Kung Fu Panda 2 becomes the highest-grossing movie from a female director
"On behalf of everyone at the studio, it is my pleasure to congratulate Jen on having reached this awesome milestone on Kung Fu Panda 2 - a particularly notable achievement given that this was her directorial debut," said DreamWorks Animation's Chief Creative Officer, Bill Damaschke.
"I am humbled and happy that audiences around the world continue to respond to the story and characters in Kung Fu Panda 2. No animated movie gets made without a huge team of people so I want to offer my sincere thanks and shared congratulations to all of the talented and inspiring artists who worked with me on the movie," added Nelson.
Prior to directing Kung Fu Panda 2, Jennifer Yuh Nelson served as head of story and "dream sequence director" on 2008's Kung Fu Panda, which remains one of the top ten animated movies of all time. Before that, Nelson served as story artist on DreamWorks Animation's Madagascar, head of story on Sinbad: Legend Of The Seven Seas and story artist on Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. Prior to joining DreamWorks Animation, she served as director, story artist and character designer at HBO Animation. Nelson's animation career has spanned several countries, including Korea, Japan and Australia, and she has also published several independent comic books.
About DreamWorks Animation SKG
DreamWorks Animation creates high-quality entertainment, including CG animated feature films, television specials and series, live entertainment properties and online virtual worlds, meant for audiences around the world. The Company has world-class creative talent, a strong and experienced management team and advanced filmmaking technology and techniques. DreamWorks Animation has been named one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" by Fortune Magazine for three consecutive years. In 2011, DreamWorks Animation ranks #10 on the list. All of DreamWorks Animation's feature films are now being produced in 3D. The Company has theatrically released a total of 22 animated feature films, including the franchise properties of Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon.
Kung Fu Panda 2 was released May 26th, 2011 and stars Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, David Cross, Lucy Liu, James Hong, Gary Oldman. The film is directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson.
Comments (40)
To leave a comment, please sign in or use
Facebook or Twitter
_L_
haven't watched it yet
9 months agoby @L-83417346Flag
slysnide
@bawnian-dexeus: While I get that some people may be like that, take it from me, that I'm the biggest tomboy ever. Nearly everyone on this site thought I was a guy by my writing style. Case in point is I could care less about gender bs. But since I want to actually pursue this career, I've found more often than not, mainstream films which appeal to everyone are harder jobs to get for chicks cause the studio execs want to look for something specific. Like my McTiernan example, you can't tell them too much, or they'll be discouraged to give you the job. And considering all the Oscars for directors, I simply was pointing out it was odd that this past ceremony was the first one with a black and chick nominated, and with my research, was just throwing that out there as being odd. I mean think about it, "Kung Fu Panda 2" is the highest grossing flick by a chick? I mean really? It just seems, odd...
9 months agoby @slysnideFlag
Tha Phoenix
LOVED this film. Can't wait for the third installment.
*dances around fire, Martini in hand*
9 months agoby @thaphoenixFlag
Bawnian©-Dexeus
@slysnide Wait, doesn't the viewpoint of a woman differ from that of a man when making a film? I remember hearing about the film Frida with Salma Hayek about how she wanted a female director and not a male. Then my professor agreed on the fact that a man would have made the film different, and by different, not as good as it was intended to be. I don't have much to go on to back up statement, but I think a between men and women, their ways making movies are at times different.
9 months agoby @bawnian-dexeusFlag
Dan
Cool, great movie.
9 months agoby @dan1Flag
moviegeek
lol.. and also Dreamworks' biggest financial disappointment :P
9 months agoby @moviegeekFlag
XxNickTheFilmCriticXx
@slysnide -- Ha, all right. To each his own.
9 months agoby @XxNickTheFilmCriticXxFlag
slysnide
@XxNickTheFilmCriticXx: I get what you're saying, as there are plenty of chicks who make chick flicks, and plenty guys who make action flicks, but there are a ton of mainstream films out there which are appealing across the board, and to date, they could only find one black guy and one chick to have made great movies worthy of Oscar nods. Color and gender has nothing to do with how good a film will be. I'm just saying.
9 months agoby @slysnideFlag
XxNickTheFilmCriticXx
@slysnide -- Plus - based on the history of film making - a majority of white men just make better directors.
9 months agoby @XxNickTheFilmCriticXxFlag
XxNickTheFilmCriticXx
@slysnide -- I still don't find that statement valid - I think most black men who want to be in the cinema prefer to be actors over everything else, same goes for women. At one point, they'll probably even direct their own movie. I won't, nor will I ever understand your viewpoint - simply because you don't have enough of solid back up, and it seems so silly that you think that.
9 months agoby @XxNickTheFilmCriticXxFlag
slysnide
@bawnian-dexeus: It was a college course.
9 months agoby @slysnideFlag
Bawnian©-Dexeus
@slysnide Weird, I didn't learn that in my freshman year
9 months agoby @bawnian-dexeusFlag
MovieWiz001
I didn't even know a female was directing it.
9 months agoby @moviewiz001Flag
ROFLitschristian
Great job, Jennifer... Now get back in the kitchen?
9 months agoby @ROFLitschristianFlag
TheDude1
@messenger It was a joke you see?
9 months agoby @thedude1Flag
slysnide
@XxNickTheFilmCriticXx: No man, that's not what I meant. For example, when John McTiernan interviewed to direct "Predator," they were looking for specific things about the director to see if they were right for the film. Hence why he mentioned he neglected to talk about how he really liked the actor's process as he feared it would sound too artsy and he'd not get the job. Studios shoot out field questions, and thus I doubt that Kathryn Bigelow is the only chick who's wanted to direct something like "The Hurt Locker." And there are plenty of black/female producers and yet up until last year, every oscar nom film was for the other group.
@ghostman: Tyler Perry also runs his own studio, hence he gets to make whatever he wants. And I'm not talking about twilight crap, I'm talking other really good movies. As I mentioned above, there are plenty who interview for great scripts but don't land them after being fielded questions by the studio, despite that people like Laura Ziskin are perfectly capable of producing mainstream films, or people like Bigelow can direct them. I took a class related to this topic. Considering the equivalent amount of groups in the business, it's odd enough that all the major flicks to get recognized are those made by white guys. After all, there are enough chicks in the business, plenty working in major jobs for big films, yet they never seem to score directing jobs for great dramas. And yeah, there are plenty of black directors too, but most of those scripts are comedy oriented, or they gotta start there to get in the door. Tyler Perry did the same thing with his Madea character and waited to have enough money to run his own studio which works with tv and easy to produce films.
9 months agoby @slysnideFlag
Lord McLovin of MovieWeb
@bawnian-dexeus if they had a 3 hour movie about the three of them playing a game of chess, it will make millions of dollars...
9 months agoby @ghostmanFlag
Bawnian©-Dexeus
@ghostman None of the Saga films have gotten critical praise. Just insane amount's of money. The source material sucks but the fans go crazy because they have eye candy and don't need their imagination.
9 months agoby @bawnian-dexeusFlag
Lord McLovin of MovieWeb
@bawnian-dexeus Well his experience with previous vampire films didn't help Eclipse critically :/
9 months agoby @ghostmanFlag
Bawnian©-Dexeus
@ghostman The Director for Eclipse had made a vampire film previously before getting the job so it was a good choice.
9 months agoby @bawnian-dexeusFlag
Bawnian©-Dexeus
@ghostman Put simple, they offered Catherine more money to get working on New Moon immediately to capitalize on the popularity, but she was unavailable. So they brought in someone else who is a guy, but I wouldn't know if they did it because hes a guy or the simple fact they wanted someone more experienced or a better track record.
9 months agoby @bawnian-dexeusFlag
Lord McLovin of MovieWeb
@bawnian-dexeus my mistake, I stand corrected; Why would their be more than one male director especially if it's a female demographic movie franchise?
9 months agoby @ghostmanFlag
Bawnian©-Dexeus
@ghostman Uh, Twilight only has one female director.
9 months agoby @bawnian-dexeusFlag
XxNickTheFilmCriticXx
@ghostman -- Tyler Perry came to mind, yes. But as soon as she made that close-minded statement, I lost it. Thanks for the reminder!
9 months agoby @XxNickTheFilmCriticXxFlag
Lord McLovin of MovieWeb
@slysnide dude, their have been plenty of african/female directors, Tyler Perry is black and directs a lot of movies, most of the directors for Twilight films are females, in fact, here's a list of female directors in Film and Television:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_directors
9 months agoby @ghostmanFlag
XxNickTheFilmCriticXx
@slysnide -- So, you're saying studios who want to make money, simply decide to give directors "dibs" because their white/male? You have to admit, that was a close-minded statement.
9 months agoby @XxNickTheFilmCriticXxFlag
slysnide
@XxNickTheFilmCriticXx: Then you're not paying much attention to the studio business. They decide who does what project. Plenty of blacks and females direct in television and cheap tv movies and get a shot every once in a while. But there's plenty who shoe in for directing jobs on certain scripts. The studio simply decides who gets what job. So it's quite obvious why I made the statement.
9 months agoby @slysnideFlag
Chris
she is lucky to have gotten this important task. (reminds me of when James Cameron sold The Terminator screenplay for 1 dollar just so that they could let him direct the movie) :)
9 months agoby @chperezFlag
XxNickTheFilmCriticXx
@slysnide -- "but all the white guys seem to be getting first dibs, and what looks like nearly all dibs." Um, no? There's just not a lot of blacks-females that direct movies. I don't even know why you even made that statement.
9 months agoby @XxNickTheFilmCriticXxFlag
slysnide
@XxNickTheFilmCriticXx: That's my point. Only this past Oscars did you have a woman and black guy nominated for the directing category. Every other winner was a white guy. It's not like there aren't blacks or chicks who want to make great films. There are, but all the white guys seem to be getting first dibs, and what looks like nearly all dibs.
9 months agoby @slysnideFlag