Dreamworks had a very good weekend.

A $58 million dollar opening for Monsters Vs. Aliens was the biggest opening weekend gross this year and generating the third highest March gross on record. It also set a record opening for a 3-D film in digital and IMAX screens. Even more impressive was the debut of the new Dreamworks animated series, The Penguins of Madagascar which Nickelodeon is reporting as the most-watched series premiere in the network’s history, drawing 6.1 total million viewers.

I caught the Penguin show last night and, considering it’s aimed at kids, its better than most of the CG series that have come along lately. It doesn’t break any new ground, but it’s very entertaining. Mark McCorkle and Robert Schooley, the executive producers, toiled on many of the better Disney television productions in the past ten years (including those wonderful Genie Great Minds Think For Themselves interstitials). The TV critic at the L.A. Times points out that the show…

“…doesn’t revolve around bratty/neurotic children and their pets. (May I take this moment to remind every parent of a cartoon-watching child that the iconic “Tom and Jerry” and “Roadrunner” were essentially silent — oh time, time, go back in thy flight.)”

Nickelodeon will feature two weeks of Penguins primetime premieres weeknights until April 10, at 8:00 — 8:30 PM (ET/PT). The series will move to its regular timeslot on Saturdays at 10:00—10:30 AM (ET/PT) beginning April 18.

Jerry Beck

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