In their mocking of Jeffrey Katzenberg’s, the CEO of Dreamworks Animation, Deadline overlooked an intriguing snippet of information regarding the studio’s Madagascar 3. In a memo from Katzenberg, who appears to have in turn missed another memo describing the death of txt tlk, he explains
“Met with Mad3 team to review 60pgs of rewrite done by Noah Bombach that are exc!!!”
Noah Baumbach seems a strange choice to oversee rewrites on an animated sequel as he is better known for writing movies about dysfunctional and unwholesome characters. In a world where Being John Malkovich’s Charlie Kaufman can polish the script of Kung Fu Panda 2: The Kaboom of Doom, however, anything’s possible.
That said, in terms of a dysfunctional family you can’t get more dysfunctional than a sushi-eating lion, a zebra suffering an identity crisis, a brooding hippo and her paranoid giraffe love interest. With Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa proving a well executed surprise, the appointment of Baumbach to the series can only be a good thing, Madagascar working at its best during its main character’s bonkers interactions.
Also contained within the memo was information pertaining to 2013’s How to Train Your Dragon 2, Katzenberg describing how he had also “Met with Dragons2 team and Dean pitched out next chapter…. very smart /interesting /ambitious.” With Dreamworks’ recent high quality output, we can only hope that such care and attention to detail will extend to their upcoming releases.
Madagascar 3, a part in which was thankfully turned down by Victoria Beckham last year, is due for release in 2012.
