having the fourth-largest opening weekend for a DreamWorks film at the American and Canadian box office, behind the Shrek franchise. Kung Fu Panda was nominated for the Academy Award as well as a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Film. However it lost both awards to WALL-E. The success of Kung Fu Panda spawned a multimedia franchise with two sequels, with Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011) and Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016); a fourth film is in development with a 2024 release date. Plot In the Valley of Peace, a land in Ancient China inhabited by anthropomorphic animals, Po, a clumsy giant panda, helps his adoptive father, a goose named Mr. Ping, run their noodle restaurant. Po dreams of fighting alongside the Furious Five – Masters Tigress, Monkey, Crane, Viper, and Mantis – a group of kung fu masters who live in the Jade Palace, where they are trained by Master Shifu, a cranky red panda. The wise tortoise Master Oogway predicts that Shifu's former snow leopard protégé, Tai Lung, will escape from prison and attack the valley to obtain the Dragon Scroll, a legendary artifact he had previously been denied. Panicked, Shifu sends a goose named Zeng to increase the security at Chorh-Gom Prison in Mongolia, where Tai Lung is held. At the same time, Shifu holds a tournament for the Five so that Oogway can identify the Dragon Warrior, the prophesied hero worthy of reading the Scroll, which is said to grant limitless power to its reader. Po arrives too late to enter the arena; desperate to see his idols, he accidentally launches himself into the middle of the tournament, where Oogway proclaims him the Dragon Warrior. Believing Oogway's decision to be an accident, Shifu tries to dispose of Po with a harsh training regime, while the Five dismiss Po as an enthusiast with no potential in kung fu. Po considers quitting, but after receiving encouragement from Oogway, he endures his training and gradually befriends the Five with his resilience, culinary skill, and good humor. During this time, Po learns that Shifu's cold and distant behavior stems from his own shame over Tai Lung's betrayal, having raised him from infancy. At Chorh-Gom Prison, Zeng's warnings are ignored, and Tai Lung escapes. Shifu informs Oogway of the event, with the tortoise making Shifu promise to believe in Po as the Dragon Warrior. Oogway then passes on to the heavens