Space Chimps

Space Chimps is a 2008 computer-animated comic science fiction film directed by Kirk DeMicco (in his directional debut), who wrote the screenplay with Rob Moreland. It features the voices of Andy Samberg, Cheryl Hines, Jeff Daniels, Patrick Warburton, Kristin Chenoweth, Kenan Thompson, Zack Shada, Carlos Alazraqui, Omid Abtahi, Patrick Breen, Jane Lynch, Kath Soucie, and Stanley Tucci. The film follows three chimpanzees who go into space to an alien planet. 20th Century Fox theatrically released the film on July 18, 2008, and received mostly negative reviews by critics. The film grossed $64.8 million on a $37 million budget. It received an Artios Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Casting – Animation Feature. A video game based on the film was also released in July 2008. A direct-to-video sequel, entitled Space Chimps 2: Zartog Strikes Back, was released in October 2010. Plot In outer space, an uncrewed, intelligent life-searching NASA space probe, Infinity, is dragged into an intergalactic wormhole and crash-lands on the other side of the galaxy. It lands on the Earth-like alien planet named Malgor, populated by colorful alien beings. Zartog (Jeff Daniels), an evil-minded inhabitant, accidentally discovers how to take manual control of the onboard machinery and uses it to enslave the population. Faced with the possible extinction of Infinity and their budget, the scientists hire multiple chimpanzees as astronauts to regain contact with the probe and retrieve it: technical genius Comet (Zack Shada), lieutenant Luna (Cheryl Hines) and commander Titan (Patrick Warburton). For media attention, the Senator (Stanley Tucci) adds to the team Ham III (Andy Samberg), grandson of Ham, the first chimpanzee in space, who works as a cannonball at a circus. Ham III is uninterested in the mission, but he (along with the other space chimps (except Comet)) is launched into space despite his best efforts to escape the scientist's training facility.