Penguins Of Madagascar The Movie

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Aug 3, 2024, 6:09:58 PM8/3/24

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Penguins of Madagascar (also known as Penguins of Madagascar: The Movie) 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 Adlie 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 Adlie 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, initially planned for a 2009 release date, but 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.

Fleeing through Venice while being pursued by Dave's henchmen, the penguins are rescued by the North Wind, an inter-species intelligence agency consisting of British Eurasian wolf leader Classified, Norwegian polar bear muscle Corporal, Belgian harp seal demolitionist Short Fuse, and Russian 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 is targeting every zoo and aquarium he was kicked out of and kidnapping 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 after creating a water leak in the aquarium, just as the North Wind shows up. However, Dave escapes through a drain and captures the Shanghai penguins along with Private. Skipper, Rico, and Kowalski hijack the North Wind's jet to pursue him, accidentally destroying it. At Dave's lair, Private learns that Dave is planning to use the Medusa Serum to turn penguins into mindless, disfigured monsters, so that the public will hate and exterminate them.

Upon reaching Dave's hideout, the penguins and the North Wind clash over their different plans to infiltrate the submarine, before Skipper finally 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 at the last second using a paper clip he swallowed earlier, causing everyone present to believe Private has been vaporized. Private finds and frees the North Wind, but they refuse to help without their equipment, so Private heads off to rescue the penguins alone.

Dave uses the Medusa Serum to transform all the penguins, and, as Dr. Brine, unleashes them on New York City. In the chaos, 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 to normal. This leaves Private mutated, and Dave shrunk and trapped inside one of his snow globes, which a little girl plays with. For his heroism, Private finally earns his place as a qualified member of the team. Classified congratulates the penguins and apologizes for his earlier behavior. As a reward, the North Wind gives the penguins jetpacks, which they use to fly back to Circus Zaragoza.

In a mid-credits scene, the penguins and King Julien hook Mort up to Dave's ray and use his cuteness to restore Private to normal. As the penguins leave to celebrate, King Julien expresses disappointment that Mort has not shown any monster qualities, until the latter swallows him whole.

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, in his first solo debut in a DreamWorks Animation film.[27][28] The soundtrack album was released digitally on November 21, 2014, five days before the film's theatrical release, and through CDs on December 5, by Relativity Music Group. Additionally, it featured a special edition bonus track, that consisted the musical score as well as tracks from the extended play, Penguins of Madagascar: Black & White Christmas Album, which featured five holiday songs and was released by Relativity Music Group on November 24, 2014.[29] 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][31]

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.[32] 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.[33] The film was released two weeks earlier in China on November 14, 2014, where it was released by Oriental DreamWorks.[34]

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.[35] A four-issue comic book series based on the film was published by Titan Comics, written by Alex Matthews and drawn by Lucas Fereyra.[36]

Lorne Balfe composed the original score for the film,[29] making it his first solo debut in a DreamWorks Animation film. Balfe wrote the additional music for the previous two Madagascar films and helped Madagascar composer Hans Zimmer with the score for Megamind. The soundtrack was released on November 21, 2014, by Relativity Music Group.[29] Relativity also released an EP, Penguins of Madagascar: Black & White Christmas Album, which featured five holiday songs.[29] Pitbull performed a song titled "Celebrate" for the film, which was played during the credits. A music video of the song was also released on YouTube on October 21, 2014.