Penguins of Madagascar

This article is about the animated feature film. For penguins in the country of Madagascar, see List of birds of Madagascar § Penguins. For the Nickelodeon TV series, see The Penguins of Madagascar. For the soundtrack, see Penguins of Madagascar (soundtrack).

Penguins of Madagascar
Four Adélie penguins (Private, Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico) standing in front of a black and white lined background, with the tagline saying: "The movie event that will blow their cover."
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Screenplay by
Story by
  • Alan Schoolcraft
  • Brent Simons
  • Michael Colton
  • John Aboud
Produced by
Starring
Edited byNick Kenway
Music byLorne Balfe
Production
companies
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • November 14, 2014 (2014-11-14) (China)
  • November 26, 2014 (2014-11-26) (United States)
Running time
92 minutes[5]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
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]

  1. ^ a b c "Penguins of Madagascar". DreamWorks Animation. Archived from the original on December 20, 2014. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference WrapCumberMalko was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Milo, Mike (June 11, 2014). "News: THE PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR | Official Trailer Revealed!". Animation Insider. Archived from the original on March 12, 2021. Retrieved June 13, 2014.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference YTTrailer1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR (U)". British Board of Film Classification. November 6, 2014. Archived from the original on November 6, 2014. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  6. ^ "DreamWorks Animation SKG's (DWA) CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg on Q3 2014 Results - Earnings Call Transcript". Seeking Alpha. October 29, 2014. Archived from the original on October 30, 2014. Retrieved October 30, 2014. ...our next 2 movies, Penguins of Madagascar and Home, have production budgets of $132 million each, excluding incentive-based compensation.
  7. ^ "Penguins of Madagascar (2014)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on September 28, 2018. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  8. ^ a b Jeff Hare (August 15, 2013). "The Stars Align For 2015 DreamWorks Animation Films". DreamWorks Animation (Press release). Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved January 19, 2014 – via Pitch Engine.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference WrapDateSwitch was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Nemiroff, Perri (October 12, 2014). "HOME and PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR Comic-Con Panel Recap: New Footage, Evil Scientist Octopus, 28-Second Alien Invasion and More". Collider.com. Archived from the original on October 13, 2014. Retrieved October 14, 2014.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference THR57MWriteDown was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Wolfe, Jennifer (January 22, 2015). "DreamWorks Animation Shuttering PDI". Animation World Network. Archived from the original on September 30, 2022. Retrieved March 20, 2015.