Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 American computer-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 (in his feature directorial debut) and co-directed by Mark Osborne, from a screenplay by the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, and a story by 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 named Po (Black), a kung-fu enthusiast. When a notorious snow-leopard named Tai Lung (McShane) is foretold to escape at Chorh-Gom Prison, Po is unwittingly named the "Dragon Warrior"—a prophesied hero worthy of reading a scroll said to grant its reader limitless power. Publicized work on the film began in October 2004, with the project being officially announced in September 2005. The film was conceived by Michael Lachance, a DreamWorks Animation executive, originally as a parody of martial arts films. However, director Stevenson instead decided to make an action-comedy wuxia film that incorporates the hero's journey narrative archetype for the lead character, in which the computer animation, this time, was more complex than anything DreamWorks had done before. As with most DreamWorks Animation films, Hans Zimmer (this time collaborating with John Powell) scored Kung Fu Panda. Zimmer visited China to absorb the culture and got to know the China National Symphony Orchestra as part of his preparation. Kung Fu Panda was theatrically released in the United States on June 6, 2008. The film received positive reviews for its animation, mature themes, humor, faithfulness to the Chinese environment and tradition, score, action sequences, writing and is considered one of DreamWorks animation's best films. Kung Fu Panda opened in 4,114 theaters and grossed $20.3 million on its opening day and $60.2 million on its opening weekend, resulting in the number one position at the box office and becoming DreamWorks' biggest opening for a non-sequel film. By the end of its run, Kung Fu Panda had grossed $631.7 million on a budget of $130 million, making it the third highest-grossing film of 2008 and the highest-grossing animated film of the year worldwide, in addition to