Penguins of Madagascar (released on home video as Penguins of Madagascar: The Movie) is a 2014 American computer-animated spy action comedy film[10] produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Starring the voices of Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Conrad Vernon, Christopher Knights, Benedict Cumberbatch, John Malkovich and Ken Jeong, it is a spin-off of the Madagascar film series and takes place right after the events of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted,[11] following the penguins Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private in their own adventure.[10] Apart from the main characters, it is not directly related to the Nickelodeon TV series of the same name. Directed by Simon J. Smith and Eric Darnell[12] from a script written by Michael Colton, John Aboud[2] and Brandon Sawyer,[1] Penguins of Madagascar was released theatrically on November 26, 2014, in both 2D and 3D,[2] making it the only film in the Madagascar franchise to be distributed by 20th Century Fox as well as the final DreamWorks Animation film to be produced by Pacific Data Images prior to its closure on January 22, 2015, as well as DWA Glendale taking over.[13] The film received generally positive reviews from critics, it also underperformed at the US box office (forcing a write-down for the studio), but did better internationally, grossing $373 million on a $132 million budget.