DreamWorks Animation's 'Kung Fu Panda 3' has steered clear away from Disney and LucasFilms' 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' in regards to its release date, the animated film will now premiere in March 2016, instead of December 2015.

Fans of the unlikely hero Po will have to wait an additional three months, as critics anticipated the Jedi force would cook up a storm and wipe out competition during its winter release in 2015.

The two previous 'Kung Fu Panda' movies were a hit, raking in over $1 billion in the global box office, making DreamWorks Animation a bit apprehensive in putting it up against 'Star Wars' at the end of 2015. The switch on the release date came in as Dreamworks Animation's negotiation to sell off to Hasbro and Japan's Softbank collapsed.

Add to that, DreamWorks Animation executives are protecting one of their most "treasured properties" from any onslaught especially after the recent belly flop of the 'Penguins of Madagascar', a spin-off from the animated movie 'Madagascar', which resulted to much speculation over the future of the animation company's next projects.

The third installment to the series would include panda veterans Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, and Dustin Hoffman; and would take the hero Po into a new adventure, which borders in to the supernatural and somewhere closer to home.

DreamWorks Animation, teaming up with Fox, would also release two animated movies to back up 'Kung Fu Panda 3' in the spring of 2016: 'B.O.O.: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations', which stars Seth Rogen, Melissa McCarthy and Matt Bomer; and 'Home', which stars Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez and Steve Martin.

However, other big productions like the sequels of the 'Avengers' and 'Man of Steel' would coincide with the animation movies' release.

As it stands, 'Kung Fu Panda 3' is expected to hit the big screen on March 18, 2016.