Madagascar (franchise)

• 1. Introduction

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  Madagascar is a DreamWorks Animation franchise that has grossed more than 2.2 billion dollars. That makes it the ninth highest-grossing animated franchise ever, and the third biggest at DreamWorks, behind only Shrek and Kung Fu Panda. Its stars are four animals who have never lived anywhere but a zoo. Some of its busiest offshoots, though, belong to supporting characters, including a crew of scheming penguins. How does a story about pampered animals lost at sea grow into films, television series, stage shows and theme park rides? And why does a fourth film keep being promised and then postponed?

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• 2. Zoo Animals Adrift

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  Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippo have spent their whole lives in comfortable captivity at New York's Central Park Zoo. Ben Stiller voices Alex, Chris Rock voices Marty, David Schwimmer voices Melman, and Jada Pinkett Smith voices Gloria.

  In the first film, released in 2005, the four are unexpectedly shipped toward Kenya. Instead they are shipwrecked on an uninhabited Madagascar. Tom McGrath and Eric Darnell directed it.

  Survival is only half their problem, because they also want to get back to New York City. Their help comes from a crafty cadre of Adélie penguins, and many other characters join the adventure along the way.

  Mark Burton, Billy Frolick, Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath share the writing credit for that first film.

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• 3. Three Journeys Home

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  In 2008, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa sends Alex, Marty, Melman and Gloria into the air, trying to fly back to New York. They crash-land in Kenya instead. There Alex is reunited with his parents, Zuba and Florrie, voiced by Bernie Mac and Sherri Shepherd. Trouble arrives in the form of Makunga, voiced by Alec Baldwin, a rival who plots to overthrow Zuba as alpha lion of the pride. The sequel grossed over 603 million dollars worldwide, more than the original had managed.

  Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, released in 2012, finds the four still struggling to reach home. Their route runs through Europe, where they buy a failing traveling circus. They befriend its performers, among them Stefano the sea lion, Vitaly the tiger, Gia the jaguar and Sonya the bear. Martin Short, Bryan Cranston, Jessica Chastain and Frank Welker voice them. Sonya turns out to be the true love of King Julien. Together the animals spectacularly revive the business, while Captain Chantel DuBois, a fanatical animal control officer from Monaco voiced by Frances McDormand, relentlessly hunts them.

  The zoo animals do finally return to New York. They discover that they have grown too much in spirit to live in captivity again, and they choose the circus instead. Directors Darnell and McGrath were joined on this film by Conrad Vernon. It earned over 746 million dollars worldwide, the biggest total in the series.

  Critics have been kinder to each main film than to the one before, while audiences have stayed consistently positive. The first film earned more than half a billion dollars on a budget of 75 million. The three main films together cost about 370 million dollars to make, a figure the later spin-off would be measured against.

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• 4. The Missing Fourth Film

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  In December 2010, DreamWorks Animation chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg told the press that another Madagascar film was likely. He said: "Ultimately they will come back to New York, and they will come to terms with that, which they will do in this next chapter. Because of the way that movie concludes there's probably one more for them."

  The tone cooled by June 2012, when Anne Globe, the studio's head of worldwide marketing, said: "It's too early to tell. There hasn't been a lot of discussion about that." A month later, Eric Darnell, who had co-directed all three films, set out his own conditions. He said that the world has to want Madagascar 4, and that the filmmakers need an idea that is "incredible", "great" and "unexpected".

  Then, in June 2014, the studio scheduled Madagascar 4 for release on the 18th of May 2018. That plan did not last. In January 2015, the film was removed from the release schedule after a corporate restructuring and a new policy of releasing two films a year.

  In April 2017, Tom McGrath offered a hint. He said: "There are things in the works, nothing is announced yet, but I think they'll show their faces once more..." In January 2026, he said DreamWorks still wants to make a fourth film, as long as there is a good story to tell.

  The project is still listed without a title or a release date.

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• 5. A Penguin Spin-Off

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  A penguin film was already being discussed in 2005, the year the first Madagascar reached theaters, and a release in 2009 was planned. It did not move forward until March 2011, when DreamWorks announced that the penguins would get a feature of their own, in the manner of the 2011 film Puss in Boots. Simon J. Smith, co-director of Bee Movie, was set to direct. Lara Breay would produce, and Alan J. Schoolcraft and Brent Simons, the writers of Megamind, would write.

  At Comic-Con in July 2012, the studio announced the title and a 2015 release. Robert Schooley, a producer of the television series, said the film would be unrelated to that show, though he allowed that this could change. In September 2012, a date of the 27th of March 2015 was set, and a new writing pair, Michael Colton and John Aboud, was named.

  Casting followed in August 2013. Benedict Cumberbatch was reported to be voicing Agent Classified of the North Wind, and John Malkovich the film's charming villain, Dr. Octavius Brine, also known as Dave. On the 20th of May 2014, the release moved up to the 26th of November 2014, swapping places with another DreamWorks film, Home.

  The earlier date was no help at the box office. Penguins of Madagascar grossed 374 million dollars worldwide against a 132 million dollar budget, and it underperformed. DreamWorks Animation took a 57.1 million dollar write-down on it. The studio took the same charge for another weak performer that year, Mr. Peabody & Sherman.

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• 6. Small-Screen Worlds

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  The Penguins of Madagascar ran on Nickelodeon from 2008 to 2015, and it follows the penguins after the events of the second film. Skipper leads, Kowalski is the smartest, Rico is the craziest, and Private is the youngest. They run secret missions from their Central Park habitat and sometimes venture beyond the zoo. They also compete with King Julien, now a resident of the same zoo, to keep order. Tom McGrath, John DiMaggio, Conrad Vernon and Andy Richter reprised their film roles as Skipper, Rico, Mason and Mort. Others were recast, and Danny Jacobs took over King Julien from Sacha Baron Cohen. Nicole Sullivan voiced Marlene, an otter who is one of the show's new characters.

  On the 19th of December 2014, Netflix released the first five 22-minute episodes of All Hail King Julien. It is set before the first film and stars Julien, with Henry Winkler voicing Uncle King Julien, his regal predecessor. India de Beaufort plays Clover, the king's special-ops expert. Madagascar: A Little Wild premiered on Hulu and Peacock on the 7th of September 2020. It is the franchise's second prequel, centered on younger versions of the four original zoo animals, and the first television series to star them.

  The shorter formats came earlier. The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper, a 12-minute film directed by Gary Trousdale, played in theaters on the 7th of October 2005 alongside Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. On Christmas Eve, four penguins discover that one of them is missing.

  Merry Madagascar aired on NBC in November 2009. In it, Alex shoots down Santa Claus, voiced by Carl Reiner, whose sleigh crashes and leaves him without his memory. The animals stand in as Santa for the night, and King Julien realizes that Christmas is about giving. In Madly Madagascar, released straight to DVD on the 29th of January 2013, Julien sells a love potion that makes Marty irresistible.

  By 2017 the shorts had shrunk to a three-minute New Year's Eve countdown and a one-minute birthday special, both tied to All Hail King Julien.

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• 7. I Like To Move It

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  Reel 2 Real released the track "I Like to Move It" in 1993, years before any of these animals reached the screen. In the first film, Sacha Baron Cohen recorded a version in character as King Julien. Later entries kept reworking it, changing the lyrics to suit each film's plot and subject.

  The original version returns in the first and last episodes of the Netflix series All Hail King Julien. A blend titled "Afro Circus/I Like to Move It" plays near the start of Penguins of Madagascar.

  The film scores came from Hans Zimmer, who is credited on all three main films, with will.i.am also credited on the second. Lorne Balfe composed the penguin film.

  On stage, the song stayed in King Julien's mouth, sung again by the character in the franchise's theatrical adaptation.

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• 8. Games, Rides, Stages

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  In 2005, Toys for Bob released a game based on the first film for PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows and GameCube. Vicarious Visions made a separate version for the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance. Activision released Madagascar: Operation Penguin on Game Boy Advance. Another title, Madagascar: Animal Trivia DVD Game, carried over 1,600 questions about animals. Its difficulty adjusted automatically across three levels, from Scout for ages 6-9 to Navigator for ages 14-106.

  More followed with each release. Madagascar Kartz arrived on the 27th of October 2009. Madagascar 3: The Video Game and the mobile title Madagascar: Join the Circus! launched in June 2012. Penguins of Madagascar reached Nintendo 3DS, Wii and Wii U on the 25th of November 2014. As recently as the 3rd of November 2023, DreamWorks All-Star Kart Racing put Alex and King Julien on the grid as playable racers.

  Theme parks gave the franchise physical ground. At Australia's Dreamworld, Madagascar Madness centered on a suspended roller coaster called Escape from Madagascar, and it was replaced in early 2023. A themed tower with 15 water slides opened at DreamWorks Water Park on the 1st of October 2020. Universal Studios Singapore had a Madagascar land with a water ride called Madagascar: A Crate Adventure and a carousel, King Julien's Beach Party-Go-Round. It closed on the 27th of March 2022 to make way for Minion Land and Super Nintendo World.

  Live shows came in several sizes. Madagascar Live!, a 90-minute theatre production directed by Gip Hoppe, began touring on the 28th of January 2011 in York, Pennsylvania. It was expected to visit more than 70 American cities. After a performance at New York's Radio City Music Hall on the 24th of April 2011, the American tour was cancelled, citing "unforeseen circumstances". The show then played nine cities in the United Kingdom in early 2013.

  Shorter park shows followed. Prepare to Party opened in 2012 at Chessington World of Adventures in England and at Dreamworld in Australia. It's Circus Time, based on the third film, opened in 2012 at Everland Resort in South Korea. It reached Heide Park in Germany and Gardaland in Italy in 2013. Operation: Vacation opened in 2013 at Busch Gardens Tampa and SeaWorld San Diego. A full stage musical debuted in the United Kingdom in 2018, and it has since played in Malaysia, Hong Kong and New Zealand.

  In February 2026, Madagascar - A Musical Adventure was announced for 2027. It will tour all three of the Butlin's holiday resorts in the United Kingdom, and it will be exclusive to those parks.

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