With the buzz swirling around Disney's Star Wars: The Force Awakens, following the first trailer that debuted just two weeks ago, DreamWorks Animation has decided to push Kung Fu Panda 3 from December 23, 2015 to March 18, 2016. The animated sequel was originally slated to open just five days after Star Wars: The Force Awakens's December 18, 2015 debut. Kung Fu Panda 3 would have also debuted just two days before a quartet of Christmas Day 2015 releases including Lionsgate's Dirty Grandpa, 20th Century Fox's Joy, Paramount's Mission: Impossible 5 and New Regency's The Revenant.

Kung Fu Panda 3 will now square off against Lionsgate's The Divergent Series: Allegiant: Part 1. DreamWorks Animation's Boss Baby is already scheduled for release on March 18, 2016, which means this project will have to find a new release date in the near future. DreamWorks Animation also has Home (March 27, 2015) arriving next year, with another project, B.O.O.: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations, currently seeking a new release date, after DWA yanked the comedy from its June 5, 2015 slot last month.

No plot details have been released for Kung Fu Panda 3, but it will bring back franchise stars Jack Black (Po), Dustin Hoffman (Shifu), Angelina Jolie (Tigress), Seth Rogen (Mantis), Lucy Liu (Viper), David Cross (Crane) and James Hong (Mr. Ping). New casting additions include Bryan Cranston, Rebel Wilson and Mads Mikkelsen, although nothing is known about their characters.

In related release date news, Warner Bros. has moved director Andy Serkis' The Jungle Book: Origins back almost a full year, from October 21, 2016 to October 6, 2017, where it currently has the date all to itself. The move means that this will open almost exactly two years after Disney's The Jungle Book, which Jon Favreau is directing. To fill in for The Jungle Book: Origins, Warner Bros. has moved Geostorm from March 25, 2016 to October 21, 2016, which only has an untitled Blumhouse horror film slated for release.