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 |
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 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, 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]
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