Unexpectedly, 20th Century Studios announced a sixth Ice Age feature today, eight years after the last, “Collision Course,” made its appearance. Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah, Denis Leary, and Simon Pegg have all signed on to return as their characters. It will be the first Ice Age production under the Disney umbrella; all the Ice Age shorts that have premiered on Disney+ were in production pre-merger.
There was a time when 20th Century Fox was its own studio, and owned its own animation factory, Blue Sky. Blue Sky’s signature product was Ice Age, a wacky prehistoic comedy that first entered pop culture in 2002. Back in those days computer animation was new, and seemingly anything you stuck out there would become popular. Blue Sky would try other movies in the years to come, but nothing caught on like Ice Age did.
This caused a problem: they would need to continue making sequels. “ice Age: The Meltdown,” the second film, really feels like Blue Sky thought it’d be the last one. Not only does the ice Age seem to be “melting down” but Manny the Mammoth finally meets more of his own kind, ending his arc. The next three films would prove the Age of Ice wasn’t really over, and Manny would have to struggle as a family man and make that interesting.
Of course, the real reason families kept coming to Ice Age movies was for Scrat. Just like Despicable Me is kept alive by the Minions, Scrat is the undeniable star of the Ice Age franchise, and his psychotic, ultra-violent pratfalls in chase of an acorn were a great refresh of the the Wile E. Coyote concept. (Note: a few years ago this website erroneously reported Blue Sky had lost the rights to Scrat; this was based on an Internet rumor and was not true. We apologize.)
Then Disney bought 20th Century from Fox, and Blue Sky came with it. They found the studio redundant when they already had two, and shut it down. And with five Ice Age movies already out there, why saturate further?
Apparently they’ve had second thoughts. But the bigger question is…who’s making this thing? Blue Sky is dead. Are any of the original writers or creators involved? No one knows yet. Stay tuned as we unthaw this mystery, and welcome back to work, Scrat.
Just announced at #D23Brasil: Ice Age 6 is now in production! ❄️ Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah, Denis Leary, and Simon Pegg are returning for an all-new big screen adventure. pic.twitter.com/b0lCN3tew5
— Disney (@Disney) November 8, 2024
