Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (also simply known as Madagascar 3) is a 2012 American 3D computer-animated comedy film, produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is the third installment of the Madagascar series and the triquel to Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008). It is also the first in the series to be released in 3D. The film is directed by Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath, and Conrad Vernon, with a screenplay written by Darnell and Noah Baumbach. It is DreamWorks Animation's 24th feature film.
In this film, Alex (Ben Stiller), Marty (Chris Rock), Melman (David Schwimmer), and Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) are still struggling to get home to New York. This time, their journey takes them to Europe, where they are relentlessly pursued by the murderous Monaco-based French Animal Control officer Captain Chantel Dubois (Frances McDormand). As a means of getting passage to North America, the animals join a circus, where they become close friends with the animal performers, including the new characters of Gia (Jessica Chastain), Vitaly (Bryan Cranston), and Stefano (Martin Short). Together, they spectacularly revitalize the business and along the way find themselves reconsidering where their true home really is.
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted made its world premiere at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2012. In the United States, it was released on June 8, 2012. It has a 79% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is the eighth highest-grossing film of 2012 and the highest-grossing Madagascar film with a worldwide gross of over $746 million. A spin-off titled Penguins of Madagascar was released on November 26, 2014. A sequel, Madagascar 4, was initially announced for 2018 but it was removed from its schedule due to the studio's restructuring in 2015.
Trivia[]
- Originally, Zuba the Lion and Florrie the Lioness were supposed to be in the movie. Zuba would have been replaced by Samuel L. Jackson and Florrie would be played by the same actress from the last movie.
- This is the first Madagascar movie to be in 3D.
- Marty's "Afro Circus" song has become a popular fad on YouTube, being used in remixes and edited videos. It even has it's own mash-up song called Afro Circus/I Like To Move It
- Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted is the second DreamWorks Animation franchise has become a trilogy, after Shrek the Third.
- This is the first DreamWorks Animation film since Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa to be produced in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio.
- This is the seventeenth and penultimate DreamWorks Animation film to be distributed by Paramount Pictures.
