# Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted is a 2012 American animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation SKG and PDI/DreamWorks and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The third in the Madagascar film series and the first to be released in 3D, it was directed by Eric Darnell, Conrad Vernon and Tom McGrath from a screenplay by Darnell and Noah Baumbach. The film stars Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Andy Richter, McGrath, Chris Miller, Christopher Knights, John DiMaggio and Vernon reprising their voice acting roles from the previous installments, alongside new cast members Jessica Chastain, Bryan Cranston, Martin Short and Frances McDormand. In the film, the main characters—a party of animals from the Central Park Zoo 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 while being pursued 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. 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, was released in November 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, Maurice and Mort 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 chimpanzees at the Monte Carlo Casino. 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 collection.
After their aircraft crash-lands and is beyond repair, the animals board a departing circus train. As the circus animals, 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 performance 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 performing Eurasian brown bear Sonya. DuBois attempts to pursue the couple in Vatican City, but fails to catch them and is falsely taken into custody.
After the Colosseum performance 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, 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 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 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. Their circus staff soon saves them, and together, the heroes defeat DuBois as Alex's group permanently joins the circus while he and Gia become a couple. As retribution for all the trouble she caused them, the penguins ship DuBois to Madagascar, reminiscent of how Alex's group was shipped.

## Voice cast

* Ben Stiller as Alex, a lion and the leader of the zoosters.
* 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 and Melman's love interest.
* 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 XIII.
* Andy Richter as Mort, a Goodman's mouse lemur and King Julien XIII's biggest fan.
* Tom McGrath as Skipper, the leader of the penguins.
** McGrath also voices First Policeman.
* 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.
* 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.
* Chris Miller as Kowalski, one of the penguins who Skipper's second-in-command and its brains.
* 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 who only communicates through squeals and grunts.
* 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.
* Paz Vega as Esmeralda, Esperanza and Ernestina, a trio of Andalusian horse triplets.
* Vinnie Jones as Freddie the Dog.
* Steve Jones as Jonesy the Dog.
* Nick Fletcher as Frankie the Dog.
* Eric Darnell 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 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.
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

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted debuted 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 specific European territories, including Russia, Ukraine, and Poland.

### Home media

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted was released on DVD, Blu-ray, 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 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, 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. Also, Madagascar 3 made $39 million in Germany, $34 million in United Kingdom and $28 million in Italy.

### Critical reception

Based on 132 reviews, the film holds an approval rating of 78% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and an average rating of 6.7/10. 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.
Lisa Kennedy of The Denver Post 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 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 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 calls the movie "fun and fast family entertainment. […] the animals' jazzy circus performance, done in black-light colors and set to a Katy Perry song—may be one of the trippiest scenes in a mainstream kiddie movie since Dumbo 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

| Award | Category | Nominated | Result |
| ASCAP Award | Top Box Office Films | Hans Zimmer | Won |
| Teen Choice Awards | Movie Voice | Chris Rock | Nominated |
| Teen Choice Awards | Summer Movie: Comedy/Music | Madagascar 3 | Nominated |
| Annie Awards | Animated Effects in an Animated Production | Jihyun Yoon | Nominated |
| Annie Awards | Character Design in an Animated Feature Production | Craig Kellman | Nominated |
| Annie Awards | Production Design in an Animated Feature Production | Kendal Cronkhite-Shaindlin, Shannon Jeffries, Lindsey Olivares, Kenard Pak | Nominated |
| Annie Awards | Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production | Rob Koo | Nominated |
| Satellite Award | Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media | Madagascar 3 | Nominated |
| Satellite Award | Best Original Song | "Love Always Comes as a Surprise" – Peter Asher & Dave Stewart | Nominated |
| Critics' Choice Movie Awards | Best Animated Feature | Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath and Conrad Vernon | Nominated |
| Kids' Choice Awards | Favorite Animated Movie | Madagascar 3 | Nominated |
| Kids' Choice Awards | Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie | Ben Stiller | Nominated |
| Kids' Choice Awards | Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie | Chris Rock | Nominated |

## Music

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted is the soundtrack of the film scored by Hans Zimmer and was released on June 5, 2012. "Afro Circus/I Like to Move It" peaked at 7 on the ARIA Hitseekers Singles chart on the week commencing October 15, 2012.
In some variations of the soundtrack, "Cool Jerk" is featured in replacement of "We No Speak Americano" by Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP. "Sexy and I Know It" by LMFAO was only used in the theatrical trailer, and not included on the soundtrack and was replaced by "Firework" by Katy Perry for the circus. "Any Way You Want It" 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" by Edward Elgar appears in the track "Fur Power". The "Afro Circus" tune is from "Entrance of the Gladiators", 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, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo DS. Published by D3 Publisher, the Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 versions were developed by Monkey Bar Games, and the 3DS and DS versions by Torus Games. The game received negative reviews from critics with Metacritic giving the Xbox 360 version a 45/100.
A mobile video game, Madagascar: Join the Circus!, also published by D3 Publisher, was released on June 4, 2012, for iPhone and iPad. 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.

## Future
### Spin-off

A spin-off film titled Penguins of Madagascar, 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."