Dreamworks Switches 'Penguins' & 'Home', 'Home' Characters Revealed & 'Kung Fu Panda 3' Logo

In an interesting turn of events, Dreamworks has switched the theatrical release dates of Penguins of Madagascar and Home.

According to this report, Penguins of Madagascar will now be released into theaters on what was the release date for Home, November 26, 2014, and Home will be pushed back to March 27, 2015.  In regards to why Dreamworks has made this sudden switcheroo, the studio's Chief Marketing Officer, Dawn Taubin, states: "We will continue to be as flexible as necessary when it comes to our release dates...We're confidant that this date switch gives both of our upcoming releases the largest opportunity for success."

Personally, I think this is a smart move.  Only one of Dreamworks Animation's last four releases, 'The Croods', has been regarded by the studio as a financial success while Rise of the Guardians, Turbo, and Mr. Peabody & Sherman did not do as well as expected with audiences.  I personally thought Rise of the Guardians was a mess and that Turbo and Mr. Peabody & Sherman were good films, but they had their share of story problems and didn't match up to the greatness of previous films like How To Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda 2. 

Home is a riskier film, but Penguins is already part of a very successful, established franchise, and I think it's safe to say that the Penguins themselves were the most popular characters in the franchise.  The practically stole the show in the first Madagascar film!  I remember laughing so hard I ended up crying the first time I saw Madagascar.  They're certainly my favorite characters from those movies, and I've been wanted a solo film for them for almost 10 years, so I'm looking forward to this much more than Home.

Speaking of Home, we've gotten our first look at the main characters.  I'm still not totally thrilled with the design for the aliens.  The girl is really cute, but for some reason she's being voiced by Rihanna.  Why they picked an adult singer who isn't even an actress to voice a little girl I'll never know, but I'm trying to keep an open mind.  I thought I would hate Beyonce in the movie Epic, but her character was one of the few things I enjoyed about that movie.  And an adult woman, Sarah Silverman, was cast to play little Vanellope Von Shweetz in Wreck-It-Ralph, and she turned out to be fantastic in the part.  So who knows?  Maybe Rihanna will surprise me.

And speaking of Kung Fu Panda 3, the official logo was quietly released a while back, and boy does it look fantastic.  I love the 2D opening sequences from the first two films, and it looks like this one is going more for the look of Chinese brush paintings or calligraphy.  Either way, it looks beautiful! 

Kung Fu Panda 3 isn't without it's own share of problems, though...the release date for the third film is December 23, 2015.  Guess what movie is scheduled for release one week before?  None other than Star Wars: Episode VII, set to come out on December 18, 2015.  Yikes.  The new Star Wars films is going to be huge, and unless Dreamworks moves Kung Fu Panda 3, they're going to get creamed.  The last thing I want is a repeat of Kung Fu Panda 2's release, where it lost money to The Hangover Part 2.  I want the third movie as badly as anyone else, but I would rather see it pushed back to 2016 so that it actually has a chance for major success.  If it goes up against Star Wars, we all know which film is going to win that fight.