Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted is a 2012 American animated comedy film directed by Eric Darnell, Conrad Vernon, and Tom McGrath, and written by Darnell and Noah Baumbach. It is the third installment in the Madagascar film series, a sequel to Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008), it was produced by DreamWorks Animation. The film features Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Andy Richter, and McGrath reprising their roles from the previous films, with Jessica Chastain, Bryan Cranston, Martin Short, and Frances McDormand joining the cast. In the film, the main characters—a party of animals from the Central Park Zoo whose adventures have already taken them to Madagascar and mainland Africa—attempt to return to New York City and find themselves traveling across Europe with a circus while being chased by the villainous head of Monaco's animal control service.
DreamWorks Animation announced the third film in August 2008, three months before the release of the second film. As with the previous films in the franchise, the score was composed by Hans Zimmer.
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted premiered out of competition at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2012, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 8 by Paramount Pictures. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise going towards its animation, characters, voice acting and humor. It was the eighth highest-grossing film of 2012, with a gross of $747 million against a budget of $145 million. A spin-off, Penguins of Madagascar, was released in 2014.
Plot After crash-landing in Africa, penguins Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private, and chimpanzee duo Mason and Phil leave for Monte Carlo in their modified airplane. Whilst waiting, Alex, Marty, Melman, Gloria, and lemurs King Julien, Mort and Maurice decide to find them so they can all return to their home at the Central Park Zoo in New York City. They find the penguins and chimps at the Monte Carlo Casino, but chaos ensues when the animals' cover is blown, and they narrowly escape from Captain Chantel DuBois, the head of Monaco's animal control service, who is determined to add Alex's head to her taxidermy collection.
After their aircraft crash-lands and is beyond repair, the animals board a departing circus locomotive. As the animals of Circus Zaragoza, which include New Zealand sea lion Stefano, jaguar Gia, and Siberian tiger Vitaly, are suspicious of outsiders, Alex therefore lies about them being American circus animals. The circus is headed for a show in Rome, followed by one in London, where they hope to impress a promoter to get their first American tour. To allay suspicion, the penguins purchase the circus from its human ringmaster with the fortune they gained in Monte Carlo.
In Rome, Alex becomes enamored with Gia while Julien falls in love with a performing Eurasian brown bear named Sonya. DuBois attempts to chase the couple in Vatican City, but fails to catch them and is taken into prison. After the Colosseum show becomes a disaster, Stefano reveals to Alex that the circus was once famous and Vitaly was its star, skillfully jumping through ever-smaller hoops. However, an accident during one of his stunts resulted in him losing his passion and the entire circus suffering as a result.
While stopping at the Alps, Alex convinces the circus animals to devise a new and exciting act that will restore their former glory and amaze the promoter. Marty and Stefano discover a new passion in being shot out of a cannon, while Melman and Gloria become adept at dancing together on a tightrope. Gia persuades Alex to teach her "Trapeze Americano", and soon romance flourishes between the duo. Meanwhile, DuBois escapes from prison and restarts her chase.
In London, Vitaly is afraid of failing again and considers ditching the show, but Alex helps him rediscover his passion. The show succeeds, and the promoter signs a contract with the circus. DuBois then shows up along with her henchmen and, although the penguins foil them, a printed document detailing that Alex was carrying exposes his group's true intentions. Feeling betrayed, the circus animals eject the quartet. After Julien breaks up with Sonya, the zoo and circus animals go on their separate ways but arrive in Central Park simultaneously. Looking at their old home, the zoo animals realize how much their worldwide adventure has changed them and decide their true place is with the circus. Suddenly, the group is ambushed by DuBois, but before she can behead Alex, the zoo staff arrive and incorrectly assume that she is returning the missing animals. Julien returns to the circus with the news as he reconciles with Sonya before the circus animals settle on rescuing their friends.
Alex's group awaken in their old enclosures, now surrounded by high fencing. DuBois is being honored by the zoo staff, but she rejects their offered reward money and secretly attempts to kill Alex with a poison-filled dart in public. The circus animals soon save the quartet, and they work together to defeat DuBois. Alex's group officially joins the circus, having finally found their one true home, while the penguins ship DuBois and her henchmen to Madagascar as retribution.
Voice cast
Ben Stiller as Alex, an African lion. He is the main protagonist. Jessica Chastain as Gia, a jaguar and Alex's love interest Bryan Cranston as Vitaly, a traumatized Russian Siberian tiger and an ex-superstar of Circus Zaragoza Martin Short as Stefano, an Italian New Zealand sea lion Frances McDormand as Captain Chantel DuBois, the head of Monaco's animal control service who plots to capture Alex so she can add his head to her taxidermy collection. She is the main antagonist. Chris Rock as Marty, a plains zebra and Alex's best friend David Schwimmer as Melman, a reticulated giraffe, another of Alex's friends Jada Pinkett Smith as Gloria, a hippopotamus, another of Alex's friends Sacha Baron Cohen as King Julien XIII, a ring-tailed lemur who is the king of Madagascar Cedric the Entertainer as Maurice, an aye-aye who is the beleaguered assistant and royal adviser of King Julien Andy Richter as Mort, a Goodman's mouse lemur and King Julien's biggest fan Tom McGrath as Skipper, the leader of the penguins McGrath also voices First Policeman. Chris Miller as Kowalski, Skipper's second-in-command and the most intelligent of the penguins Christopher Knights as Private, the English-accented, mild-mannered, and eager rookie of the penguins John DiMaggio as Rico, the mute loose cannon explosives expert and weapons supplier of the penguins Conrad Vernon as Mason, a refined British-accented chimpanzee Vernon also voices Second Policeman. Frank Welker as the vocal effects of Sonya, an Eurasian brown bear and King Julien's love interest
Production DreamWorks Animation's CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg confirmed in 2008 that there would be an additional sequel to Madagascar and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. Katzenberg stated, "There is at least one more chapter. We ultimately want to see the characters make it back to New York." At the Television Critics Association press tour in January 2009, Katzenberg was asked if there would be a third film in the series. He replied, "Yes, we are making a Madagascar 3 now, and it will be out in the summer of 2012." On August 9, 2010, Katzenberg revealed in an e-mail that writer-director Noah Baumbach had done sixty pages of re-writes to the screenplay.
In January 2011, Frances McDormand was hired to provide the voice of the film's main antagonist, making this her first role in an animated film.
A significant amount of the animation and visual effects for the film had been done at DreamWorks Dedicated Unit, an India-based unit at Technicolor.
Release Theatrical Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted premiered out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2012. The American release followed on June 8, 2012. The film was also converted to the IMAX format and shown in European territories.
Home media Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Blu-ray 3D on October 16, 2012, by Paramount Home Entertainment. It was the first DreamWorks Animation film to use the UltraViolet System and the Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D comes with a rainbow wig. As of April 2014, 9.1 million home entertainment units were sold worldwide.
Reception Box office Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted earned $216 million in North America and $531 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $747 million. Its worldwide opening weekend totaled $137.6 million. Worldwide, it is the highest-grossing film in the series, the fourth-highest-grossing DreamWorks Animation film, the second-highest-grossing animated film of 2012, and the eighth-highest-grossing film of that year. Overall, it is the eleventh-highest-grossing animated film and the 113th-highest-grossing film of all time. The film took between 66 and 94 days of release, respectively, to out-gross its two predecessors. It surpassed Kung Fu Panda 2 to become DreamWorks' highest-grossing non-Shrek film, and their first non-Shrek film to gross over $700 million.
In North America, the film made $20.7 million on its opening day, which was higher than the opening-day grosses of the original film ($13.9 million) and its sequel ($17.6 million). For its opening weekend, the film ranked at the no. 1 spot, beating Prometheus, with $60.3 million, which was higher than the opening of the original Madagascar ($47.2 million) but was behind the opening weekend of Escape 2 Africa ($63.1 million). It remained at the top spot for two consecutive weekends. In North America, it is the highest-grossing film in the series, the sixth-highest-grossing DreamWorks Animation film, the second-highest-grossing 2012 animated film, and the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2012.
Outside North America, Europe's Most Wanted out-grossed Shrek Forever After to become DreamWorks Animation's highest-grossing film. On its opening weekend, it topped the box office with $77.3 million from 28 countries. It held that position for three consecutive weekends. Its three highest-grossing openings occurred in Russia and the CIS ($15.7 million), China ($10.4 million), and Brazil ($10.1 million in 5 days). It set an opening-day record for animated films in Russia with $3.7 million (since surpassed by Ice Age: Continental Drift) and became the highest-grossing animated film (surpassed by Ice Age: Continental Drift) and the third-highest-grossing film ever (at the time), earning $49.4 million. It also set an opening-weekend record for any film in Argentina with $3.80 million (first surpassed by Ice Age: Continental Drift) and it set opening-weekend records for animated films in Brazil, Venezuela, Trinidad, and the United Arab Emirates.
Critical reception Based on reviews, the film holds an approval rating of on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and an average rating of . The site's critical consensus reads: "Dazzlingly colorful and frenetic, Madagascar 3 is silly enough for young kids, but boasts enough surprising smarts to engage parents along the way." This marks the best general review consensus of the film series that has showed improving critical favor; the original film has a score of 55%, and the sequel scores 64%. On Metacritic, it holds a score of 60 out of 100 based on 26 reviews, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale (an improvement over the first two film's "A−").