At the request of Jennifer Yuh, Alessandra Caroli will co-direct DreamWorks' upcoming animated film, and franchise installment, Kung Fu Panda 3. Yuh was the first woman to direct an animated film for Hollywood when she directed Kung Fu Panda 2 in 2011.

Yuh's request was quickly granted as DWA signed off the deal Tuesday. She also was head of story and director of sequence in the first film of the franchise.

Caroli has worked with the Kung Fu Panda team before as an animation supervisor for the first film and was head of story for the commercially successful How To Train Your Dragon 2. According to Deadline, the studio felt Yuh's decision for a co-director was best in order to finish the film in a timely manner. The studio has had its disappointments at the box office in the past years and is looking for Kung Fu Panda 3 to help play the company's strengths.

Other big news about the film in the past few months was the decision to delay the release date. When DWA found at the their first release date, December 23, 2015, was going up against Star Wars: The Force Awakens, they decided to shift the release to the next year, knowing that the new installment in J.J. Abram's epic space opera would be a huge success and a tough competitor during the holiday season.

The plot of Kung Fu Panda 3 has had a lot of speculation too. According the International Business Times, Po Ping, played by Jack Black, is set to face two big threats. Since Bryan Cranston was cast as Po's father, it is said that Po will face him as one of those big threats set to happen in the third film.

Kung Fu Panda 3 is scheduled to release on March 18, 2016.