The 'MADAGASCAR' penguins get a TV show!
DreamWorks is developing the spin-off television series, "The Penguins of Madagascar", with Nickelodeon.
Nickelodeon and DreamWorks Animation SKG will collaborate on a new 26-episode, CG-animated series based on the penguin brothers from the hit feature, Madagascar, reports Moviehole's CLINT MORRIS.
The series, tentatively entitled "The Penguins of Madagascar", follows the adventures of Skipper (voiced by Tom McGrath), Kowalski (Jeff Bennett), Rico (John DiMaggio) and Private (James Patrick Stuart)--four penguins who believe they head up an elite strike force from their Central Park Zoo headquarters. Just as the team thinks it has its chunk of NYC under control, it gets some new neighbors: Julien, the egotistical, party-hearty King of the Lemurs (Danny Jacobs), and his entourage.
Headed by exec-prods Mark McCorkle & Bob Schooley ("Kim Possible", Hercules, Sky High), the show will be produced at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio in Burbank, California.
"The DreamWorks Animation team developed richly creative characters that lend themselves to a series of their own," said Cyma Zarghami, President, Nickelodeon & MTV Networks Kids and Family Group. "They are just plain hysterical. We can’t wait to treat our audience to the same vibrant and vivid CG animation that audiences loved in the film."
"Our Madagascar penguins were hugely popular on the big screen," DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg commented, "so it seemed natural to give them their own television show on the premier entertainment network for kids."
"The Penguins of Madagascar" is scheduled to premiere on Nickelodeon in early '09. In the meantime, look for the penguins in the upcoming big-screen sequel, Madagascar: The Crate Escape.