Kung fu panda fun Facts

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KUNG  FU‘N’  FACTS! 

 

 

Starting With Some Cool Stuff 

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Including voice actors, 448 different people put over 21,442 manweeks into the film.  That’s 

107,210 mandays or 857,680 manhours.  

 

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It took a total of 391 artists to create “Kung Fu Panda”  (the total crew number minus 

production staff and voice talent). “Kung Fu Panda” was in production for approximately 4.5 

years (from Fall 2003 to Spring 2008). 

 

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The “Kung Fu Panda” Animation department is comprised of animators from around the 

globe, including artists from the USA, China, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Ireland, the 

United Kingdom, Mexico, Philippines, Japan, Sweden, Belgium and Israel. 

 

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Every time a scene was finalized in Animation, the animator received one fortune cookie (with 

a customized fortune inside).   

 

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During the development process, there was talk of cutting one of the five and making them the 

Furious Four…but everyone had grown so attached to them all that DreamWorks couldn’t 

part with any of the characters. 

 

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The animators’ first pass shots of kung fu were choreographed in 2D before being animated in 

CGI. 

 

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There are 1,478 unique villagers in the Valley of Peace and 2,306 spectators in the stadium 

during the Dragon Warrior ceremony. 

 

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It took a combined 54 systems (including rockets, trails, lights and emitters) to create the single 

effect of Po riding the rocket chair into the stadium.  

 

Kung Fu Panda ™ & © 2008 DreamWorks Animation L.L.C. 

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“Kung Fu Panda” Fun Facts 

 

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Now, About That Panda… 

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The weirdest animation control was for Po’s uvula. 

 

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Q:  What do pandas eat?  A:  Mostly bamboo shoots, leaves and stems, plus some other 

vegetation.  

 

Q:  What do actors who voice pandas eat?  A:  Jack Black’s recording sessions  

always 

began with a plate of Koo Koo Roo chicken and creamed spinach. 

 

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Jack stood during recording session, so that his physical activities would enhance the 

performance with subtle nuance.  The animators loved capturing and transferring his subtle 

vocal and physical work (breathing, exerting effort, fumfering) to Po onscreen. 

 

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Black’s adlibs and comic exploration of the character really helped to define Po in the very first 

recording session for “Kung Fu Panda.”  Lines like “My tenders!,” “…because I just ate, and 

my kung fu might be better…later on” and—when Shifu hits and points out his untoned arms—

“Those are sensitive in the flabby parts!” all came out of that session.   

 

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In the recording booth, Jack liked to always lay down a couple of “vanilla” reads of the 

sequences before layering with his own “special sauce.”  More often than not, the third take 

was pure gold.   

 

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Po has a special “fighting fist” control that he only uses when he’s engaging in kung fu. 

 

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Betcha You Didn’t Know… Pandas eat mostly bamboo, which makes up about 99% of their 

diet—the rest is other plants and meat.  As they only digest about 20% of the bamboo, they 

have to eat a lot of it…anywhere from 25 to 85 pounds of the stuff in a day.  

 

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Chow time!  A panda spends 10 to 16 hours a day eating. 

 

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Po’s cheeks were rebuilt during the film to allow him to stuff his mouth with more food! 

 

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Compared to all bears, giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) have the smallest habitat 

(geographically speaking).  Wildly popular, yet rare and elusive, they’re only found in the 

mountainous regions of southwestern China, and then only in areas of plentiful bamboo 

growth.  Of the 1,600 pandas believed to exist in the wild, approximately 1,000 are located in 

the Sichuan province.  They are classified as Endangered Species and, because of their reliance 

on bamboo, are particularly susceptible to the loss of their habitat.  Their lifespan is between 25 

and 30 years.  Even under the best of circumstances in the wild, panda birth rate is relatively 

low…and even lower in captivity.  The cub is born tiny and blind and remains with the mother 

for 1½ years. 

 

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Blame It On Nixon:  The US popularity of pandas skyrocketed when Chairman Mao Tse-Tung 

made a gift of two pandas—Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling—to President Richard M. Nixon in 

1972.  (Many credit Nixon with opening friendly relations with the Communist nation as a 

result of his ’72 visit.)  This ceremonial gift of high honor—which the Chinese government 

continues to bestow on select visiting diplomats—gave rise to the term “panda diplomacy.”  

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“Kung Fu Panda” Fun Facts 

 

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The practice has since slowed down, as conservationists campaign to keep the endangered 

species in its native habitat.   

 

 

Leopards and Tigers and Panda Bears and… 

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The father of James Hong (who voices Po’s noodle-making dad, Mr. Ping) was actually a 

noodle-maker, and while reading his lines, Hong would crave noodles. 

 

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Angelina Jolie (Tigress) sports a tattoo of a tiger on her back—talk about living the part. 

 

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One of Jackie Chan’s trademarks—the enthusiastic “thumbs-up!”—is also one of Monkey’s 

(his animated, onscreen persona).   

 

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The voice of Baby Tai Lung is supplied by director Mark Osborne’s six-year-old son Riley.   

 

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The double fist punch inadvertently became Tai Lung’s signature move (he does it three times 

in the film). 

 

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While sitting in on a recording session, Jack Black’s wife, Tanya Hayden (a puppeteer and 

musician), was pulled in to lay down a voice as well.  She can be heard as the Bunny Waitress 

in the Tea House during Po’s dream sequence. 

 

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Two of Po’s pig friends are voiced by Kyle Gass (the other half of Jack Black’s band 

Tenacious D) and J.R. Reed (who plays an obsessed fan in “Tenacious D and the Pick of 

Destiny”).  The crew began calling Po’s pig friends (who are unnamed onscreen) the “Shaw 

Brothers,” as an homage to the famous Hong Kong kung fu studio. 

 

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An early dual recording session with Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman—pairing them for the 

first time in Hollywood!—helped to define their individual characters and the conflict between 

them.  Much of the dialogue heard when Shifu trains Po using food came out of that playful 

session. 

 

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The chunk of wood that Po picks up as a souvenir of Tigress’ ‘awesomeness’ was deemed “the 

love chunk” by the Layout department. 

 

 

How Things Change 

A truth of moviemaking:  scripts change.  Many of the points below were explored in early 

development of “Kung Fu Panda” and later abandoned, since they no longer served the film as well as 

they did once upon a time. 

 

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You have WHAT in the basement?  Early in development, Po’s final training ‘test’ was to catch 

a single droplet of water as it fell off a mystical root found growing down into a sacred 

chamber under the Jade Palace. 

 

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“Kung Fu Panda” Fun Facts 

 

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In the first storyboarded version of the Wuxi Finger Hold, Shifu used a Chinese Finger Trap to 

catch Po. 

 

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Mantis started out as a villain—although still a member of the Furious Five, he was actually a 

traitor conspiring with Tai Lung from the inside.  

 

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At one point, Po lived with his mother away from the Valley in the bamboo forest.  She 

supported herself and Po by crafting wind chimes from bamboo, which Po attempted to peddle 

in the Valley around the time of the Dragon Warrior Ceremony. 

 

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Another version saw Po living amongst many pandas in the bamboo forest, with all pandas 

making and selling wind chimes for a living. 

 

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In early versions of the story, Po lived with Shifu, who was a retired kung fu master. 

 

 

Animators Look to the East 

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Filmmakers took inspiration from some pretty remarkable Chinese films…the rooftop chase 

was informed by some of the wireworks in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” and the Jade 

Palace interior pays homage to the King’s palace in “Hero.”   

 

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Chinese art provided reference and directly influenced many of the film’s designs:  a Chinese 

calendar appears in the center of the outdoor theater, and the Jade Palace floor features the five 

elements.   

 

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The Animation department participated in a tai chi class and many kung fu workshops in order 

to analyze the different styles of kung fu and to understand the mechanics of the motion. 

 

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Per a request from the directors, the Rigging department developed a special control to 

facilitate animating the loose skin under Oogway’s neck, termed his “waddle.”  

 

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The bridge sequence began as a visual development idea, as one of a series of epic feats in Tai 

Lung’s journey from prison back to the Valley of Peace.  Huge gorillas guarded the Infinite 

Bridge and, as Tai Lung defeated them (and every other set of specialty guards along his path), 

they tagged along like groupies, forming a gang of followers.  

 

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The rope bridge in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” was used as a reference for the 

Infinite Bridge.   

 

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Story artist Jed Diffenderfer executed the first story pass using the bridge as a fighting location 

for Tai Lung and the Five, including whipping wind and a seemingly elastic bridge to render 

the battle more dynamic and death-defying. 

 

 

Get Out Your Abacus 

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The Jade Palace is made of 88,100 different surfaces/pieces. 

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“Kung Fu Panda” Fun Facts 

 

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There are 22,388 scrolls in the palace scroll room. 

 

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The prison is over 3,000-feet deep. 

 

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Master Crane has 6,019 feathers on his body. 

 

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Viper has 120 bones along the length of her body. 

 

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There are 370 planks along the rope bridge where Tai Lung confronts the Furious Five.  In the 

course of the battle, 174 of them are broken.  

 

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The speed at which Tigress travels through those planks:  40.9 miles per hour.  The length of 

the rope bridge:  629 feet. 

 

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The total amount of individual confetti pieces used in sq 600 (the scene where Po is chosen as 

the Dragon Warrior) is exactly 1,040,229! 

 

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Number of petals it took to make Oogway disappear:  37,517 petals.  (Number of days FX artist 

Nik Pavlov didn’t shave until his shot was approved:  27 days…he eventually caved for his 

girlfriend, which was probably a good thing, as it took Pavlov six months to complete the shot.)   

 

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Number of dust particles in the dust cloud created after Tai Lung dives into Po, causing an 

explosion:  33,588,526 dust particles.  

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Number of individual pieces of debris thrown when Tai Lung knocks down the crumbing 

building:  826 individual puzzle pieces. 

 

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Number of tiles Po sends raining down on Tai Lung, who climbs those tiles:  8,260 tiles total. 

 

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Number of arrows that shower down on Tai Lung during his prison escape:  1,500 arrows. 

 

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When Po and the Five eat together, there are 64 noodles in each bowl.  

 

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Number of acupuncture needles in Po’s back while talking to Tigress:  133. 

 

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Number of particles that compose the disintegrating chair that Po blows up with fireworks:  

953,593 particles.