. The show chronicles the adventures of young Skunk, training with his Kung Fu master, Panda, with the support of Rabbit, Fox, Turtle, and others, who directly, or inadvertently, also help Skunk grow. The show won the IFTA award for "Best Animation". In addition to an English soundtrack, Irish-language, French-language, Japanese-language, and Dutch-language soundtracks were initially produced.
Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 action-adventure game loosely based on the 2008 film the same name. Developed in a collaborative effort between Luxoflux, XPEC Entertainment, Beenox Shift, and Vicarious Visions, and published by Activision, the game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, Wii, and Nintendo DS in June 2008. A version for mobile phones developed by IronMonkey Studios and published by EA Mobile was released the same month. A port for Mac OS X was developed by TransGaming and released in March 2009. It is about the quest of a giant panda named Po to become the Dragon Warrior.
Master Ping Xiao Po is the title character and protagonist of the Kung Fu Panda franchise, primarily voiced by Jack Black and Mick Wingert. He is an anthropomorphic giant panda who is improbably chosen as the champion of the Valley of Peace in the first film. Po is the prophesied Dragon Warrior or Dragon Master, as well as the Warrior of Black and White.
The 36th Annual Annie Awards, honoring the best in animation for 2008, were held on January 30, 2009, at Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California. Below is a list of announced nominees. Kung Fu Panda received the most awards with 10, winning nearly all of its nominations, albeit amid controversy.
Kung Fu Panda: Legendary Warriors is a 2008 action-adventure game developed by Artificial Mind and Movement and published by Activision for the Nintendo DS and Wii. It is a sequel to the video game Kung Fu Panda (2008). Players get to play the role as Po, Shifu, Tigress, and Monkey throughout the game levels. A significant feature has Jackie Chan reprising his role of Master Monkey.
Kung Fu Panda 2 is a 2011 American animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and written by the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, the film is the sequel to Kung Fu Panda (2008), and the second installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise. It stars Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong and Jackie Chan reprising their roles from the first film, with Gary Oldman, Michelle Yeoh, Danny McBride, Dennis Haysbert, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Victor Garber voicing new characters. In the film, Po and his Furious Five allies travel to Gongmen City to stop the evil peacock Lord Shen from conquering China, while also rediscovering Po's forgotten past.
Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness is an American animated comedy spin-off television series co-produced by DreamWorks Animation and Nickelodeon Animation Studio based on DreamWorks's Kung Fu Panda films. It serves as a bridge between the first and second films, showing Po's training to becoming a successful Dragon Warrior, whereas the second film is, according to the series' developer Peter Hastings, "not unlike a very long, super-deluxe 3-D version of one of our episodes".
Kung Fu Panda is an American martial arts comedy media franchise that originally started in 2008 with the release of the animated film of the same name produced by DreamWorks Animation. Following the adventures of the titular Po Ping, a giant panda who is improbably chosen as the prophesied Dragon Warrior and becomes a master of kung fu, the franchise is set in a fantasy wuxia genre version of ancient China populated by anthropomorphic animals. Although everyone initially doubts him, including Po himself, he proves himself worthy as he strives to fulfill his destiny.
Kung Fu Panda HolidayAlso known as Kung Fu Panda Po's Winter Wonderland is a 2010 American animated Christmas comedy drama television special produced by DreamWorks Animation and directed by Tim Johnson. A spinoff of the Kung Fu Panda franchise, the special stars the voices of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, David Cross, Lucy Liu, James Hong and Jack McBrayer. The special premiered on NBC November 24, 2010, and its premiere broadcast drew 5.9 million viewers.
Kung Fu Panda 2 is a 2011 video game developed by Griptonite Games and published by THQ. It is based on the 2011 film of the same name, taking place after the events of the film. The game was released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and Nintendo DS on May 24, 2011. The Xbox 360 version requires Kinect. The Wii version uses the uDraw GameTablet.
Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters is a 2011 American animated short film produced by DreamWorks Animation. It was released December 13, 2011, as a special feature attached to the 2011 animated film Kung Fu Panda 2 DVD and Blu-ray. The short consists mostly of a traditional animation, created by Duncan Studio. It uncovers the backgrounds of the masters of Gongmen City: Master Thundering Rhino, Master Storming Ox, and Master Croc.
Snake kung fu is a Shaolin boxing style, one of several Chinese martial arts known as "snake boxing" or "fanged snake style" that imitate the movements of snakes. Proponents claim that adopting the fluidity of snakes allows them to entwine with their opponents in defense and strike them from angles they would not expect in offense. Snake style is said to especially lend itself to applications with the Chinese straight sword. The snake is also one of the animals imitated in Yang-style tai chi, Baguazhang and Xingyiquan. The sinuous, fluid motion of the snake lends itself to the practical theory that underlies the "soft" martial arts.
Kung Fu Panda 3 is a 2016 animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation, China Film Group Corporation, Oriental DreamWorks and Zhong Ming You Ying Film, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the third installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise and the sequel to Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011). The film was directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni and written by the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger.
Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Scroll is a 2015 American animated short film produced by DreamWorks Animation. It was included on the 2015 digital HD, and the 2016 Blu-ray and DVD re-release of the animated films Kung Fu Panda (2008) and Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011). The short tells both the stories of how the Furious Five came together, and how Po gained his love for kung fu.
Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny is an American animated streaming television limited series produced by DreamWorks Animation Television and premiered its first "part" on Amazon Prime Video on November 16, 2018. The second and final part was released on July 5, 2019. It is the second television series in the Kung Fu Panda franchise following Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness. In 2018, Mitch Watson, the show's producer, confirmed that Mick Wingert would reprise his role from Legends of Awesomeness as Po.
Kung Fu Panda 4 is a 2024 American animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is the fourth installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise and the sequel to Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016). The film was directed by Mike Mitchell, co-directed by Stephanie Ma Stine, written by Darren Lemke and the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, and produced by Rebecca Huntley. It features Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, James Hong, Bryan Cranston, and Ian McShane reprising their roles from the previous films, with Awkwafina, Ke Huy Quan, Ronny Chieng, Lori Tan Chinn, and Viola Davis joining the cast as new characters. In the film, Po (Black), who must find and train his successor as the new Dragon Warrior, teams up with fox bandit Zhen (Awkwafina) to defeat the evil sorceress, the Chameleon (Davis), before she steals the kung-fu abilities of all masters in China.
