| Penguins of Madagascar | |
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 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | |
| Screenplay by |
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| Story by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Edited by | Nick Kenway |
| Music by | Lorne Balfe |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox[a] |
Release dates |
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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 animatedspycomedy film produced byDreamWorks Animation. A spin-off of theMadagascar film series, it was directed byEric Darnell andSimon J. Smith and written byMichael Colton,John Aboud, and Brandon Sawyer. The film stars the voices ofTom McGrath,Chris Miller,Christopher Knights,Conrad Vernon,Benedict Cumberbatch,Ken Jeong,Annet Mahendru,Peter Stormare andJohn Malkovich. It takes place shortly after the events ofthe thirdMadagascar film and followsthe Penguins as they join forces with the North Wind intelligence agency to stop the octopus Dave who seeks revenge on penguins for upstaging him at zoos and aquariums. The score was composed byLorne Balfe.
Penguins of Madagascar was released theatrically in the United States on November 26, 2014, by20th Century Fox.[a] The film received mixed reviews from critics, but despite grossing $374 million on a $132 million budget, the film underperformed by DreamWorks' standards. Along withMr. Peabody & Sherman earlier that year, it lost the studio $57 million.
InAntarctica,penguin chicksSkipper,Rico, andKowalski rescue an egg fromleopard seals on an abandonedwhaling ship and are sent on an iceberg. When the egg hatches, the trio adopt the chick as their brother,Private.
Ten years later, Circus Zaragoza is continuing their American tour inKentucky.[b] The penguins leave to celebrate Private's birthday by breaking intoFort Knox to getCheesy Dibbles from a vending machine, despite Private's wish of being recognized as a meaningful and valued team member. The penguins are subsequently kidnapped and taken to a submarine inVenice, where they meet Dave, aGiant Pacific octopus who was once an attraction at theCentral Park Zoo until they upstaged him when they arrived.[c] After being repeatedly transferred between numerous zoos and aquariums around the world, continuously upstaged by penguins, Dave disguised himself as a human scientist named Dr. Octavius Brine to enact his revenge. Rico swallows a vial of Dave'ssnow globe collection from every zoo and aquarium that he was transferred to and his chemical, the Medusa Serum before the penguins escape.
Fleeing through Venice while pursued by Dave's octopus henchmen, the penguins are rescued by the North Wind, an inter-species intelligence agency consisting of aEurasian wolf leader whose name is classified (Skipper calls him "Classified"),polar bear muscle Corporal,harp seal demolitionist Short Fuse, andsnowy owl intelligence analyst Eva. The penguins show the North Wind the Medusa Serum, but Dave calls to reveal he actually has much more serum. The North Wind gets alerts of Dave kidnapping captive penguins around the world. Deeming Skipper's team a liability to the mission, Classified tranquilizes them and puts them on a plane bound for a North Windsafe house inMadagascar.
The penguins escape the plane, and, using Dave's snow globes, realize Dave targets every zoo and aquarium he was kicked out of, with theShanghai Zoo as his next target. The penguins forms a plan to stop Dave, and Private reluctantly agrees to be the bait. They manage to trap Dave with a dinosaur skeleton just as the North Wind shows up. 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. At Dave's lair, Private learns that Dave plans to use the Medusa Serum to turn penguins into 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 onNew York City. Private obtains Dave's ray, finds Skipper, Rico, and Kowalski, 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. Skipper deems Private the most meaningful and valued member of the team, to the approval of the North Wind, who give the penguins jetpacks.
Adirect-to-videospin-off feature film featuring theMadagascar penguin characters had been in the works since 2005, when thefirst film was released, with a release date initially planned for 2009.[16] Years later, DreamWorks Animation announced in March 2011 that the penguins would be given their own theatrical film, directed bySimon J. Smith (the co-director of DreamWorks'Bee Movie) produced byLara Breay, and written by Alan J. Schoolcraft and Brent Simons (the writers of DreamWorks'Megamind).[17][18] Around this time, DreamWorks was actively expanding theMadagascar franchise as part of a broader strategy to develop its most recognizable properties into standalone features.[19]
At the July 2012Comic-Con, DreamWorks Animation announced that the film, then titledThe Penguins of Madagascar, would be released in 2015.[20]Bob Schooley, one of the developers ofThe Penguins of Madagascar series onNickelodeon, said that the film would be unrelated to the eponymous TV series, but added that could always change.[21] In early September 2012,20th Century Fox—the studio's then 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 andJohn Aboud.[22]Benedict Cumberbatch andJohn Malkovich joined the cast in August 2013.[2] Cumberbatch, cast as the wolf team leader Agent Classified, reportedly underwent vocal coaching to refine an American accent for the role.[19] 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.[23]
The production employed a different animation pipeline from theMadagascar trilogy. Although the characters originated in CG animation, the team aimed for a more stylized, dynamic tone to match the film's espionage-parody narrative. Director Simon J. Smith stated that visual pacing and comic timing were influenced by classic spy films and slapstick animation. Unlike the TV series, which was produced in partnership withNickelodeon, the film's animation was done primarily at PDI/DreamWorks inRedwood City, California.[19]
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 until 2024, when the studio decided to shift away from fully animating its film in-house and rely more on outsourcing from outside studios.[24] Internally, the project was viewed as high-risk. At the time of its release, financial analysts speculated that the film's performance could affect DreamWorks Animation's valuation, as the studio was in talks with potential buyers. In addition to cost management concerns, shifting release dates led to marketing complications; the film's original March 2015 date was moved forward to November 26, 2014, replacingHome, which was delayed to 2015. According toMorgan Stanley analyst Benjamin Swinburne, the accelerated release schedule may have impacted box office traction, though he projected the film could still be modestly profitable.[19]
On January 8, 2014,Lorne Balfe was announced to compose the film's musical score,[25] making it his first solo score for a DreamWorks Animation film.[26][27] Balfe wrote the additional music for the previous twoMadagascar films and helpedMadagascar composerHans Zimmer with the score forMegamind. The soundtrack album was released digitally on November 21, 2014, and through CDs on December 5, byRelativity Music Group.[25] Relativity also released anextended play,Penguins of Madagascar: Black & White Christmas Album, which featured five holiday songs.[25]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 albumGlobalization.[28]
Penguins of Madagascar was originally scheduled to be released by20th Century Fox[a] on March 27, 2015.[22] In May 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 filmHome.[29]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 theThanksgiving holiday season whileHome 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 asThe Croods andHow to Train Your Dragon.[30] The film was released two weeks earlier in China on November 14, 2014, where it was released byOriental DreamWorks.[31]
A four-issue comic book series based on the film was published by Titan Comics, written by Alex Matthews and drawn by Lucas Fereyra.[32]
Penguins of Madagascar was released onDVD,Blu-ray, andBlu-ray 3D on March 17, 2015.[33] It topped the home video sales chart in its first week.[34]
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 millionwrite-down, primarily related to the performances of the film andMr. Peabody & Sherman. It marked the fourth film in three years that DreamWorks Animation lost money on, afterTurbo andRise of the Guardians.[35]
In the United States andCanada,Penguins of Madagascar was released alongsideHorrible Bosses 2, and was projected to $45–47 million from 3,764 theatres over its five-day opening weekend.[36] It earned $6.25 million on its opening day and $3.95 million the next day onThanksgiving Day.[37] Wall Street analysts viewed the debut as significantly below expectations.Stifel Nicolaus analyst Benjamin Mogil had projected a five-day total between $50 million and $55 million.[38] It earned $10.5 millionon Black Friday.[39][40] The film underperformed during its opening weekend, earning $35.4 million and debuting at #2 at the box office behindThe Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, for which 3D accounted for 24% of its opening-weekend gross.[40] The opening-weekend audience was nearly evenly split by age and gender, with 58% under the age of 25 and females accounting for 51%.[41] According to Mogil, the disappointing performance led him to estimate a $14 million fourth-quarter loss for DreamWorks Animation.[38]
The film was released inChina on November 14, 2014,[31] 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 behindInterstellar ($42 million).[42] In its opening weekend, the film earned $36.5 million from 47 markets.[43] By early December, the film had grossed $24 million in China.[38] Top openings were in Russia ($8.2 million), Korea ($6 million), Italy ($4.63 million), Germany ($4.2 million), and Australia ($3.68 million).[44][45] The film's opening in Germany was the second-highest for an animated film in 2014, behindHow to Train Your Dragon 2.[44]
On review aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes,Penguins of Madagascar holds an approval rating of 74% based on 115 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."[46] OnMetacritic, the film achieved a score of 53 out of 100 based on reviews from 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews."[47] Audiences surveyed byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[40]
Elizabeth Weitzman of theNew 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."[48]Ignatiy Vishnevetsky ofThe 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."[49] Ben Kenigsberg ofThe New York Times gave the film a positive review, saying "The lack of originality is offset by sheer silliness, including Classified and Skipper'sAbbott and Costello-style argument over whether there's a long I in 'diversion.' The word fits the movie."[50]
Bill Zwecker of theChicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars, saying "Once again theMadagascar team have come up with a winner – a nice way to kick off the Thanksgiving and holiday filmgoing experience for the whole family."[51] Michael Rechtshaffen ofThe 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."[52] Jeff Labrecque ofEntertainment 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 haywireWalter Lantz cartoon."[53]
| Award/Film Festival | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 42nd Annie Awards[54] | 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 | ||
| Outstanding Achievement for Character Design in an Animated Feature Production | Craig Kellman, Joe Moshier, Stevie Lewis and Todd Kurosawa | ||
| 51st Cinema Audio Society Awards[55] | Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion Picture - Animated | Tighe Sheldon, Paul N.J. Ottosson, Dennis Sands and Randy K. Singer | |
| 28th Kids' Choice Awards[56] | Favorite Animated Movie | Eric Darnell andSimon J. Smith | |
| 11th St. Louis Film Critics Association Awards[57] | Best Animated Film |
...our next 2 movies, Penguins of Madagascar and Home, have production budgets of $132 million each, excluding incentive-based compensation.
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