A beaming Angelina Jolie held hands with Brad Pitt and led the celebrity charge down the long red carpet on Hollywood Boulevard early on May 22. It was a bit overcast in Los Angeles on Sunday morning, but that didn’t stop Jolie and Pitt from delighting in the spectacle of the ‘Kung Fu Panda 2’ premiere, appropriately held at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. The sequel to the 2008 animated hit that is set in ancient China brings back much of the star-studded vocal cast from the first film, from Jack Black to Lucy Liu, Seth Rogen, Dustin Hoffman and James Hong, and they all joined their leading lady for the celebration.
Asian acrobats wowed the huge crowd of fans massed behind barricades, a huge paper dragon danced the length of the carpet and massive brightly colored Chinese lanterns lined the walkway while two giant Po pandas handed out big bear hugs.Other famous fans of the lazy panda turned kung fu expert that came out for the premiere festivities included Camryn Manheim and her kids, Marcia Gay Harden with her family, Danny McBride, Nancy O’Dell and Cedric the Entertainer. But it was Jolie, Pitt, Black and Hoffman who jumped right into the adoring crowd, signing autographs and posing for photos, then greeted the new vocal talent to ‘Kung Fu Panda 2,’ including Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dennis Haysbert.
It’s a routine the leading actors have been repeating a lot lately, as Jolie, Black, and Hoffman also premiered the new comedy last week in France at the Cannes Film Festival. It was there that Jolie explained the simple reason she’s been ready and willing to lend her voice to the character of Tigress in the films. “At the end of the day, we’re all just big kids and we love to do these movies, it’s a great deal of fun,” she said. Plus, having six children “from age two to ten” didn’t hurt, either. “In so many ways, I did it for them.”
