Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
- Simon J. Smith, Eric Darnell originally wanted a completely different ending for the film, but test audiences preferred the one we see today.
- Before Tom McGrath was cast, several major A-list stars turned down the lead role because they felt the script was too risky.
- The original script for Penguins of Madagascar was written over a decade before production finally began in 2014.
Penguins of Madagascar is a 2014 American animated spy comedy produced by DreamWorks Animation, a spin-off featuring the breakout penguin characters from the Madagascar franchise. The four penguins โ Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private โ are recruited by a classified interspecies task force called the North Wind, led by a wolf voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, to stop the villainous Dr. Octavius Brine, a revenge-seeking octopus voiced by John Malkovich, from using a mutation serum to transform all penguins into hideous monsters.
The film's spy-movie parody format gave the penguins' commando antics a larger canvas, and the globetrotting adventure from Antarctica to Venice to Shanghai to New York provided visual variety. John Malkovich's Dave, an octopus motivated by jealousy of penguins' natural cuteness, was an entertainingly petty villain. Penguins of Madagascar earned $373 million worldwide on a $132 million budget.
