FILM FRANCHISES were huge last year – in fact, the top 7 highest-grossing films were all sequels in 2011 – and many predict that trend will continue in 2012. “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” has a good chance of joining them. It’s well-positioned in the second week of June, with little competition in the animated category; its two biggest rivals this summer, “Ice Age: Continental Drift” and Pixar’s “Brave” are both slated to open several weeks later. Both its predecessors opened near the $50 million mark (the first at $47M and the second at $63M), so we’ll be interested to see if this third one will be able to continue this franchise’s hot upward streak. Kids’ movies are usually bigger in the summertime, and although some sequels have not done as well as expected (think “Kung Fu Panda 2” or “Happy Feet 2”), third films have a good success rate in this genre (we all remember “Toy Story 3”). Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath, who co-directed both the original and sequel Madagascar movies, are joined this time by Conrad Vernon, who brings major hitmaking chops from “Monsters vs. Aliens” and “Shrek 2.” The other new player here is screenwriter Noah Baumbach, more famous for such critically-acclaimed indie flicks as “Greenberg,” “The Squid and the Whale,” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” Despite Baumbach’s hipster roots, we don’t expect the “Madagascar” Lemurs to grow facial hair and talk about their relationship problems. The stars are aligning for a big $60M opener for this still-strong kids’ franchise. 4/30/2012