Chris Rock wants to make Madagascar 4

Chris Rock voiced Marty the zebra in the Madagascar film franchise.

Chris Rock wants to make a fourth Madagascar movie.

The 61-year-old comedian voiced Marty the zebra in the original 2005 animated family-comedy movie, its sequels, 2008’s Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and 2012’s Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, and its shorts, including 2009’s Merry Madagascar and 2013’s Madly Madagascar.

And Rock wants to revisit the DreamWorks film franchise, joking that he no longer has his “Madagascar money” following his divorce from 57-year-old actress Malaak Compton-Rock in August 2016 after 20 years of marriage.

The entertainer told Variety: “I played Marty the zebra in Madagascar. Everybody is really good. It’s probably the biggest movie I’ve ever been in. You know, we did three of them. I pray to God we do one more in a world where they’re rebooting everything.”

He joked: “Do you understand I got divorced? I don’t have Madagascar money anymore.”

Rock continued: “We only did three. There’s five Ice Ages. Five! OK? I need another Madagascar. It’s time!”

The first Madagascar film followed Marty, Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer), and Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) get stranded on the island of Madagascar after they escaped from the New York Central Zoo.

Its sequel saw them stranded in Africa after their plane back to New York crash-landed there.

And the third instalment sees the four friends travel across Europe while being chased by relentless animal-control officer, Captain Chantel DuBois (Frances McDormand), eventually joining a travelling circus to hide and find a way back to New York.

DreamWorks has not ruled out a fourth Madagascar film, and directors Tom McGrath, 62, and Eric Darnell, 65, said another outing with Marty, Alex, Melman and Gloria will only happen if there is a good story to tell.

Per Animation Scoop, McGrath said: “I think the great thing about Universal and DreamWorks right now is they know that they could make money on a Madagascar 4.

“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.”

Darnell added: “We do have ideas. We’ll just see. We’ll see… how the cards fall.”