Next December, a highly anticipated sequel to some of the most beloved movies of all time is hitting theaters, and legions of fans are dying to see another adventure from a certain group of intergalactic heroes. Sorry, not “intergalactic heroes.” We meant to say “karate animals.” We’re talking, of course, about Kung Fu Panda 3.
Unfortunately, those diehard Panda-holics are going to have to wait a little bit longer to be reunited with Jack Black’s Po, a second character from those movies, and a third character from those movies, because DreamWorks has decided to bump Kung Fu Panda 3 back a few months. Instead of opening on December 23, 2015, the movie has been moved to March 18, 2016. According to Deadline, DreamWorks’ reasoning behind this is that it wanted “to make sure [Kung Fu Panda] is positioned where it has the best chance to reach the broadest audience.” In other words, the old release date was only five days after The Force Awakens premieres, and Panda 3 would’ve been literally murdered by Kylo Ren and his crazy lightsaber. That’s right, literally murdered. Thankfully for Panda 3, this new release date is several months before Captain America 3, so at least it doesn’t have to worry about being steamrolled by a different Disney property.