Madagascar

In fact, the pseudo-military penguin quartet have been spun-off before, albeit not for their very own theatrical release. Rather, “The Penguins of Madagascar” aired as a show on Nickelodeon in 2010, garnering second place among viewers 2-11, which should speak volumes about what we’re in for with the feature. How do you make ANYTHING for a two year-old?

Further, the four penguins got their own short upon the Blu-Ray release of the first film, so this opportunity is clearly one that DreamWorks has been eyeing for some time. Along with the announcement of the project also came the announcement that Alan Schoolcraft and Brent Simons, the writing team behind Megamind, will be penning the script. If anyone out there has seen Megamind, please put in the comments whether this is good or bad news.

This is currently the only DreamWorks Animation project without a release date, as they scheduled their entire development slate a couple weeks back. It’s safe to assume that this release won’t beat Madagascar 3‘s release in 2012, which means there is a decent chance that these penguin’s target market hasn’t even been born yet. Expect DreamWorks marketing to find a way to tap the zygote consciousness in the coming years to achieve maximum penetration and awareness. (THR)

• Kung Fu Panda 2 (May 26, 2011)
• Puss In Boots (November 4, 2011)
• Madagascar 3 (June 8, 2012)
• Rise of the Guardians (November 21, 2012)
• The Croods (March 1, 2013)
• Turbo (June 7, 2013)
• Me and My Shadow (November 8, 2013)
• Mr. Peabody & Sherman (March 21, 2014)
• How to Train Your Dragon 2 (June 20, 2014)

The schedule doesn’t appear to be too consistent, averaging 2-3 releases per year in the spring, summer, and Thanksgiving. 4 of their 9 releases are either sequels or spinoffs, which seems to be the industry average for big-budget releases.

Not ones to be bested, expect Pixar to disseminate their release schedule through 3714, including a business plan to beam Cars 27 directly into people’s brains, and their plans for zero-gravity movie theaters on Mars colonies. (/Film)