Blue Sky Studios

Blue Sky Studios was an American computer animation film studio based in Greenwich, Connecticut and are a subsidiary of 20th Century Animation, a division of The Walt Disney Company. They were founded in 1987, and made their first film, Ice Age in 2002 and were acquired by Disney in 2019 before closing down in 2021.

Blue Sky Studios

The team behind Ice Age and Rio. May their legacy and impact on the industry never be forgotten.

Type:	Subsidiary
Founded:	February 22, 1987; 35 years ago
Defunct:	April 10, 2021
Founder(s):	Chris Wedge Carl Ludwig Eugene Troubetzkoy Alison Brown David Brown Michael Ferraro
Headquarters:	Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.
Key people:	Robert Baird (Co-President) Andrew Millstein (Co-President) Brian Keane (COO)
Parent:	20th Century Animation (Walt Disney Studios)
Notable works:	Ice Age Rio
Website:	[1]

Movies

#	Year	Title	Director	Music	Rotten Tomatoes Fresh Rating
1	2002	Ice Age	Chris Wedge	David Newman	77%
2	2005	Robots	Chris Wedge	John Powell	64%
3	2006	Ice Age: The Meltdown	Carlos Saldanha	John Powell	57%
4	2008	Horton Hears a Who!	Jimmy Hayward & Steve Martino	John Powell	80%
5	2009	Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs	Carlos Saldanha	John Powell	46%
6	2011	Rio	Carlos Saldanha	John Powell	72%
7	2012	Ice Age: Continental Drift	Steve Martino & Mike Thurmeier	John Powell	37%
8	2013	Epic	Chris Wedge	Danny Elfman	65%
9	2014	Rio 2	Carlos Saldanha	John Powell	48%
10	2015	The Peanuts Movie	Steve Martino	Christophe Beck	87%
11	2016	Ice Age: Collision Course	Mike Thurmeier	John Debney	18%
12	2017	Ferdinand	Carlos Saldanha	John Powell	72%
13	2019	Spies in Disguise	Nick Bruno & Troy Quane	Theodore Shapiro	77%

Why They Were A Clear Blue Sky

After making their first animated project and short in 1998 titled Bunny, They've made one of the most recognizable animated franchises of all time, Ice Age (even though it's been miked a lot to no end and even without them around anymore, to the point where it got a sixth film and a seventh film is in development).
Besides the first 3 Ice Age films, they also made some other good movies, which are Robots, Horton Hears a Who! (faithful to Dr. Seuss' book), Rio, Epic, The Peanuts Movie (faithful to the Peanuts franchise), Ferdinand (faithful to the book it was based on), and Spies in Disguise (which ended the studio on a high note).
Great animation for their films (even the bad and average), even their oldest animation is great and revolutionary.
They got very talented voices for their characters, whether they be main or supporting, including Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Mel Brooks, Halle Berry, Amanda Bynes, Robin Williams, Queen Latifah, Jim Carrey, Steve Carrell, Will Arnett, Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Josh Gad, Drake, Jennifer Lopez, Peter Dinklage, Andy Garcia, Noah Schnapp, John Cena, Gina Rodriguez, Peyton Manning, and, to end their legacy, Will Smith and Tom Holland.
The films have good soundtrack, with some even getting an Oscar nomination like "Home" from Ferdinand.
Their films tend to have some heartwarming moments and say some good messages:
1. Robots delivers some strong messages about following your dreams and never giving up even when life gets tough and it seems like you won't be able to achieve your dreams. It also has a good moral thanks to the line: "You can shine no matter what you're made of."
2. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs has a heartwarming sub-plot with Sid having to take care of three baby dinosaurs with the mother dinosaur. Also, the ending of the movie with Manny, Ellie, Peaches, and the rest of the herd is very heartwarming.
3. Rio raised awareness of the Spix's Macaw, which was near extinction by the film's release.
4. Epic has a good moral to appreciate nature and the animals, even the smallest of bugs, that inhabits the forests they live in.
5. The Peanuts Movie has good morals for children, such as to believe in yourself and never give up. Also, Charlie Brown’s plight is heartwarming and surprisingly relatable. The ending is the most sweet and heartwarming moment and was an major improvement of any Peanuts movie ending, with Charlie Brown finally getting the acceptance he yearned for, and the Little Red-Haired Girl saying that he exhibits all the qualities she admires is enough to make the viewer teary-eyed.
6. Ferdinand has some quite touching moments with about family, loss, and change.
7. Spies in Disguise has good moral lessons about how violence is not always the solution (which is a very uncommon one) to a problem and how adults should also listen to younger kids. It also helped to end the studio on a high note.

Bad Qualities

Sometimes they rely too much on the Ice Age franchise, notably with the fourth and fifth films. The sixth film made for Disney+ and without any involvement with Blue Sky Studios, being poorly animated by Bardel entertainment since it has a very weak plot, it was a disappointment and it didn't save the franchise.
- In addition to the problem with the Ice Age franchise, their only non-Ice Age sequel film, Rio 2, wasn't that good, thanks to the flanderization of Jewel and having weaker writing compared to the original and a weak plot.
Some of their films didn't do so well at the box office, those two being Ice Age: Collision Course and Spies in Disguise. To be fair, Ice Age: Collision Course did make its budget back, but it made nowhere near as much as the other Ice Age movies.
The studio ended up closing down in 2021 just because Disney needed to cut costs due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the cancellation of Nimona (though it has been announced that the film is being revived by Netflix) and Foster (the main Disney animation division is reviving it, but with a different director and animation style), and the layoff of 450 employees, though Disney will seek open positions for these employees in their other studios.
Their 2005 beloved film and underrated hit Robots was nonsensically slammed by the Blockbuster Buster/Erod (Which angered the fans of that film, causing him to get a lotta backlash as he extremely missed the point).

Movies With Their Own Page

Regular

Ice Age (2002)
Robots (2005)
Horton Hears a Who! (2008)
Rio (2011)
Epic (2013)
The Peanuts Movie (2015)
Ferdinand (2017)
Spies in Disguise (2019)
Nimona (2023)

Sequels

Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)

Trivia

Like Pixar, All Blue Sky films feature a different theme:
1. Ice Age, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Ice Age: Continental Drift and Ice Age: Collision Course - Prehistoric animals that live in the ice age era.
2. Robots - Robots living in a world where they work as inventors.
3. Horton Hears a Who! - Animals that live in a jungle while Whos live in a small and tiny speck.
4. Rio and Rio 2 - Musical birds that come from Brazil.
5. Epic - Small human-like creatures and small creatures who have wars.
6. The Peanuts Movie - Kids that all do their everyday lifes.
7. Ferdinand - Bulls who are often known for fighting.
8. Spies in Disguise - Secret agent spies who help save the world.
All Blue Sky Studios movies have the standard 20th Century Fox fanfare. However, there are only two exceptions.

Videos

Comments

Loading comments...