''Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted'' is a 2012 American animated

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

produced by

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal as part of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios, Inc, Universal Stud ...

and

PDI/DreamWorks Pacific Data Images (PDI) was an American computer animation and visual effects production company based in Redwood City, California, that was bought by DreamWorks SKG in 2000. It was renamed PDI/DreamWorks and was owned by DreamWorks Animation. ...

and distributed by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

. The third in the ''Madagascar'' film series and the first to be released in 3D, it was directed by

Eric Darnell Eric Darnell (born August 21, 1961) is an American animator, storyboard artist, film director, director, screenwriter, songwriter and occasional voice acting, voice actor best known for co-directing ''Antz'' with Tim Johnson (film director), Tim ...

Conrad Vernon Conrad Vernon (born July 11, 1968) is an American director, producer, writer, storyboard artist and voice actor, best known for his work on the DreamWorks Animation, DreamWorks animated film series ''Shrek (franchise), Shrek'' as well as other fil ...

and Tom McGrath from a screenplay by Darnell and

Noah Baumbach Noah Baumbach (born September 3, 1969) is an American filmmaker. He is known for making light comedies set in New York City and his works are inspired by filmmakers such as Woody Allen and Whit Stillman. His frequent collaborators include Wes A ...

. The film stars

Ben Stiller Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. Known for his blend of slapstick humor and sharp wit, Stiller rose to fame through comedies such as ''There's Something About Mary'' (1998), ' ...

Chris Rock Christopher Julius Rock (born February 7, 1965) is an American comedian, actor, and filmmaker. He first gained prominence for his stand-up routines in the 1980s in which he tackled subjects including race relations, human sexuality, and obse ...

David Schwimmer David Lawrence Schwimmer (born November 2, 1966) is an American actor, director, and producer. He gained worldwide recognition for portraying Ross Geller in the sitcom '' Friends'', for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Pri ...

Jada Pinkett Smith Jada Koren Pinkett Smith (née Pinkett; born September 18, 1971) is an American actress, businesswoman, and talk show host. She is co-host of the Facebook Watch talk show ''Red Table Talk'', for which she has won a Daytime Emmy Awards, Daytim ...

Sacha Baron Cohen Sacha Noam Baron Cohen ( ; born 13 October 1971) is an English comedian, actor and performance artist. Known for his creation and portrayal of the fictional satirical characters Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard, and Admiral General Haf ...

Cedric the Entertainer Cedric Antonio Kyles (born April 24, 1964), better known by his stage name Cedric the Entertainer, is an American stand-up comedian, actor and television host. He hosted BET's '' ComicView'' during the 1993–1994 season and '' Def Comedy Jam'' ...

Andy Richter Paul Andrew Richter (born October 28, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and talk show announcer. He is best known as the sidekick for Conan O'Brien on O'Brien's talk shows: '' Late Night'' and ''The Tonight Show'' on NBC and '' Cona ...

, McGrath, Chris Miller,

Christopher Knights Christopher Knights is an English voice actor, film editor, and cinematographer. He is best known for providing the voice of Private the Penguin in the ''Madagascar'' film franchise. He worked on several DreamWorks films: ''Shrek'', ''Shrek 2' ...

John DiMaggio John William DiMaggio ( ; born September 4, 1968) is an American actor. His various voice roles include Bender on ''Futurama'', Jake the Dog on ''Adventure Time'', Marcus Fenix in the ''Gears of War'' series, Dr. Drakken on '' Kim Possible'', ...

and Vernon reprising their

voice acting Voice acting is the art of performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are often called voice actors/actresses in addition to other names. Examples of voice work include animated, off-stage, off-sc ...

roles from the previous installments, alongside new cast members

Jessica Chastain Jessica Michelle Chastain (born March 24, 1977) is an American actress and producer. Known for primarily starring in projects with Feminism, feminist themes, she has received List of awards and nominations received by Jessica Chastain, various ...

Bryan Cranston Bryan Lee Cranston (born March 7, 1956) is an American actor. After taking minor roles in television, he established himself as a leading actor in both comedic and dramatic Bryan Cranston filmography, works on stage and screen. He has received ...

Martin Short Martin Hayter Short (born March 26, 1950) is a Canadian and American comedian, actor, and writer. Short is known as an energetic comedian who gained prominence for his roles in sketch comedy. He has also acted in numerous films and television ...

and

Frances McDormand Frances Louise McDormand (born Cynthia Ann Smith; June 23, 1957) is an American actress and film producer. In a career spanning over four decades, McDormand has received numerous accolades, including four Academy Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awa ...

. In the film, the main characters—a party of animals from the

Central Park Zoo The Central Park Zoo is a zoo located at the southeast corner of Central Park in New York City. It is part of an integrated system of four zoos and one aquarium managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). In conjunction with the Centra ...

whose adventures have already taken them to Madagascar and Africa—attempt to return to New York City and find themselves traveling across Europe with a

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

while being pursued by the villainous head of

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

animal control service An animal control service or animal control agency is an entity charged with responding to requests for help with animals, including wild animals, dangerous animals, and animals in distress. An individual who works for such an entity was once kn ...

. 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 Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, five Grammy Awards, and has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmy Awards and a Tony ...

. ''Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted'' premiered out of competition at the

2012 Cannes Film Festival The 65th Cannes Film Festival took place from 16 to 27 May 2012. Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti was the president of the jury for the main competition. French actress Bérénice Bejo hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. Austrian filmma ...

on May 18, 2012, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 8. It received generally positive reviews and was the eighth highest-grossing film of 2012 and the highest-grossing film in the franchise, with a worldwide gross of over $746 million on a production budget of $145 million. A spin-off, ''

Penguins of Madagascar ''Penguins of Madagascar'' is a 2014 American animated spy comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and PDI/DreamWorks and distributed by 20th Century Fox. A spinoff of the ''Madagascar'' film series, it was directed by Eric Darnell and ...

'', was released on November 26, 2014.

Plot

After crash-landing in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

s Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private, and

chimpanzee The chimpanzee (; ''Pan troglodytes''), also simply known as the chimp, is a species of Hominidae, great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close rel ...

duo Mason and Phil leave for

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to ...

in their modified airplane. Whilst waiting, Alex, Marty, Melman, Gloria, and

lemurs Lemurs ( ; from Latin ) are wet-nosed primates of the superfamily Lemuroidea ( ), divided into 8 families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 existing species. They are endemic to the island of Madagascar. Most existing lemurs are s ...

King Julien, Maurice and Mort decide to find them so they can all return to their home at the

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. They find the penguins and chimpanzees at the

Monte Carlo Casino The Monte Carlo Casino, officially named Casino de Monte-Carlo, is a gambling and entertainment complex located in Monaco. It includes a casino, the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and the office of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo. The Casino de Monte-Carlo ...

. Chaos ensues when the animals' cover is blown and escape from Captain Chantel DuBois, the head of Monaco's animal control service, who is determined to add Alex's head to her

taxidermy Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal's body by mounting (over an armature) or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state. The word ''taxidermy'' describes the proces ...

collection. After their aircraft crash-lands and is beyond repair, the animals board a departing

circus train A circus train is a method of travel for circus troupes. One of the larger users of circus trains was the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (RBBX), a famous American circus formed when the Ringling Brothers Circus purchased the ...

. As the circus animals, which include

New Zealand sea lion The New Zealand sea lion (''Phocarctos hookeri''), once known as Hooker's sea lion, and as (for both male and female) or (male) and (female) in Māori, is a species of sea lion that is endemic to New Zealand and primarily breeds on New Zeala ...

Stefano,

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...

Gia, and

Siberian tiger The Siberian tiger or Amur tiger is a population of the tiger subspecies ''Panthera tigris tigris'' native to Northeast China, the Russian Far East, and possibly North Korea. It once ranged throughout the Korea, Korean Peninsula, but currently ...

Vitaly, are suspicious of outsiders, Alex therefore lies about them being American circus animals. The circus is headed for a show in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, followed by one in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, 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 performing

Eurasian brown bear The Eurasian brown bear (''Ursus arctos arctos'') is one of the most common subspecies of the brown bear, and is found in much of Eurasia. It is also called the European brown bear, common brown bear, common bear, European bear, and colloquial ...

Sonya. DuBois attempts to pursue the couple in

Vatican City Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State (; ), is a Landlocked country, landlocked sovereign state and city-state; it is enclaved within Rome, the capital city of Italy and Bishop of Rome, seat of the Catholic Church. It became inde ...

, but fails to catch them and is taken into custody. After the

Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; , ultimately from Ancient Greek word "kolossos" meaning a large statue or giant) is an Ellipse, elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphi ...

show proves to be 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 suffered as a result. When the train stops at the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

, Alex convinces the circus animals to devise a new and exciting all-animal act that will restore their former glory. Marty and Stefano find 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 A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes, metal straps, or chains, from a ceiling support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances. Trapeze acts may be static, spinning (rigged from a single point), swinging or ...

Americano" and soon romance flourishes between the duo. Meanwhile, DuBois resumes her hunt after escaping from prison. In London, Vitaly is afraid of failing again and considers ditching the show, but Alex helps him rediscover his passion by successfully assisting him in the opening act. The show succeeds, and the promoter signs a contract with the circus. DuBois then shows up, and although the penguins foil her, a printed document detailing Alex that she was carrying exposes his group's true intentions. Feeling deceived and betrayed, the circus animals eject the quartet. After Sonya ends her relationship with Julien, the zoo and circus animals go their separate ways but arrive in

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

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. They are then ambushed by DuBois, but before she can behead Alex, the zoo staff arrive and incorrectly believe that she is returning the missing animals. Julien returns to the circus with the news as he reconciles with Sonya before the circus staff settles on rescuing their friends. Alex's group awakens 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. The circus staff soon saves them, and together, the heroes defeat DuBois as Alex's group joins the circus. As retribution, the penguins ship DuBois to

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

Voice cast

as Alex, a

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...

and the leader of the zoosters. *

as Marty, a

plains zebra The plains zebra (''Equus quagga'', formerly ''Equus burchellii'') is the most common and geographically widespread species of zebra. Its range is fragmented, but spans much of southern and eastern Africa south of the Sahara. Six or seven subspec ...

and Alex's best friend. *

as Melman, a

reticulated giraffe The reticulated giraffe (''Giraffa reticulata'' or ''Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata'') is a species/subspecies of giraffe native to the Horn of Africa. It is differentiated from other types of giraffe by its coat, which consists of large, p ...

, another of Alex's friends. *

as Gloria, a

hippopotamus The hippopotamus (''Hippopotamus amphibius;'' ; : hippopotamuses), often shortened to hippo (: hippos), further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus and river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Sahar ...

, another of Alex's friends and Melman's love interest. *

as King Julien XIII, a

ring-tailed lemur The ring-tailed lemur (''Lemur catta'') is a medium- to larger-sized strepsirrhine (wet-nosed) primate and the most internationally recognized lemur species, owing to its long, black-and-white, ringed tail. It belongs to Lemuridae, one of fiv ...

who is the king of Madagascar. *

as Maurice, an

aye-aye The aye-aye (''Daubentonia madagascariensis'') is a long-fingered lemur, a Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhine primate native to Madagascar with rodent-like teeth that perpetually grow and a special thin middle finger that they can use to catch grubs ...

who is the beleaguered assistant and royal adviser of King Julien XIII. *

as Mort, a

Goodman's mouse lemur Goodman's mouse lemur (''Microcebus lehilahytsara'') is a species of mouse lemur from the region near Andasibe in eastern Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Mad ...

and King Julien XIII's biggest fan. * Tom McGrath as Skipper, the leader of the

s. ** McGrath also voices First Policeman. *

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. *

as Gia, a

and Alex's love interest. *

as Vitaly, a traumatized Russian

and an ex-superstar of Circus Zaragoza. *

as Stefano, an Italian

. * Chris Miller as Kowalski, one of the penguins who Skipper's second-in-command and its brains. *

as Private, the English-accented mild-mannered and eager rookie of the penguins. *

as Rico, the mute loose cannon explosives expert and weapons supplier of the penguins who only communicates through squeals and grunts. *

as Mason, a refined British-accented chimpanzee. ** Vernon also voices Second Policeman. *

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American actor who specializes in voice acting. He began his career in the 1960s, and held around 850 film, television, and video game credits as of 2020, making him one of the most prolific v ...

as the vocal effects of Sonya, an

and King Julien's love interest. *

Paz Vega María de la Paz Campos Trigo (born 2 January 1976), known professionally as Paz Vega (), is a Spanish actress. She became popular for her performance in comedy television series ''7 vidas''. Her film credits include ''Sex and Lucia'' (2001), ' ...

as Esmeralda, Esperanza and Ernestina, a trio of

Andalusian horse The Andalusian, also known as the Pure Spanish Horse or PRE (Spanish language literally translates to "Spanish pure breed". This name is sometimes capitalized when used in English-language publications, but is all lower-case in Spanish, which ...

triplets. *

Vinnie Jones Vincent Peter Jones (born 5 January 1965) is an English actor, presenter, and former professional footballer. Jones played professionally as a defensive midfielder from 1984 to 1999, notably for Wimbledon, Leeds United, Sheffield United, C ...

as Freddie the Dog. * Steve Jones as Jonesy the Dog. * Nick Fletcher as Frankie the Dog. *

as: ** Comandante. ** Zoo Official. ** Zoo Announcer. * Dan O'Connor as: ** Casino Security. ** Mayor of New York City. * Danny Jacobs as: ** Croupier. ** Circus Zaragoza's former ringmaster.

Production

DreamWorks Animation's CEO

Jeffrey Katzenberg Jeffrey Katzenberg ( ; born December 21, 1950) is an American media proprietor and film producer. He served as chairman of Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios from 1984 to 1994, a position in which he oversaw production and busin ...

confirmed in 2008 that there would be an additional sequel to ''

'' 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 The Television Critics Association (TCA) is a group of approximately 200 American and Canadian television critics, journalists and columnists who cover television programming for newspapers, magazines and web publications. The TCA accepts appli ...

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

had done sixty pages of re-writes to the screenplay. 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 Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

Release

''Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted'' debuted out of competition at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

on May 18, 2012. The American release followed on June 8, 2012. The film was also converted to the

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...

format and shown in specific European territories, including Russia, Ukraine, and Poland.

Home media

''Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

, and Blu-ray 3D on October 16, 2012. 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 $216,391,482 in North America and $530,529,792 in other countries for a worldwide total of $746,921,274. 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 ''Kung Fu Panda 2'' is a 2011 American animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and written by the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berge ...

'' to become DreamWorks' highest-grossing non-''Shrek'' film, and the first non-''Shrek'' film to reach 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 In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titans, Titan. He is best known for defying the Olympian gods by taking theft of fire, fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technol ...

'', 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 ''Shrek Forever After'' is a 2010 American animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 children's picture book '' Shrek!'' by William Steig. Directed by Mike Mitchell (in his animated directorial debut) and written by Josh Klausner and ...

'' 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. Also, Madagascar 3 made $39 million in Germany, $34 million in United Kingdom and $28 million in Italy.

Critical reception

Based on reviews, the film holds an approval rating of on review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

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 Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, it holds a score of 60 out of 100 based on 26 reviews, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...

gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Lisa Kennedy of ''

The Denver Post ''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in the Denver metropolitan area. it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 mil ...

'' gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars and said, "From time to time the improbable occurs: A sequel outdoes its original." Colin Covert of ''

Star Tribune ''The Minnesota Star Tribune'', formerly the ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', is an American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2023, it is Minnesota's largest newspaper and the List of newspapers in the United States, seventh- ...

'' said that ''Madagascar 3'' set a high standard for cartoon comedy and was almost too good for kids. He gave it 3.5 out of 4 stars. Giving the film 3.5 out of 5 stars, Betsy Sharkey of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' said, "A neon-saturated, high-flying trapeze act with enough frenetic funny business that it's a wonder the folks behind this zillion-dollar franchise about zoo critters on the lam didn't send the animals to the circus sooner." Stephen Witty of the ''

Newark Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' was the largest circulation newspaper in New Jersey. It is based in Newark, New Jersey. The newspaper ceased print publication on February 2, 2025, but continues to publish a digital edition. In 2007, ''The Star-Ledger''s ...

'' calls the movie "fun and fast family entertainment. ��the animals' jazzy circus performance, done in black-light colors and set to a

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. She is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists in hist ...

song—may be one of the trippiest scenes in a mainstream kiddie movie since ''

Dumbo ''Dumbo'' is a 1941 American Animated film, animated Musical film, musical Fantasy film, fantasy Comedy drama, comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film i ...

'' saw those pink elephants." Film scholar Timothy Laurie writes that the plot development of ''Madagascar 3'' is "met with large servings of personal growth and side dishes of overcooked romance".

Accolades

Music

''Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted'' is the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

of the film scored by

and was released on June 5, 2012. "Afro Circus/

I Like to Move It "I Like to Move It" is a song by American solo project Reel 2 Real ( Erick Morillo), featuring ragga vocals by Trinidad and Tobago rapper The Mad Stuntman (Mark Quashie). Released by Strictly Rhythm in October 1993 as the second single from t ...

" peaked at 7 on the ARIA Hitseekers Singles chart on the week commencing October 15, 2012. In some variations of the soundtrack, "

Cool Jerk "Cool Jerk" is a 1966 rhythm and blues song written by Donald Storball and originally performed by the Capitols. It became a hit song in the United States and Canada. Original version Released in 1966, it reached No. 2 on the American Rhythm & ...

" is featured in replacement of "

We No Speak Americano "We No Speak Americano" is a song by Australian band Yolanda Be Cool and producer DCUP. It was released on the independent Australian label Sweat It Out on 27 February 2010. The song samples the 1956 Italian song "Tu Vuò Fà L'Americano" in ...

" by

Yolanda Be Cool Yolanda Be Cool are an Australian music duo made up of Andrew Stanley and Matthew Handley. History In 2010, they collaborated with Australian producer DCUP (real name Duncan MacLennan) to release an international single " We No Speak Americano" ...

& DCUP. "

Sexy and I Know It "Sexy and I Know It" is a song by American duo LMFAO from their second and final studio album, '' Sorry for Party Rocking''. It was released as the third single from the album on September 16, 2011. The song was written by Stefan Kendal Gordy, ...

" by

LMFAO LMFAO (an initialism for Laughing My Freaking Ass Off) was an American electronic dance music duo consisting of Redfoo and Sky Blu (rapper), Sky Blu. Redfoo is the youngest son of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy and Nancy Leiviska. Sky Blu ...

was only used in the theatrical trailer, and not included on the soundtrack and was replaced by "

Firework Fireworks are Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large numbe ...

" by

for the circus. "

Any Way You Want It "Any Way You Want It" is a song by American rock band Journey, released in February 1980 as the lead single from the band's sixth album '' Departure'' (1980). Written by lead singer Steve Perry and guitarist Neal Schon, it peaked at number 23 on ...

" by Journey and the instrumental "Watermark" from the album of the same name by Enya were also used, but are not included on the soundtrack. "

Land of Hope and Glory "Land of Hope and Glory" is a British patriotic song, with music by Edward Elgar, written in 1901 and with lyrics by A. C. Benson added in 1902. Composition The music to which the words of the refrain 'Land of Hope and Glory, &c' below ...

" by

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

appears in the track "Fur Power". The "Afro Circus" tune is from "

Entrance of the Gladiators "Entrance of the Gladiators" op. 68 or "Entry of the Gladiators" () () is a military march composed in 1897 by the Czech-born Austrian composer Julius Fučík. He originally titled it "", reflecting the use of chromatic scales throughout the p ...

", by the Czech composer Julius Fučík.

Video games

A video game based on the film, ''Madagascar 3: The Video Game'', was released on June 5, 2012. The game allows gamers to play as Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria as they travel across Europe promoting the circus by performing stunts, circus acts and completing missions. It was released to

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...

, and

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

. Published by

D3 Publisher is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher founded on February 5, 1992. The company is known for the ''Simple (video game series), Simple'' series of budget-priced video games. Their games have been released for the G ...

, the Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 versions were developed by

Monkey Bar Games Monkey Bar Games was an American division of the defunct video game developer Vicious Cycle Software, based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. They produced children's video games on most gaming platforms based on animated movies and TV shows at the ...

, and the 3DS and DS versions by

Torus Games Torus Games was an Australian video game developer founded in 1994 by Bill McIntosh. The company was located in Bayswater, Victoria. Its managing director is Bill McIntosh. The company being a family business. Torus has developed over 145 tit ...

. The game received negative reviews from critics with

giving the Xbox 360 version a 45/100. A

mobile video game A mobile game is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA to handheld game conso ...

, ''Madagascar: Join the Circus!'', also published by D3 Publisher, was released on June 4, 2012, for

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

and

iPad The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...

. The game allows players to build a circus and play mini-games. The game was removed from App Stores on June 16, 2017.

Comic book

A comic book based on the film and titled ''Madagascar Digest Prequel: Long Live the King!'' was released on June 12, 2012, by

Ape Entertainment Ape Entertainment, also known as Ape Comics, was an American independent comic book publisher that operated from 2003 to 2015. The company began by publishing original limited series and graphic novels, many with mature themes; it later pivoted ...

Future

Spin-off

A spin-off film titled ''

'', depicting the adventures of penguin characters following the events of ''Madagascar 3'', was released on November 26, 2014.

Possible sequel

In June 2014, it was announced that ''Madagascar 4'' would be released on May 18, 2018. However, in January 2015, the film was removed from the release schedule following a corporate restructuring of DreamWorks Animation. In April 2017, Tom McGrath stated "There are things in the works, nothing is announced yet, but I think they'll show their faces once more."

Notes

References

External links