Penguins of Madagascar | |
---|---|
Directed by | |
Screenplay by |
|
Story by |
|
Produced by |
|
Starring | |
Edited by | Nick Kenway |
Music by | Lorne Balfe |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 92 minutes [5] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $132 million [6] |
Box office | $373.5 million [7] |
Penguins of Madagascar is a 2014 American animated spy action comedy film [8] produced by DreamWorks Animation and PDI/DreamWorks and distributed by 20th Century Fox. A spin-off of the Madagascar franchise and the fourth film overall in the series, the film was directed by series director Eric Darnell [9] and Simon J. Smith from a screenplay written by Brandon Sawyer and the writing team of Michael Colton and John Aboud, [2] based on a story conceived by Colton, Aboud, Alan Schoolcraft, and Brent Simons. Despite the title of the film, it is not directly related to the Nickelodeon animated television series The Penguins of Madagascar . Starring the voices of Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Christopher Knights, Conrad Vernon, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ken Jeong, Annet Mahendru, Peter Stormare and John Malkovich, it takes place directly after the events of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012), [10] following the adventures of four Adélie penguins - Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private - as they join forces with the North Wind intelligence agency to stop the Giant Pacific octopus Dave, who seeks revenge on all Adélie penguins across the Earth for being upstaged by capturing them. [8]
Development of a direct-to-video (DTV) spin-off film featuring the four penguins began following the release of the first Madagascar film in 2005, and it was initially planned for a 2009 release date. However, the film did not come to fruition until March 2011, when it was announced that the penguins would be given their own theatrical film instead. By 2012, DreamWorks Animation announced that the film would be released in March 2015 before being pushed forward to November 2014 in May of that year. Cumberbatch and Malkovich signed in August 2013. Lorne Balfe composed the score, and Pitbull performed a song featuring DJ Frank E.
Penguins of Madagascar was released theatrically in China on November 14, 2014, and in the United States on November 26, 2014. [2] The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with specific praise going to the vocal performances (particularly Cumberbatch and Malkovich), but despite grossing $373.5 million on a $132 million budget, the film underperformed by DreamWorks' standards and lost the studio $57.1 million, along with Mr. Peabody & Sherman earlier that year. [11] This is the final DreamWorks Animation film to be produced by PDI/DreamWorks before its closure on January 22, 2015, with DreamWorks Animation (DWA) Glendale taking over. [12]
In Antarctica, penguin chicks Skipper, Rico, and Kowalski, upon seeing a runaway egg roll away from their colony, rescue it from leopard seals on an abandoned whaling ship and are set adrift on an iceberg. When the egg hatches, the trio adopt the chick as their brother, Private.
Ten years later, after defeating Captain Chantel DuBois, [a] the penguins leave Circus Zaragoza to celebrate Private's birthday by breaking into Fort Knox to get Cheesy Dibbles from a vending machine, despite Private's real wish of being recognized as an official team member. The penguins are subsequently kidnapped and taken to a submarine, where they are confronted by Dave, a Giant Pacific octopus who was once a star attraction at Central Park Zoo until the penguins upstaged him with their cuteness. After being repeatedly passed between zoos and aquariums, each time being upstaged by penguins, a bitter Dave disguised himself as a human scientist named Doctor Octavius Brine to enact his revenge. Rico swallows a vial of Dave's special sauce – the Medusa Serum – and his snow globe collection before the penguins escape.
Fleeing through Venice while pursued by Dave's henchmen, the penguins are rescued by the North Wind, an inter-species intelligence agency consisting of Eurasian wolf leader whose name is classified (Skipper calls him "Classified"), polar bear muscle Corporal, harp seal demolitionist Short Fuse, and snowy owl intelligence analyst Eva. After Rico shows the North Wind the Medusa Serum, Dave hacks into the North Wind's computers to reveal he has made more of it. Deeming Skipper's team a liability to the mission, Classified darts them and puts them on a plane bound for Madagascar.
The penguins escape the plane, and, using Dave's snow globes, realize Dave targets every zoo and aquarium he was kicked out of and kidnaps their penguins, with the Shanghai Zoo as his next target. Skipper's team forms a plan to stop Dave, and Private reluctantly agrees to be the bait. The other penguins manage to trap Dave with a dinosaur skeleton just as the North Wind shows up. Dave escapes via a drain and captures the Shanghai penguins along with Private. Skipper, Rico, and Kowalski hijack the North Wind's jet to pursue him. At Dave's lair, Private learns that Dave plans to use the Medusa Serum to turn penguins into mindless and disfigured monsters for the public to hate and exterminate.
Upon reaching Dave's hideout, the penguins and the North Wind clash over their different plans to infiltrate the submarine, before Skipper relents and goes with the North Wind's plan. The penguins distract the octopus guards while the North Wind sneak inside, but both teams are captured. Dave tests the Medusa Serum on Private, but he escapes using a paper clip he swallowed earlier, unbeknownst to everyone present, who believe Private has been vaporized. Private finds and frees the North Wind, but they refuse to help without their equipment, so Private goes alone.
As Dr. Brine, Dave unleashes the mutated penguins on New York City. Private obtains Dave's ray, finds Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico, and restores their sanity. As the penguins and the North Wind battle Dave and his henchmen, Private inserts himself into Dave's ray, using the power of his cuteness to restore the other penguins. This leaves Private mutated, and Dave shrunk and trapped inside one of his snow globes. Private earns his place as a qualified member of the team, to the approval of the North Wind. The North Wind gives the penguins jetpacks; the penguins fly back to Circus Zaragoza.
In a post credits scene the penguins (back at the circus) restore Private back to normal with Dave’s machine.
A direct-to-video spin-off feature film featuring the Madagascar penguin characters had been in the works since 2005, when the first film was released, with a release date initially planned for 2009. [20] Years later, DreamWorks Animation announced in March 2011 that the penguins would be given their own theatrical film, directed by Simon J. Smith (the co-director of DreamWorks' Bee Movie ) produced by Lara Breay, and written by Alan J. Schoolcraft and Brent Simons (the writers of DreamWorks' Megamind ). [21] [22]
At the July 2012 Comic-Con, DreamWorks Animation announced that the film, then titled The Penguins of Madagascar, would be released in 2015. [23] Bob Schooley, one of the developers of The Penguins of Madagascar series on Nickelodeon, said that the film would be unrelated to the TV series of the same name, but added that could always change. [24] In early September 2012, 20th Century Fox - the studio's new distributor - and DreamWorks Animation announced the film's release date of March 27, 2015 and a new team of screenwriters for the film, Michael Colton and John Aboud. [25] Benedict Cumberbatch and John Malkovich joined the cast in August 2013. [2] Malkovich, who had been offered the role of Dr. Octavius Brine three and a half years before the film's release, told an audience at the July 2014 Comic-Con that he thought that it "was a funny idea" to use his voice for an octopus. [26]
On January 8, 2014, Lorne Balfe was announced to compose the film's musical score, [27] making it his first solo debut in a DreamWorks Animation film. [28] [29] Balfe wrote the additional music for the previous two Madagascar films and helped Madagascar composer Hans Zimmer with the score for Megamind . The soundtrack album was released digitally on November 21, 2014, and through CDs on December 5, by Relativity Music Group. [27] Relativity also released an extended play, Penguins of Madagascar: Black & White Christmas Album, which featured five holiday songs. [27] Pitbull performed a non-album single titled "Celebrate" for the film, which was played during the film's end credits and released as a part of his eighth studio album Globalization. [30]
Penguins of Madagascar was originally scheduled to be released on March 27, 2015. [25] On May 20, 2014, the film's release date was moved up to November 26, 2014 from its initial March 27, 2015 date, switching places with DreamWorks Animation's other film Home . [31] Jeffrey Katzenberg, DreamWorks Animation's CEO, explained that the film, coming from one of DWA's most successful franchises, would have an easier task to stand out around the Thanksgiving holiday season while Home was to try taking advantage of a less competitive spring release window and repeat successful spring launches of some of DWA's original films, such as The Croods and How to Train Your Dragon . [32] The film was released two weeks earlier in China on November 14, 2014, where it was released by Oriental DreamWorks. [33]
The film was released in RealD 3D, 4DX and Digital 3D formats. [4] It was digitally remastered into the IMAX format, and released in select theaters across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. [34] A four-issue comic book series based on the film was published by Titan Comics, written by Alex Matthews and drawn by Lucas Fereyra. [35]
Penguins of Madagascar was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Blu-ray 3D on March 17, 2015. [36] It topped the home video sales chart in its first week. [37]
Penguins of Madagascar grossed $83.4 million in North America and $290.2 million in foreign countries for a worldwide total of $373.6 million. [7] The film's production budget was $132 million, which, according to DreamWorks Animation's president Ann Dally, excluded "incentive-based compensation." [6] By the end of 2014, the studio had to take a $57.1 million write-down, primarily related to the performances of Penguins of Madagascar and another DreamWorks Animation film, Mr. Peabody & Sherman . [11]
In the United States and Canada, Penguins of Madagascar was released alongside Horrible Bosses 2 , and was projected to $45–47 million from 3,764 theatres over its five-day opening weekend. [38] It earned $6.25 million on its opening day and $3.95 million the next day on Thanksgiving Day. [39] It earned $10.5 million on Black Friday. [40] [41] The film underperformed during its opening weekend, earning $35.4 million and debuting at #2 at the box office behind The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 , for which 3D accounted for 24% of its opening-weekend gross. [41] The opening-weekend audience was nearly evenly split by age and gender, with 58% under the age of 25 and females accounting for 51%. [42]
The film was released in China on November 14, 2014, [33] two weeks ahead of its North American debut, and earned $11.3 million from 3,500 screens, debuting at number two at the Chinese box office behind Interstellar ($42 million). [43] In its opening weekend, the film earned $36.5 million from 47 markets. [44] Overall, the top openings were in Russia ($8.2 million), Korea ($6 million), Italy ($4.63 million), Germany ($4.2 million), and Australia ($3.68 million). [45] [46] The film's opening in Germany was the second-highest for an animated film in 2014, behind How to Train Your Dragon 2 . [45]
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Penguins of Madagascar holds an approval rating of 74% based on 116 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Penguins of Madagascar is fast and brightly colored enough to entertain small children, but too frantically silly to offer real filmgoing fun for the whole family." [47] On Metacritic, the film achieved a score of 53 out of 100 based on reviews from 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [48] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. [41]
Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News gave the film three out of five stars, saying "Granted, it's no classic, but a sassy script and good-natured voice work from Benedict Cumberbatch and John Malkovich should keep kids and grownups entertained over the holidays." [49] Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of The A.V. Club gave the film a B, saying "Frenetic and frequently funny, Penguins Of Madagascar represents the DreamWorks Animation franchise style—which boils down to self-aware, but naïve, talking animals who learn kid-friendly life lessons—at its most palatable." [50] Ben Kenigsberg of The New York Times gave the film a positive review, saying "The lack of originality is offset by sheer silliness, including Classified and Skipper's Abbott and Costello-style argument over whether there's a long I in 'diversion.' The word fits the movie." [51]
Bill Zwecker of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars, saying "Once again the Madagascar team have come up with a winner – a nice way to kick off the Thanksgiving and holiday filmgoing experience for the whole family." [52] Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a negative review, saying "While there are plenty of madcap antics to fill a feature, all that manic energy ultimately proves to be more exhausting than exhilarating." [53] Jeff Labrecque of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C−, saying "Penguins of Madagascar aims primarily for the kiddies, racing from one frenetic action sequence to another like some haywire Walter Lantz cartoon." [54]
Award/Film Festival | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
---|---|---|---|
42nd Annie Awards [55] | Outstanding Achievement for Animated Effects in an Animated Production | Mitul Patel, Nicolas Delbecq, Santosh Khedkar and Yash Argawal | Nominated |
Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in an Animated Feature Production | Ravi Kamble | Nominated | |
Outstanding Achievement for Character Design in an Animated Feature Production | Craig Kellman, Joe Moshier, Stevie Lewis and Todd Kurosawa | Nominated | |
51st Cinema Audio Society Awards [56] | Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion Picture - Animated | Tighe Sheldon, Paul N.J. Ottosson, Dennis Sands and Randy K. Singer | Nominated |
28th Kids' Choice Awards [57] | Favorite Animated Movie | Eric Darnell and Simon J. Smith | Nominated |
11th St. Louis Film Critics Association Awards [58] | Best Animated Film | Nominated |
A video game based on the film, titled Penguins of Madagascar, and published by Little Orbit, was released on November 25, 2014, for Nintendo 3DS, Wii, and Wii U.[ citation needed ]
Conrad Vernon is an American voice actor, director, producer, writer, and storyboard artist best known for his work on the DreamWorks animated film series Shrek as well as other films such as Monsters vs. Aliens, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, and Penguins of Madagascar. He also co-directed non-DreamWorks animated films such as Sony Pictures' Sausage Party and MGM’s The Addams Family.
DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA) (also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio owned by Universal Pictures, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The studio has released a total of 49 feature films, including several of the highest-grossing animated films of all time, with Shrek 2 (2004) having been the highest at the time of its release. Its first film, Antz, was released on October 2, 1998, and its latest film, The Wild Robot, was released on September 27, 2024. They have an upcoming theatrical slate of films, which includes Dog Man on January 31, 2025, How to Train Your Dragon on June 13, 2025, The Bad Guys 2 on August 1, 2025, Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie on September 26, 2025, and Shrek 5 on July 1, 2026.
Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch is an English actor. Known for his work on screen and stage, he has received various accolades, including a BAFTA TV Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Laurence Olivier Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and four Golden Globes. In 2014, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and in 2015, he was appointed a CBE for services to performing arts and charity.
Pacific Data Images (PDI) was an American computer animation and visual effects production company based in Redwood City, California, that was bought by DreamWorks SKG in 2000. It was renamed PDI/DreamWorks and was owned by DreamWorks Animation.
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is a 2008 American animated adventure comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation SKG and PDI/DreamWorks and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is the sequel to Madagascar (2005) and the second installment in the franchise. It was directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath and written by Etan Cohen, Darnell, and McGrath. The film features Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Andy Richter, Elisa Gabrielli, McGrath, Chris Miller, Christopher Knights, and Conrad Vernon reprising their voice acting roles from the first film, joined by new cast members Bernie Mac, Alec Baldwin, Sherri Shepherd, and will.i.am, as well as voice acting veteran John DiMaggio. In the film, the main characters, a party of animals from the Central Park Zoo whose adventures have taken them to Madagascar find themselves in the African savannas, where they meet others of their species and where Alex the lion reunites with his parents.
The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper is a 2005 American animated short film produced by DreamWorks Animation and PDI/DreamWorks and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. Directed by animation veteran Gary Trousdale, produced by Teresa Cheng, and written by Michael Lachance, it stars the voice cast of Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Christopher Knights, John DiMaggio, Elisa Gabrielli, and Bill Fagerbakke. Set before the events of the first Madagascar, the 12-minute Madagascar spin-off features the adventures of four penguins, sometimes known as the Madagascar Penguins, who live in the Central Park Zoo and are trained as spies. When Private is captured by Nana by wanting to find a present for Ted during his absence, the other three penguins, Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico, must rescue Private from Nana's apartment, while making last-minute preparations for Christmas at the Central Park Zoo. The music in the short film is scored by James Dooley.
Madagascar is a platform video game based on the animated film of the same name by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath, produced by DreamWorks. The game was released on May 24, 2005 in North America and on June 30, 2005 in Europe. The GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions were developed by Toys for Bob. The Microsoft Windows version was developed by Beenox and the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance versions were developed by Vicarious Visions. All versions of the game were published by Activision. Madagascar: Operation Penguin was the next Madagascar video game to be released on the Game Boy Advance.
Eric Darnell is an American animator, storyboard artist, director, screenwriter, songwriter and occasional voice actor best known for co-directing Antz with Tim Johnson, as well as co-directing and co-writing Madagascar, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted with Tom McGrath, as well as the spin off Penguins of Madagascar (2014) with Simon J. Smith.
Thomas McGrath is an American voice actor, animator and filmmaker. He is known for the DreamWorks animated film Madagascar, which he co-wrote and directed with Eric Darnell while voicing the character of Skipper the Penguin. The film spawned two direct sequels, along with a spin-off animated series and film based on the penguins in which McGrath reprised his role as Skipper. McGrath also directed the DreamWorks animated films Megamind (2010) and The Boss Baby (2017), the latter of which received an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nomination. McGrath returned as director for its 2021 sequel.
The True Meaning of Smekday is a 2007 children's book by Adam Rex. It was adapted by DreamWorks Animation into the 2015 feature film Home.
Madagascar is a 2005 American animated survival comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and PDI/DreamWorks, and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. The film was directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath and written by Darnell, McGrath, Mark Burton and Billy Frolick. The film stars Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith as a quartet of animals from the Central Park Zoo who find themselves stranded on the island of Madagascar and must adjust to living in the wild.
The Penguins of Madagascar is an American animated television series produced by DreamWorks Animation and co-produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio. It stars nine characters from DreamWorks' animated film Madagascar: the penguins Skipper, Rico, Kowalski, and Private ; the lemurs King Julien, Maurice, and Mort ; and the chimpanzees Mason and Phil. Characters new to the series include the otter Marlene and a zookeeper named Alice. It is the first Nicktoon co-produced with DreamWorks Animation. The series was executive-produced by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle, who were the creators of the animated series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command and Disney Channel's Kim Possible.
Madagascar is an American media franchise owned and produced by DreamWorks Animation. The voices of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith are featured in the films. It began with the 2005 film Madagascar, the 2008 sequel Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and the third film Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted in 2012. A spin-off film featuring the penguins, titled Penguins of Madagascar, was released in 2014. A fourth main film, Madagascar 4, was announced for 2018, but has since been removed from its schedule indefinitely due to the studio's restructuring.
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted is a 2012 American animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and PDI/DreamWorks and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The third installment in the Madagascar franchise, it is the sequel to Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008), and was the first film in the series to be released in 3D. It was directed by Eric Darnell, Conrad Vernon and Tom McGrath from a screenplay written by Darnell and Noah Baumbach. The film stars Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Andy Richter, McGrath, Chris Miller, Christopher Knights, John DiMaggio and Vernon reprising their voice acting roles from the previous installments, alongside new cast members Jessica Chastain, Bryan Cranston, Martin Short and Frances McDormand. In the film, the main characters—a party of animals from the Central Park Zoo whose adventures have already taken them to Madagascar and Africa—attempt to return to New York City and find themselves traveling across Europe with a circus while being pursued by the villainous head of Monaco's animal control service.
Merry Madagascar is a Christmas special first broadcast on the NBC network on November 17, 2009, which starred the characters from the film series Madagascar, and takes place sometime between the first and second film. It is the second DreamWorks Animation Christmas special, after Shrek the Halls.
Paramount Animation is an American animation studio, serving as the animation division and label of Paramount Pictures, a subsidiary of Paramount Global. The division was founded on July 6, 2011, following the box office success of Paramount's own Rango and the end of their distribution deal with DreamWorks Animation in 2012.
Since 23 May 2003, DreamWorks Animation, an American animation studio, owned by NBCUniversal since 2016, has had an involvement in the creation and theming of amusement park rides and attractions. This article details the ventures of DreamWorks Animation in amusement parks.
Home is a 2015 American animated science fiction comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Loosely based on Adam Rex's 2007 children's book The True Meaning of Smekday, the film was directed by Tim Johnson from a screenplay by Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember, and stars the voices of Jim Parsons, Rihanna, Steve Martin, Jennifer Lopez, and Matt Jones. The story follows the shared adventures of a friendly alien who is shunned by the rest of his kind, and a teenage girl searching for her mother after they are separated during an invasion of Earth.
The Fifth Estate is a 2013 biographical thriller film directed by Bill Condon about the news-leaking website WikiLeaks. The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch as its editor-in-chief and founder Julian Assange and Daniel Brühl as its former spokesperson Daniel Domscheit-Berg. Anthony Mackie, David Thewlis, Alicia Vikander, Stanley Tucci, and Laura Linney are featured in supporting roles. The film's screenplay was written by Josh Singer based in-part on Domscheit-Berg's book Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World's Most Dangerous Website (2011), as well as WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy (2011) by British journalists David Leigh and Luke Harding. The film's name is a reference to people who operate in the manner of journalists outside the normal constraints imposed on the mainstream media.
...our next 2 movies, Penguins of Madagascar and Home, have production budgets of $132 million each, excluding incentive-based compensation.