SDCC 2014: Dreamworks Brings Penguins to San Diego

Dreamworks Animation presented a panel on their upcoming movie, Penguins of Madagascar, the next installment of the Madagascar series, which is centered fully on the adventures of everyone’s favorite flightless birds, the Penguins.

Directed by Eric Darnell (writer for the previous Madagascar movies) and Simon J Smith (Bee Movie), and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Ken Jeong, John Malkovich, Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, John DiMaggio and Christopher Knights, Penguins takes the Skipper and his compatriots deep into the world of global espionage.

Cumberbatch, Malkovich and McGrath were at Comic Con to talk about their work on Penguins; Cumberbatch plays Agent Classified, a 007-type agent (and also a wolf) who runs a MI-6/SHIELD type agency, while Malkovich takes on the role of the villain, Dr. Octavius Brine (an octopus, naturally). McGrath reprises his role as Skipper, the erstwhile leader of the Penguins.

A–very good–trailer clip was shown to loud applause, and the cast discussed their experiences working on the animated film.

“It was a really interesting character to play.” said Malkovich. “He’s sort of a large, remorseless kind of psychopath, really.”

Cumberbatch revealed that he had just met Malkovich that day, despite co-starring in the movie together, and spoke about how working on the movie taught him a great deal about voiceover work.

The Penguins were originally only in one small scene in the original Madagascar movie, but their popularity has spawned books, a TV show, and now their own movie.

“We found a way to integrate them more into the story,” said McGrath. “And now after three movies, 10 video games, 80 TV shows, they get their own movie.”

Penguins of Madagascar opens on November 26th, 2014. To tide you over, here’s the trailer:

http://youtu.be/N-SElhktQF0

Are you excited? Were you at the panel? What did you think?