Blue Sky Studios, Inc. was an American visual effects and computer animation studio, which was active from 1987 to 2021. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, it was founded on February 22, 1987, by Chris Wedge, Michael Ferraro, Carl Ludwig, Alison Brown, David Brown, and Eugene Troubetzkoy after their employer, Mathematical Applications Group (MAGI), one of the visual effects studios behind Tron (1982), shut down. Using its in-house rendering software, the studio created visual effects for commercials and films before dedicating itself to animated film production. It produced 13 feature films, the first being Ice Age (2002), and the final one being Spies in Disguise (2019).
Ice Age: The Meltdown is a 2006 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the sequel to Ice Age and the second installment in the Ice Age film series. The film was directed by Carlos Saldanha from a screenplay written by Peter Gaulke, Gerry Swallow, and Jim Hecht, and a story by Gaulke and Swallow. Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, and Chris Wedge reprise their roles from the first Ice Age film, with newcomers Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, and Queen Latifah joining the cast. In the film, Manny, Sid, and Diego attempt to escape an impending flood, during which Manny finds love.
John Christian Wedge is an American filmmaker, animator, and voice actor. He is best known for co-founding of the defunct animation studio Blue Sky Studios, including directing the short film Bunny (1998) and the feature films Ice Age (2002), Robots (2005) and Epic (2013), with the former two received the Academy Awards for winning Bunny and nominating Ice Age. Wedge has also created and voiced the character Scrat in the Ice Age franchise.
20th Century Animation, Inc. is an American animation studio located in Century City, Los Angeles. Formed in 1994, it is organized as a division and label of 20th Century Studios, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios, and is tasked with producing animated feature-length films. At one point, 20th Century Animation had two subsidiaries: Fox Animation Studios, which was shut down on June 26, 2000, and Blue Sky Studios, which was closed on April 10, 2021. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment distributes the films produced by 20th Century Animation in home media under the 20th Century Home Entertainment banner.
Ice Age 2: The Meltdown is a 2006 video game published by Vivendi Universal Games. It is based on the film of the same name. Unlike its Game Boy Advance-exclusive predecessor, Ice Age, Meltdown was a multiplatform release, available on Microsoft Windows, all major sixth-generation platforms and both seventh-generation Nintendo platforms, with the Wii port being a launch title in Europe.
Scrat is a fictional rodent in the Ice Age franchise and the mascot of the now-defunct animation company Blue Sky Studios. In the 2002 film Ice Age plus its follow-up shorts and theatrical sequels, he is a saber-toothed, long-snouted rat-like squirrel with no dialogue who is obsessed with trying to collect and bury his acorn(s), putting himself in danger and usually losing his food in the process to his frustration. He additionally is a catalyst for major natural disasters that drastically alter the world around him and at times sets the stage for the main conflicts of the films. Scrat's storylines are mostly independent of those of other characters of "the Herd," though the two do intersect at times. While Scrat is a side character for the theatrical films that he appears in, he is the protagonist of other media such as certain shorts and his own miniseries Ice Age: Scrat Tales. In all of his appearances, his vocal effects were provided by the studio co-founder Chris Wedge, who also directed the first film.
No Time for Nuts is a 2006 American animated short film from Blue Sky Studios, starring Scrat from Ice Age. Directed by Chris Renaud and Mike Thurmeier, it was debuted on November 21, 2006, on the DVD and Blu-ray release of Ice Age: The Meltdown. It follows Scrat on a pursuit after his acorn, which accidentally sends forward in time by a frozen time machine. No Time for Nuts was nominated for the 2007 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, and also won an Annie Award.
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is a 2009 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the sequel to Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006) and the third installment in the Ice Age film series. It was directed by Carlos Saldanha and co-directed by Mike Thurmeier, from a screenplay written by Michael Berg, Peter Ackerman, Mike Reiss, and Yoni Brenner, based on a story conceived by Jason Carter Eaton. Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, and Chris Wedge reprise their roles from the first two films and Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, and Queen Latifah reprise their roles from The Meltdown, with Simon Pegg joining them in the role of a weasel named Buck. In the film, while Manny and Ellie are preparing for their baby, Sid the Sloth is kidnapped by a female Tyrannosaurus after stealing her eggs, leading the rest of the herd to rescue him in a tropical lost world inhabited by dinosaurs underneath the ice.
Ice Age: Continental Drift is a 2012 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the sequel to Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) and the fourth installment in the Ice Age film series. The film was directed by Steve Martino and Michael Thurmeier from a screenplay written by Michael Berg and Jason Fuchs, based on a story conceived by Berg and co-producer Lori Forte. Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, Queen Latifah, and Chris Wedge reprise their roles from previous films, with Peter Dinklage, Jennifer Lopez, Drake, and Nicki Minaj voicing new characters. The plot focuses on Scrat mistakenly sending Manny, Sid, and Diego adrift on an iceberg with Sid's Granny and causing them to face a gang of pirates led by Captain Gutt.
Ice Age is a 2002 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The film was directed by Chris Wedge and co-directed by Carlos Saldanha from a screenplay by Michael Berg, Michael J. Wilson, and Peter Ackerman, based on a story by Wilson. It features the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Goran Višnjić, and Jack Black. Set during the days of the Pleistocene ice age, the film centers around three main characters—Manny (Romano), a no-nonsense woolly mammoth; Sid (Leguizamo), a loudmouthed ground sloth; and Diego (Leary), a sardonic smilodon—who come across a human baby and work together to return it to its tribe. Additionally, the film occasionally follows Scrat, a speechless "saber-toothed squirrel" (Wedge), who is perpetually searching for a place in the ground to bury his acorn.
Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas is a 2011 animated television special and part of the Ice Age franchise, produced by Blue Sky Studios and directed by Karen Disher. It premiered on November 24, 2011 on Fox in the United States and in the United Kingdom at Christmas on Channel 4 and E4 and it was released 2 days later to DVD and Blu-ray. This Christmas special takes place between Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Ice Age: Continental Drift.
Karen Beth Disher is an American film director and storyboard artist. Disher is best known for her work at MTV Animation, where she was the chief character designer and supervising director for the animated series Daria (1997–2002) following her previous work as a layout artist for Beavis and Butt-Head (1993–1997).
Ice Age: Collision Course is a 2016 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the sequel to Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) and the fifth installment in the Ice Age film series. The film was directed by Michael Thurmeier and co-directed by Galen T. Chu, from a screenplay written by Michael Wilson, Michael Berg, and Yoni Brenner, based on a story conceived by Aubrey Solomon. Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Keke Palmer, Josh Peck, Simon Pegg, Seann William Scott, Jennifer Lopez and Queen Latifah reprise their roles from previous films, with Adam DeVine, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Max Greenfield, Jessie J and Nick Offerman voicing new characters. In the film, Scrat is propelled into outer space in an abandoned spaceship during an attempt to bury his acorn and accidentally sends a giant asteroid towards Earth. Manny, the Herd and Buck must go on a life-or-death mission to find a way to fend it off.
Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade is a 2016 animated television special, produced by Blue Sky Studios and directed by Ricardo Curtis. It premiered on Fox during the Easter season. Most of the actors reprise their roles from the previous installments except Aziz Ansari, whose role as Squint was replaced by Seth Green. It takes place between Ice Age: Continental Drift and Ice Age: Collision Course.
Ice Age 6 is an upcoming American animated adventure comedy film produced by 20th Century Animation and distributed by 20th Century Studios. It will serve as a sequel to Ice Age: Collision Course (2016), the sixth main installment and seventh overall installment in the Ice Age film series. Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Simon Pegg, and Queen Latifah will reprise their roles from the previous films. It will be the first theatrical Ice Age film not to be produced by Blue Sky Studios, following its closure on April 10, 2021.
The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild is a 2022 animated adventure comedy film directed by John C. Donkin, in his feature directorial debut, with a screenplay by Jim Hecht, Ray DeLaurentis, and William Schifrin based on a story written by Hecht. It is a spin-off film of the Ice Age franchise, and the sixth overall installment. It takes place between Ice Age: Collision Course and Ice Age 6. The film stars the voices of Simon Pegg, Vincent Tong, Aaron Harris, Utkarsh Ambudkar, and Justina Machado also starring in the film. It follows the two opossum brothers Crash and Eddie and their adventure to becoming independent possums alongside the titular character Buck Wild.
Ice Age: Scrat Tales is an American animated series of shorts produced by Blue Sky Studios, which premiered on Disney+ on April 13, 2022. It is a spin-off of the Ice Age franchise and the first series of shorts in the franchise. It is also the final production from Blue Sky Studios to be released by 20th Century Studios following the studio's closure on April 10, 2021. The series focuses on Scrat, a saber-toothed squirrel who discovers that he has a son. It received generally positive reviews from critics with praise for its animation, humor, music, and light-hearted tone, with critics and audiences alike also considering it as a good sendoff to the studio.
Ice Age Adventure was a dark boat ride at the amusement park Movie Park Germany at in Bottrop, Germany. The ride opened on 15 March 2005 as a replacement for the defunct Looney Tunes Adventure ride, and closed for good on 1 November 2016 before being replaced by Movie Park Studio Tour in 2021.
