Hotchka Movies by the Decade feature #98 :: June 8•14

Universal Pictures

Many have said 1982 was the greatest Summer for movies and last week started a trend with the release of Poltergeist and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. One of this week’s 1982 releases set the bar extremely high and basically defined the year and rewrote the box office history book. Another big 1982 release didn’t fare nearly as well but has developed a devoted fan base over the years. But 1982 isn’t the only year with memorable films. 1922 gave the world the first documentary (even if its veracity was questioned), 1932 had a film that found critical acclaim in the decades after its release, 1952 saw another pairing of Martin & Lewis and Hepburn & Tracy … in different films, of course, and 1962 gave us a controversial Kubrick classic. 1972 saw Scorsese make his second film, 1992 paired Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn, 2002 sat the week out, and 2012 produced the third film in an animated trilogy. Do you think any of your favorite films were released this week? Read on and let us know!

1922

June 11 – Nanook of the North (USA, documentary)

• Cast: Allakariallak, Nyla, Cunayou
• Director: Robert J. Flaherty
• Production Company: Revillon Frères, distributed by Pathé Exchange
• Trivia: The film was released in the US in 1947 with sound and narration added. The first feature-length documentary to achieve commercial success, although the film was criticized for staging some events as reality. Among the first group of 25 films selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1989.

1932

June 10 – L’Atlantide (France)

• German-language cast: Brigitte Helm, Tela Tchaï, Heinz Klingenberg, Gustav Diessl, Wladimir Sokoloff, Mathias Wieman, Florelle
• French-language cast: Brigitte Helm, Pierre Blanchar, Tela Tchaï, Georges Tourreil, Vladimir Sokoloff, Mathias Wieman, Jean Angelo
• English-language cast: Brigitte Helm, John Stuart, Tela Tchaï, Gustav Diessl, Gibb McLaughlin, Mathias Wieman, Florelle
• Director: G. W. Pabst
• Production Company: Nero-Film AG, Société Internationale Cinématographique
• Trivia: The film opened in the UK on December 25, 1932. Based on the novel L’Atlantide by Pierre Benoît, and is a remake of the 1921 film of the same name directed by Jacques Feyder. Both films were shot in the Sahara Desert.

June 10 – Merrily We Go to Hell (USA)

Paramount Publix Corp.

• Cast: Sylvia Sidney, Fredric March, Adrianne Allen, Richard “Skeets” Gallagher, George Irving, Esther Howard, Florence Britton, Charles Coleman, Cary Grant, Kent Taylor
• Director: Dorothy Arzner
• Production Company: Paramount Publix Corp.
• Trivia: The film was released in London on July 19, 1932, but did not receive a wide UK release until January 23, 1933. Many newspapers refused to publicize the film because of its racy title.

1942

June 11 – The Spoilers (USA)

• Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Randolph Scott, John Wayne, Margaret Lindsay, Harry Carey, Richard Barthelmess, George Cleveland, Samuel S. Hinds, Russell Simpson, William Farnum, Marietta Canty, Jack Norton, Bennett Ray Bennett, Forrest Taylor, Miles Art Miles, Charles McMurphy, Charles Halton, Bud Osborne, Drew Demorest
• Director: Ray Enright
• Production Company: Frank Lloyd Productions, Charles K. Feldman Group, distributed by Universal Pictures
• Trivia: The film’s Los Angeles premiere was held on May 8, 1942. The film was released in the UK on July 8. Adapted from the 1906 Rex Beach novel of the same name. The story was also filmed in 1914. 1923, 1930 and 1955. Uncredited poet Robert W. Service plays a fictionalized version of himself. The film received an Oscar nomination for Best Art Direction. Final film of Richard Barthelmess.

June 13 – Flying Fortress (London)

• Cast: Richard Greene, Carla Lehmann, Betty Stockfeld, Donald Stewart, Basil Radford, Charles Heslop, Sidney King, Edward Rigby, Joss Ambler, Robert Beatty, Jack Watling, William Hartnell, John Stuart
• Director: Walter Forde
• Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures
• Trivia: The film opened in the US on December 5, 1942.

June 13 – The Big Shot (USA)

• Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Irene Manning, Richard Travis, Susan Peters, Stanley Ridges, Minor Watson, Chick Chandler, Joe Downing, Howard Da Silva, Murray Alper, Roland Drew, John Ridgely, Joe King, John Hamilton, Virginia Brissac, William Edmunds, Virginia Sale, Ken Christy, Wallace Scott
• Director: Lewis Seiler
• Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures
• Trivia: Now a star, this was the last time former supporting player Bogart would play a gangster for Warner Bros.

June 13 – Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die (USA)

• Cast: Richard Dix, Kent Taylor, Edgar Buchanan, Frances Gifford, Don Castle, Clem Bevans, Victor Jory, Rex Bell, Harvey Stephens, Hal Taliaferro, Wallis Clark, Donald Curtis, Dick Curtis, Paul Sutton, Charles Middleton, Charles Stevens, Jack Rockwell, Chris-Pin Martin, James Ferrara, Charles Halton, Spencer Charters
• Director: William C. McGann
• Production Company: Paramount Pictures
• Trivia: Charles Stevens played Indian Charley in three films based on the Wyatt Earp legend: Frontier Marshal, Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die and My Darling Clementine.

1952

June 9 – Derby Day (UK)

• Cast: Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Googie Withers, John McCallum, Peter Graves, Suzanne Cloutier, Gordon Harker, Edwin Styles, Gladys Henson, Nigel Stock, Ralph Reader, Tom Walls Jr., Josephine Fitzgerald, Alfie Bass, Toni Edgar-Bruce, Ewan Roberts, Leslie Weston, Sam Kydd, Brian Johnston, Richard Wattis, Frank Webster, Gerald Anderson, Robert Brown, John Chandos, Cyril Conway, Arthur Hambling, H.R. Hignett, Prince Monolulu, Myrette Morven, Hugh Moxey, Jan Pilbeam, Mary Gillingham, Derek Prentice, Michael Ripper, Philip Ray, Cecily Walper
• Director: Herbert Wilcox
• Production Company: Herbert Wilcox Productions, distributed by British Lion Film Corporation
• Trivia: Released in the US as Four Against Fate. The race footage is from the 1949 Derby, won by Nimbus.

June 10 – Who Goes There! (UK)

• Cast: Nigel Patrick, Valerie Hobson, George Cole, Peggy Cummins, Anthony Bushell, A. E. Matthews, Joss Ambler
• Director: Anthony Kimmins
• Production Company: London Film Productions, distributed by British Lion Film Corporation
• Trivia: The film was released in the US on November 11, 1953 as The Passionate Sentry. Based on a 1950 play of the same title by John Dighton, who also wrote the screenplay. American censors removed two uses of the word ‘Cripes!’

June 11 – Jumping Jacks (USA)

• Cast: Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Mona Freeman, Don DeFore, Robert Strauss, Richard Erdman, Ray Teal, Marcy McGuire, Danny Arnold
• Director: Norman Taurog
• Production Company: Paramount Pictures
• Trivia: The film was released in the UK on November 3, 1952. Based on the story Ready, Willing and Four F written during World War II by Robert Lees and Fred Rinaldo. The film was originally offered to Bob Hope then Danny Kaye but they turned it down, having already done military comedies.

June 13 – Carson City (USA)

• Cast: Randolph Scott, Lucille Norman, Raymond Massey, Richard Webb, James Millican, Larry Keating, George Cleveland, William Haade, Don Beddoe, Thurston Hall, Vince Barnett
• Director: Andre DeToth
• Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures
• Trivia: The film opened in the UK on November 3, 1952. Based on a story by Sloan Nibley. Warner Bros.’ first film shot in WarnerColor.

June 13 – Diplomatic Courier (USA)

• Cast: Tyrone Power, Patricia Neal, Stephen McNally, Hildegard Knef, Karl Malden, James Millican, Stefan Schnabel, Herbert Berghof, Arthur Blake, Helene Stanley, Michael Ansara, E. G. Marshall, Nestor Paiva, Dabbs Greer, Peter Coe, Ludwig Stossel
• Director: Henry Hathaway
• Production Company: 20th Century Fox
• Trivia: Loosely adapted from the 1945 novel Sinister Errand by British writer Peter Cheyney. Lee Marvin, Warren Oates and Charles Bronson appear in uncredited roles.

June 13 – No Room for the Groom (USA)

• Cast: Tony Curtis, Piper Laurie, Don DeFore, Spring Byington, Lillian Bronson, Paul McVey, Stephen Chase, Lee Aaker, Jack Kelly, Frank Sully
• Director: Douglas Sirk
• Production Company: Universal Pictures
• Trivia: The film premiered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on April 29, 1952. It opened in the UK on December 4. Based on the novel My True Love by Darwin Teilhet. Film debut of Fess Parker.

June 13 – Pat and Mike (USA)

• Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Aldo Ray, William Ching, Sammy White, George Mathews, Loring Smith, Phyllis Povah, Charles Buchinski, Frank Richards, Jim Backus, Chuck Connors, Joseph E. Bernard, Owen McGiveney, Lou Lubin, Carl ‘Alfalfa’ Switzer, William Self
• Director: George Cukor
• Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, distributed by Loew’s Inc.
• Trivia: The film premiered in Des Moines, Iowa on June 5, 1952. It opened in Canada on June 19 and in the UK on October 2. Athletes Gussie Moran, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Don Budge, Alice Marble, Frank Parker, Betty Hicks, Beverly Hanson, Helen Dettweiler appear as themselves. Oscar nominated for Best Original Screenplay. Katharine Hepburn was Golden Globe nominated for Best Actress, and Also Ray was Globe nominated for ‘New Star of the Year’. The film was written to showcase Hepburn’s, an avid golfer and tennis player, athletic abilities. Chuck Connors’ film debut.

1962

June 13 – Lolita

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

• Cast: James Mason, Shelley Winters, Sue Lyon, Peter Sellers, Gary Cockrell, Jerry Stovin, Diana Decker, Lois Maxwell, Cec Linder, Bill Greene, Shirley Douglas, Marianne Stone, Marion Mathie, James Dyrenforth, Maxine Holden, John Harrison, Colin Maitland, C. Denier Warren
• Director: Stanley Kubrick
• Production Company: Seven Arts, AA Productions, Anya Pictures, Transworld Pictures, distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
• Trivia: The film opened in the UK on September 6, 1962. Based on the 1955 novel of the same title by Vladimir Nabokov, who is also credited with writing the screenplay, which received an Oscar nomination. James Mason originally turned the film down due to a Broadway engagement. Laurence Olivier, Peter Ustinov, David Niven and Rex Harrison were also considered. Mason withdrew from his play to take the part. Due to censorship issues at a time before the ratings system existed in the US, Kubrick later said he probably would not have made the film if he’d known how difficult the censorship problems would be. The film received an X certificate in the UK. Peter Sellers modeled the voice of his character Clare Quilty on that of his director, Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick shot most of Sellers’ scenes with two or three cameras to capture his improvisation on the first take. Film debut of Sue Lyon. Lolita never wears the iconic heart-shaped sunglasses seen in publicity photos in the film. She wears cat’s eye sunglasses. Sue Lyon was unable to attend the premiere of the film in New York because she was too young to see the film. She was allowed to attend the London premiere. Sue Lyon earned the Most Promising Female Newcomer award at the 1963 Golden Globes. Hayley Mills turned down the role of Lolita. At the time her father John Mills was credited with that decision, and Walt Disney was blamed later. This was the first film on which Kubrick had complete creative control, a reaction to the studio interference on Spartacus. First film of Ed Bishop.

1972

June 9 – Mutiny on the Buses (UK)

• Cast: Reg Varney, Doris Hare, Michael Robbins, Anna Karen, Stephen Lewis, Bob Grant, Janet Mahoney, Kevin Brennan
• Director: Harry Booth
• Production Company: Hammer Films, distributed by MGM-EMI Film Distributors
• Trivia: The second spin-off film from the TV sitcom On the Buses. The movie poster features caricatures of the film’s characters plus an ape, lion and giraffe on the bus, but there is no giraffe on the bus in the film.

June 14 – Boxcar Bertha (USA)

• Cast: Barbara Hershey, David Carradine, Barry Primus, Bernie Casey, John Carradine, Harry Northup, Victor Argo
• Director: Martin Scorsese
• Production Company: American International Pictures
• Trivia: The film premiered in Camden, Arkansas on June 13, 1972. It was released in Canada in July 1972 and in the UK in April 1973. Loose adaptation of Sister of the Road, a pseudo-autobiographical account of the fictional character Bertha Thompson, who was an amalgam of three women the author Ben L. Reitman knew. Martin Scorsese’s second feature film. The film was shot in Arkansas with a 24-day schedule, and the Reader Railroad was used for the train scenes. Scorsese makes a cameo in the film as one of Bertha’s clients during the brothel montage.

June 14 – Fillmore (USA, documentary)

• Cast: Bill Graham, Santana, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna, Quicksilver Messenger Service
• Director: Richard T. Heffron, Eli F. Bleich
• Distributor: 20th Century Fox
• Trivia: Also known as Fillmore: The Last Days, and as Last Days of the Fillmore.

June 14 – The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid (USA)

• Cast: Cliff Robertson, Robert Duvall, Luke Askew, R. G. Armstrong, Dana Elcar, Donald Moffat, John Pearce, Matt Clark, Wayne Sutherlin, Robert H. Harris, Jack Manning, Elisha Cook, Royal Dano, Mary-Robin Redd, William Callaway, Arthur Peterson, Craig Curtis, Barry Brown, Nellie Burt, Liam Dunn, Madeleine Taylor Holmes, Herbert Nelson, Erik Holland, Anne Barton, Marjorie Durant, Inger Stratton, Valda Hansen
• Director: Philip Kaufman
• Production Company: Robertson and Associates, distributed by Universal Pictures
• Trivia: The film’s Los Angeles premiere was held on April 28, 1972. The film was shot in Jacksonville, Oregon. Scott Glenn was originally cast as the lead but was replaced by Cliff Robertson.

1982

June 9 – Hammett (France)

• Cast: Frederic Forrest, Peter Boyle, Marilu Henner, Roy Kinnear, Elisha Cook, Jr., Lydia Lei, R. G. Armstrong, Richard Bradford, Michael Chow, David Patrick Kelly, Sylvia Sidney, Jack Nance, Elmer Kline, Royal Dano, Samuel Fuller, Fox Harris
• Director: Wim Wenders
• Production Company: Zoetrope Studios, distributed by Orion Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures
• Trivia: The film was screened at Cannes on May 22, 1982, and at TIFF on September 12.. It was released in the US on September 17. Based on the novel of the same name by Joe Gores. Producer Francis Ford Coppola hired Wim Wenders to direct the film as his first American feature. Rumors have persisted that Coppola was so dissatisfied with Wenders’ work that he re-shot about 70% of the film. Wenders stated in a diary film that he did the re-shoots with Coppola micro-managing him, and was done entirely on one soundstage. Wenders later wanted to assemble his original cut for release as ‘an interesting case study’ but discovered that all of the original material had been destroyed. Peter Boyle replaced Brian Keith, who left the lengthy production because of schedule conflicts. Keith can still be seen in some long shots. Ronee Blakley was also originally in the film but was replaced by Marilu Henner.

June 11 – E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (USA)

• Cast: Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, K.C. Martel, C. Thomas Howell, Sean Frye, Erika Eleniak, Anne Lockhart
• Director: Steven Spielberg
• Production Company: Amblin Entertainment, distributed by Universal Pictures
• Trivia: The film was screened at Cannes on May 26, 1982, and a Sneak Preview was held in the US on May 30. The Los Angeles premiere was held on June 10, and the film was also released in Canada on June 11. After a December 9 London opening, the film received a wide UK release on December 10. Pat Welsh was the uncredited voice of E.T. Sixteen other people and animals were recorded including Spielberg, his sleeping sick wife with a cold, Debra Winger, a burp from Spielberg’s USC film professor, raccoons, otters and horses. The story started as a sci-fi horror film titled Night Skies, which was intended to be a sequel to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The original script carried the title E.T. and Me, but Columbia Pictures turned it down, doubting its commercial potential. Universal bought the script for $1 million and Columbia received 5% of the film’s profits. In the end Columbia is said to have made more from E.T. in 1982 than it did on any of its own films that year. The film was produced under the cover title A Boy’s Life so the film’s script would not be discovered and plagiarized. Actors were required to read the script behind closed doors and everyone on set had to have an ID badge. The film was shot in chronological order to elicit genuine emotional performances from the young cast. The film earned nine Oscar nominations including Best Picture (losing to Gandhi, which that film’s director Richard Attenborough regretted), winning for Best Original Score, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, and Best Sound Editing. The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1994. Candy company Mars, Inc. refused to allow M&M’s to be used in the film, believing E.T. would scare children. Hershey allowed the use of Reese’s Pieces which resulted in a large increase in the candy’s sales. Real doctors from the USC Medical Center were hired to play the doctors saving E.T.’s life. Spielberg felt actors reciting medical dialogue would sound inauthentic. A scene with Harrison Ford as Elliot’s school principal was cut during post-production. Ford’s face was never seen. The puppeteers were kept away from the set so the child actors could experience E.T. as a real alien. Drew Barrymore ad-libbed the line ‘I don’t like his feet’ after seeing the control cables running out of them. The scene where E.T. disguises himself as a stuffed toy was suggested by Robert Zemeckis. For the first half of the film, all of the adult actors except for Dee Wallace were shot from the waist down. John Williams was having a hard time matching his score to the film’s final scene, so Spielberg asked him to just conduct the orchestra as if it were a concert performance, and then he slightly re-edited the film to match the music. Peter Coyote’s character is never named, and even in the novelization he is referred to as ‘Keys’ because only his key chain is seen in the first part of the film. Debra Winger appears in the Halloween sequence wearing a monster mask and a lab coat, carrying a poodle. C. Thomas Howell’s film debut. Feature film debut of Erika Eleniak. Shelley Long had been offered the role of Elliott’s mother but had already signed on to the film Night Shift. Long before streaming, the film enjoyed a theatrical run in some markets for more than a year. Spielberg did not want the film released on home video because he felt it was an event film that should be seen by families in theaters through re-releases. Due to the film’s success, it became one of the most pirated films of the time and Spielberg finally relented and the film hit the home video market in 1988, becoming a huge seller.

June 11 – Grease 2 (USA)

Paramount Pictures

• Cast: Maxwell Caulfield, Michelle Pfeiffer, Adrian Zmed, Christopher McDonald, Peter Frechette, Leif Green, Maureen Teefy, Lorna Luft, Alison Price, Pamela Segall, Tab Hunter, Connie Stevens, Jean and Liz Sagal, Matt Lattanzi, Donna King, Lucinda Dickey, Ivy Austin, Andy Tennant
• Director: Patricia Birch
• Production Company: Paramount Pictures
• Trivia: The film was released in the UK on July 29. Original Grease cast members Didi Conn, Eve Arden, Sid Caesar, Dody Goodman and Eddie Deezen reprised their roles from the film, and Dennis C. Stewart and Dick Patterson played new characters. Eve Arden’s last film role. The story is set two years after the original. This was Michelle Pfeiffer’s first starring role. The film was intended to be the second in a four film franchise that would lead into a TV series. Maxwell Caulfield didn’t like the title and lobbied to have it changed to Son of Grease. Director Patricia Birch, who choreographed the first film, was hesitant to accept the job without the participation of John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. She proposed an end scene with the pair as a now married couple running a gas station, with Travolta singing a new song, ‘Gas Pump Jockey’, but it did not come to fruition. Jeff Conaway and Stockard Channing were also approached to make cameo appearances but by this time Channing was 37 years old and had left Hollywood to focus on her stage career. Their characters of Kenickie and Rizzo were originally the main characters as they attended summer school. Timothy Hutton was originally announced as the male lead but Caulfield was cast after impressing the producers with his Off-Broadway performance in Entertaining Mr. Sloane. Unfortunately for him, the film’s failure had a negative impact on his career which he said took ten years to recover from. Pfeiffer fared much better. The role played by Connie Stevens was intended for Annette Funicello, but her schedule as the Skippy peanut butter spokeswoman did not allow her time to film her scenes. Adrian Zmed had previously played the Danny Zuko role in the stage version of Grease. Andy Gibb was originally considered to play the male lead but he failed his screen test. Cher had signed to play Paulette Rebchuck but backed out because of lay pay and an unfinished script. Jennifer Beales signed to play Sharon Cooper but dropped out to take the lead in Flashdance. Caulfield and Pfeiffer did not get along during production. Debbie Harry was approached to play Stephanie Zinone, but she declined saying she was too old to play a high school student. Kim Carnes was also offered the role. The theatrical feature film debut for Lorna Luft, daughter of Judy Garland, and half-sister of Liza Minnelli. The film was a box office bomb but has developed a devoted cult following over the years.

1992

June 12 – Housesitter (USA)

• Cast: Steve Martin, Goldie Hawn, Dana Delany, Julie Harris, Donald Moffat, Peter MacNicol, Richard B. Shull, Ken Cheeseman, Laurel Cronin, Roy Cooper, Christopher Durang
• Director: Frank Oz
• Production Company: Imagine Entertainment, distributed by Universal Pictures
• Trivia: The film was released in the UK on September 11, 1992. The role of Gwen Phillips was initially offered to Meg Ryan, who pulled out due to creative differences. Kim Basinger was approached next but declined, then Goldie Hawn accepted the offer. The house was built as a standing set in Concord, Massachusetts. It was torn down soon after filming ended.

2002

• No new films were released this week in 2002.

2012

June 8 – A Fantastic Fear of Everything (UK)

• Cast: Simon Pegg, Amara Karan, Clare Higgins, Paul Freeman, Kerry Shale, Alan Drake, Zaak Conway, Filippo Delaunay, Elliot Greene, Mo Idriss, Tuyet Le, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Alice Orr-Ewing, Jane Stanness, Jay Taylor
• Director: Chris Hopewell, Crispian Mills
• Production Company: Indomina Productions, Pinewood Films, The Works International, Keel Films, distributed by Universal Pictures
• Trivia: The film opened in the US on February 7, 2014. Based on the novella Paranoia in the Launderette by Bruce Robinson, writer and director of Withnail and I.

June 8 – Jump (UK)

• Cast: Nichola Burley, Martin McCann, Richard Dormer, Ciarán McMenamin, Charlene McKenna, Valene Kane, Lalor Roddy, Packy Lee, Kelly Gough, Jonathan Harden
• Director: Kieron J. Walsh
• Production Company: Blinder Films, Cyprus Avenue Films, distributed by Breaking Glass Pictures
• Trivia: The film was screened at TIFF on September 11, 2012. Based on the stage play of the same name by Lisa McGee. Although set in Derry, the bar and night club scenes where shot in Belfast’s Irene and Nan’s and Eivissa night club after closing hours filming throughout the night.

June 8 – Lola Versus (USA)

• Cast: Greta Gerwig, Joel Kinnaman, Zoe Lister-Jones, Bill Pullman, Debra Winger, Hamish Linklater, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Cheyenne Jackson, Jay Pharoah, Parisa Fitz-Henley, Maria Dizzia
• Director: Daryl Wein
• Production Company: Groundswell Productions, distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures
• Trivia: The film was screened at several film festivals including the Tribeca Film Festival on April 24, 2012. The film was released in the UK on July 20, 2012. Orlando Bloom was originally cast in the lead role but dropped out before filming began. The film’s title is a nod to Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One, the eighth studio album by British rock band The Kinks, recorded and released in 1970.

June 8 – Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (USA)

DreamWorks Animation

• Cast: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Andy Richter, Tom McGrath, Frances McDormand, Jessica Chastain, Martin Short, Bryan Cranston, Chris Miller, Christopher Knights, John DiMaggio, Frank Welker, Paz Vega, Conrad Vernon, Vinnie Jones, Steve Jones, Nick Fletcher, Eric Darnell, Dan O’Connor, Danny Jacobs
• Director: Eric Darnell, Conrad Vernon, Tom McGrath
• Production Company: DreamWorks Animation, PDI/DreamWorks, distributed by Paramount Pictures[
• Trivia: The film was screened at Cannes on May 18, 2012. It also opened in Canada on June 8. It was released in the UK on October 19. The first film in the series to be released in 3D. The singing for King Julien (Sacha Baron Cohen) was performed by Danny Jacobs. Bette Midler & Carrie Fisher were considered for the role of Captain Chantel Dubois before Frances McDormand was cast.

June 8 – Safety Not Guaranteed (USA, limited)

• Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni, Jenica Bergere, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Kristen Bell, Jeff Garlin, William Hall Jr.
• Director: Colin Trevorrow
• Production Company: Big Beach, Duplass Brothers Productions, distributed by FilmDistrict
• Trivia: The film opened in Canada on June 15, 2012, and in the UK on December 26. The film was inspired by a joke classified ad that ran in Backwoods Home Magazine in 1997. Shot in 4 weeks. Mark Duplass filmed all his scenes in the first 2 because of schedule conflicts. The part of Darius was written specifically for Aubrey Plaza.