![Launched in 2002, Blue Sky Studios' $6 billion 'Ice Age' film franchise last graced the big sreen in 2016's 'Ice Age: Collision Course' [20th Century Studios]](https://www.animationmagazine.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Ice-Age-Collission-Course.jpg "Ice Age Collision Course")
From Disney’s D23 Brazil event, the studio has announced that Ice Age 6 is on the way, from 20th Century Animation. Original voice stars Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah, Denis Leary and Simon Pegg are all confirmed to return, with production underway.
The animated film franchise, which grossed $3.2 billion in global box office across five movies, has been largely on ice since Disney shuttered its origin studio Blue Sky in 2021, following its acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019, although a Scrat-less spinoff movie titled The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild was released as a Disney+ original in 2022.
Kicking off the successful prehistoric CG adventures, Ice Age was released in 2002, earning $383.3 million worldwide and an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature. The pic was directed by Blue Sky Studios co-founder Chris Wedge (Oscar-winning short Bunny; Robots, Epic) and Brazilian-American animator Carlos Saldanha, who worked with the studio until its closure. Saldanha went on to direct the third Ice Age pic, Dawn of the Dinosaurs (the highest-grossing Blue Sky title with $886.7M), both Rio films and the Oscar-nominated adaptation Ferdinand. This year, he helmed the hybrid family feature Harold and the Purple Crayon (Sony).
In addition to the feature films, Ice Age spawned a number of shorts starring the lovable acorn fiend Scrat (who also got his own shorts series Scrat Tales on Disney+), two television specials and video games. In 2016, the franchise’s total revenue including licensing was pegged at $6 billion.
[H/T Deadline]
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