Animal Gang 3: Arizona's Most Wanted

***Animal Gang 3: Arizona's Most Wanted*** is a 2012 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Imageworks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is the third installment of the *Animal Gang* series and the sequel to *Animal Gang: Escape 2 California* (2008). It is also the first film in the series to be released in 3D. The film was directed by Richard Rich and Greg Tiernan from a screenplay by Daniel R. Altiere and Steve M. Altiere. The stars voices Sam Rockwell, Kevin Hart, Andy Samberg, Zazie Beetz, Chris Elliott, Neil Patrick Harris, and Zach Galifianakis reprise their roles from the previous films, with newcomers including Susan Sarandon, Patrick Stewart, "Weird Al" Yankovic and Jane Kaczmarek.

## Voice cast

* Sam Rockwell as Dave, a Jack Russell Terrier
* Kevin Hart as Steve, a Turkish Angora
* Andy Samberg as Marshall, a Deer
* Zazie Beetz as Bridgette, a blonde sweet Goat
* Chris Elliott as King John Tannen, a Otter
* Ice Cube as Cedric, a Otter and King Otto's assistant
* Andy Richter as Borty, a little yellow puppy
* Neil Patrick Harris as Kipper, a goldfish
* Zach Galifianakis as Donald, a common goldfish
* Dee Bradley Baker as Roger, a Ranchu fish
* Marc Maron as Paul, a Lionchu fish
* Jane Kaczmarek as Captain Boris, the leader of the Animal Control.
* Susan Sarandon as Reanna, an Italian poodle and Dave's love interest.
* "Weird Al" Yankovic as Jack, an raccoon.
* Patrick Stewart as Macho, a Russian ??? and a former superstar of the travelling circus
* Keith David as Marlon, a guinea pig and Second Policeman

## 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."[8] 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."[9] 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.[10]

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.[11]

## Release

*Animal Gang 3: Arizona's Most Wanted* opened the Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2012. The American release followed on June 8, 2012.[13] The film was also converted to the IMAX format and shown in specific European territories, including Russia, Ukraine, and Poland.[14]

### **Home media**

*Animal Gang 3: Arizona'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.[15] As of April 2014, 9.1 million home entertainment units were sold worldwide.

## Music

*Main article: Animal Gang 3: Arizona's Most Wanted (soundtrack)*

*Animal Gang 3: Arizona's Most Wanted* is the soundtrack of the film scored by John Debney 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 "Gangnam Style". "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" for the circus. "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister and the instrumental "Watermark" from the album of the same name by Enya were also used, but are not included on the soundtrack. "Orinoco Flow" by Enya appears in the track "Fur Power". The "Afro Circus" tune is from "Entrance of the Gladiators", by the Czech composer Julius Fučík.

## 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.[3] Its worldwide opening weekend totaled $137.6 million.[17] Worldwide, it is the highest-grossing film in the series,[18] the fourth-highest-grossing DreamWorks Animation film,[19] the second-highest-grossing animated film of 2012, and the eighth-highest-grossing film of that year.[20] Overall, it is the eleventh-highest-grossing animated film and the 52nd-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).[21] 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).[22] It remained at the top spot for two consecutive weekends.[23] In North America, it is the highest-grossing film in the series,[18] the sixth-highest-grossing DreamWorks Animation film,[19] the second-highest-grossing 2012 animated film,[24] and the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2012.[25]

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.[26] It held that position for three consecutive weekends.[27][28] 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).[29] It set an opening-day record for animated films in Russia with $3.7 million[30] (since surpassed by *Ice Age: Continental Drift*)[31] and became the highest-grossing animated film (surpassed by *Ice Age: Continental Drift*)[32] and the third-highest-grossing film ever (at the time), earning $49.4 million.[33] It also set an opening-weekend record for any film in Argentina with $3.80 million[34] (first surpassed by *Ice Age: Continental Drift*)[35] and it set opening-weekend records for animated films in Brazil, Venezuela, Trinidad,[36] and the United Arab Emirates.[27]

### **Critical reception**

Based on 131 reviews, the film holds an approval rating of 79% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and an average rating of 6.74/10. 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."[5] 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%,[37] and the sequel scores 64%.[38] On Metacritic, it holds a score of 60 out of 100 based on 26 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews."[39]

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."[40] 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.[41] 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."[42] 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."[43] 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".

## Video games

A video game based on the film, *Animal Gang 3: The Video Game*, was released on June 5, 2013. 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.[54] It was released to Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.[54] 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.[54] The game received negative reviews from critics with Metacritic giving the Xbox 360 version a 45/100.[55]

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.[56][57] The game was removed from App Stores on June 16, 2017.[58]

## 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.[59][60]

## Spin-off and possible sequel

A spin-off feature film titled *Penguins of Madagascar*, featuring the penguins from the *Madagascar* films, was released on November 26, 2014.[61] Its story picks up right after *Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted*.[62] The plot of the television series of the same name does not tie in with the film.[63]

In June 2014, it was announced that *Madagascar 4* would be released on May 18, 2018.[64] However, in January 2015, the film was removed from the release schedule following corporate restructuring and DreamWorks Animation's new policy to release two films a year.[6][7] In April 2017, Tom McGrath said about the film, "There are things in the works, nothing is announced yet, but I think they'll show their faces once more."