While the world takes a break from Po after the release of Kung Fu Panda 4, Jackie Chan is ready to pick up the bamboo torch with Panda Plan, an upcoming action film starring the legendary martial artist in what looks like a family-friendly, animal cruelty-free flurry of fists and fur. Today’s Panda Plan trailer finds the 70-year-old Chan playing a version of himself alongside a panda bear co-star, with mercenaries and madcap comedy along for the wild ride.
Chinese filmmaker Zhang Luan (Song of Youth, Give Me Five) directed Panda Plan from a script he co-wrote with Meng Yida and Wei Xu. In the Panda Plan trailer, a rare panda with a dark circle under one eye becomes a worldwide sensation when he’s born at China’s Noah Zoo. However, when a Middle Eastern tycoon fancies the panda, he sends international mercenaries to kidnap the zoo’s new embarrassment of pandas. Chan, playing a version of himself, uses his decades of martial arts training to spearhead a rescue mission. According to Mandarin Motion Pictures, “a thrilling and hilarious panda defense battle then breaks out in this wild life park,” as Panda Plan unfolds.
Jackie Chan is still lighting up screens at 70, with multiple film projects on the way, like Karate Kid. Jonathan Entwistle directs Karate Kid from a script by Robert Mark Kamen and Rob Lieber. Plot details for Karate Kid are vague, though we know Chan, Ralph Macchio, Sadie Stanley, and Ming-Na Wen, Joshua Jackson star, with Ben Wang in the lead.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about working alongside Chan, Ralph Macchio said, “Jackie Chan is a legend, just to have that opportunity was exciting. He was wonderful,” Macchio said. “Lot of heart, lot of soul and caring, I will say that about Jackie. He loves being on set and it was like his first day every day. I love seeing that at his age and time of his career because I like to try to bring that as well, but a great young cast on that one, and we’ll see where it goes.”
What do you think about today’s Panda Plan trailer? I think Jackie’s gotta eat, and any excuse to watch him execute stunts is worthwhile. Chan still has a fire in his belly for making movies, and every one of them is a gift.