Madagascar

Someone’s got a zoo loose.
Madagascar (2005)
Timing: 1:26 (86 min)

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Release date
Budget
$75 000 000
Box office
$542 063 846
Scenario
Mark Burton, Eric Darnell
Producer
Mireille Soria, Jeffrey Katzenberg
Camera operator
Composer
Artist
Kendal Cronkhite, Serguei Kouchnerov, Kevin Koch
Audition
Leslee Feldman
Editing
Mark A. Hester, H. Lee Peterson, Clare Knight
Whole Team (255)

Short description

Alex the lion is the king of the urban jungle, the main attraction at New York's Central Park Zoo. He and his best friends—Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippo—have spent their whole lives in blissful captivity before an admiring public and with regular meals provided for them. Not content to leave well enough alone, Marty lets his curiosity get the better of him and makes his escape—with the help of some prodigious penguins—to explore the world.

What's left behind the scenes

  • Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, and Gwen Stefani all vied for the role of Gloria. Ultimately, the role went to Jada Pinkett Smith.
  • The initial script described the fate of humanists freeing animals from cages.
  • During a scene taking place in Times Square, in which the zebra Marty addresses a question to a police horse, the logo of Hewlett-Packard briefly appears on screen. HP is the official supplier of computer equipment for the animation division of DreamWorks studio.
  • In Madagascar itself, the cartoon was long banned due to the resemblance of "self-proclaimed King of the Lemurs" Julian to a number of state officials who came to power on the island as a result of coups.
  • A Lockheed Electra airplane serves as a dwelling for the lemurs. It was on an aircraft of this model that Amelia Earhart attempted a round-the-world flight and disappeared in the central Pacific Ocean.
  • In the original version, when Alex and Marty run towards each other for a joyful embrace in Madagascar, but then Alex becomes angry, remembering that they all ended up on the island because of Marty, Marty says “Oh, Sugar Honey Ice Tea” while running away, seemingly innocuous, but it actually contains a hidden obscenity. If you combine the first letters starting with the word “Sugar”, you get the word “Shit”. In the Russian version, Marty says “ЁКЛМН” here.
  • When Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman are sitting in the crates they are being transported in, light enters the crates through the top openings. The error is that light also enters Gloria's crate through the top openings, which is impossible since the crates of Alex and Marty are above hers.
  • Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, and Gwen Stefani all auditioned to voice Gloria.
  • The penguins, who became so beloved by many viewers, ended up in the project quite by chance. The fact is that the film's second director, Eric Darnell, came up with them much earlier – while creating the never-released cartoon “Rockumentary,” which told the story of a rock band made up of penguins. When he joined work on “Madagascar,” Eric pushed his idea into the film's plot. Thus, the penguins retrained from rock musicians to eager commandos.
  • During the selection of the project's composer, a change occurred: Hans Zimmer replaced Harry Gregson-Williams. Interestingly, during work on the film “Kingdom of Heaven” (2005), the reverse substitution took place: Harry became the composer instead of Hans.
  • One of the working titles of the cartoon was “Wild Life.”
  • Director Tom McGrath voiced one of the penguins nicknamed “Skipper.” When creating this image, Tom based it on the voice of his old friend, composer Sean Patterson.
  • In the episode where Alex builds the Statue of Liberty in Madagascar, a Wilson volleyball is on it, exactly like the one in the film “Cast Away” (2000).
  • The scene depicting Alex's dreams of meat is a reference to the film "American Beauty" (1999), in which the protagonist dreams of floating rose petals.
  • The episode with the destruction of the Statue of Liberty in Madagascar is a reference to the film "Planet of the Apes" (2001). The statue also protrudes halfway out of the ground.

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