Madagascar star Chris Rock has expressed his wishes to make another installment for a hilarious reason. Rock played Marty the Zebra in the DreamWorks Animation franchise, with its last installment released in 2012.
In a new video for Variety where Rock recounts dialogue from his movies, the actor called the first film “the biggest movie” he’s ever been in. Rock pointed out that in a world “where they’re rebooting everything”, he’d like to reprise his role as Marty in Madagascar 4.
“I got divorced. I don’t have Madagascar money anymore,” he said. “We only did three. There’s five Ice Ages. Five, okay? F— Ray Romano. I need Madagascar. It’s time. Weren’t there like a Toy Story 4 or 5? Why can’t we figure this out?”
What happened in the first three Madagascar movies?
The first Madagascar film tells the story of several zoo animals—mainly Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe, and Gloria the hippo—who accidentally get stranded on the island of Madagascar after escaping the zoo. The sequels follow their adventures on their way back to New York City. The third film ends with the animals finding solace in joining a circus in Europe.
The Madagascar franchise has grossed over $2.2 billion worldwide. The series includes three mainline films, one spin-off, three animated TV shows, and much more. It also includes several short films and one TV special, along with being adapted into video games and theater.
While DreamWorks has yet to officially announce Madagascar 4, the studio has not completely written it off. During the rerelease of the first film earlier this year, directors Tom McGrath and Eric Darnell said that making a fourth film depends upon whether there’s a good story to tell (via Animation Scoop).
“I think the great thing about Universal and DreamWorks right now is they know that they could make money on a ‘Madagascar 4,’” said McGrath. “But the question I think that the studio has, that they’ll always have is… ‘Is there a good story for a fourth one?’ And it has to be a worthy story to make the sequel, so it’s not necessarily a money grab. Eric and I love those characters, and there’s plenty of life to be had. It’s just finding the right story to tell in the franchise.”
Madagascar 4 remains to be officially announced.