Po the Kung Fu Panda is beloved around the world, and he's now a trilogy.
Kung Fu Panda 3 has just opened in New Zealand in time for the long weekend holiday crowds, and reunites actor Jack Black with his inner panda.
The Dragon Warrior Po is back.
"I knew [a trilogy] was coming, I could feel it," says Jack Black.
"Sometimes you can feel it when you start a project and you know it's a hit, no question about it.
"It had all the right elements, the art work was incredible. I was seeing concept drawings as we were working early on and it just felt like people were going want more."
Black says having already complete two Kung Fu Panda films, getting into character for a third was easy.
"I jump right in with both feet now -- it doesn't take a long time of searching for the inner Po. Me and Po are one and the same, pretty much."
All the crew return to the voice booth for this third installment, including Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman and Jackie Chan. But this time, Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston joins the fray.
You know that horrible feeling, when you have a sudden brain fade and forget your best mate's name? Reassuringly, that can happen to movie stars too.
"A big part of the movie is I discover my biological father panda, played by the amazing Bryan... Cox? Russo? Bogdonovitch? And he takes me to this secret panda village and I didn't know that it existed, and there are hundreds of these incredible creatures," says Black, before exclaiming "Cranston!" midway through my next question.
Black is a long-time devotee of Downunder, Wellington in particular after his time here making King Kong.
But little did I know it was that gorilla that inspired Black to start a family.
"You know who had kids there and working amazingly well was Andy Serkis -- he was working the King Kong suit, he was working the ping pong balls, and he would come to all the gatherings, whenever the cast had gatherings he was there -- with his kids -- and I was like; you can still have a life and have kids? And it was the first time I thought: I want to have kids too."
And so he did. Black now has two sons, Samual and Thomas.
Sammy even had a small part in Black's latest Panda outing.
Black himself also had a small part to play in this year's Oscar Ceremony too, in an extended joke about Black History Month.
"I knew I was going be in it, but I didn't know to what degree or what the gag was," says Black.
"Chris Rock asked if I would send him a photo and that it was something to do with Black History Month, and I said you little devil. I dunno how Will Smith felt about it though, he had a laugh. I don't know about his wife though! No, she would've laughed too."
It's hard not to laugh when Jack Black is around and DreamWorks Animation will be laughing all the way to the bank as Kung Fu Panda 3 is set to take another mighty haul at the global box office.
Newshub.
