Ice Age (franchise)



Ice Age is an American media franchise centering on a group of mammals surviving the Paleolithic ice age. It consists of computer-animated films and TV specials and a series of video games. The films are produced by Blue Sky Studios, a division of 20th Century Fox Animation as a part of Walt Disney Studios (formerly 20th Century Fox). The series features the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary and Chris Wedge, who are the only constant cast members. Five films have been released in the series thus far: the original film of the same name in 2002, Ice Age: The Meltdown in 2006, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs in 2009, Ice Age: Continental Drift in 2012, and Ice Age: Collision Course in 2016. As of April 2016, the franchise had generated $6 billion in revenue, making it one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.

Ice Age (2002)
Sid, a talkative sloth, is left behind by his family and the herds of mammals journeying to the south. He meets Manny, a mammoth who travels to the north, and decides to follow him. When a humans' camp is attacked by tigers, a woman takes her baby and jumps into a river and falls over a waterfall. Before she disappears, the baby is rescued by Manny and Sid. The two animals decide to search for the father and return the baby to him. Diego, one of the tigers that attacked the humans, comes also claiming the baby, and the trio form an uneasy alliance during their journey to the humans.

Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)
Manny, Sid, and Diego are currently living in a large valley surrounded by an enormously high ice wall on all sides. However, the trio discovers that the ice wall is actually a wall that is barely holding a massive body of water that could flood the valley to nearly a mile underwater. A vulture tells them that there is a boat at the other end of the valley that may save them all, but they only have three days to reach it or die. Manny is also having trouble fearing the fact that he may be the last mammoth left. Along the way, they meet Ellie, a mammoth who thinks she is a possum, and her possum brothers Crash and Eddie. As they begin to travel together, Manny learns, with help from Diego and Sid, that he must move on from his past. During their journey, Scrat the sabre-toothed squirrel has his own adventure.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)
Manny and Ellie are expecting their first child. Scrat falls in love with fellow squirrel Scratte. Diego is anxious about settling down for a domestic life with Manny's new family. Sid begins to wish for a family of his own, and steals some dinosaur eggs which leads to Sid ending up in a strange underground world where his herd must rescue him. The herd also meets an insane one-eyed weasel known as Buck who aids them on their quest.

Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012)
Taking place several years after the events of the third film, with Peaches now a teenager, Scrat's pursuit of acorns has world-changing consequences, separating Manny, Sid and Diego from the rest of their group. As they try to return home, they come into conflict with a pirate gang led by Captain Gutt.

Ice Age: Collision Course (2016)
Scrat's pursuit of his elusive acorn catapults him outside of Earth aboard a UFO, where he accidentally sets off a series of cosmic events that transform and threaten the planet. To save themselves from peril, Manny, Sid, Diego, and the rest of the herd leave their home and reunite with Buck, who leads them on a journey to find a way to save the planet.

Future
On the possibility of a potential sixth film, in June 2016, Galen T. Chu, co-director of the film, stated that there were some ideas for the next installment.

Gone Nutty
Gone Nutty is a 2002 animated short film, directed by Carlos Saldanha, and originally released on the Ice Age DVD. The short features the character Scrat, who is yet again having troubles with collecting his beloved acorns. The film was nominated for the 2003 Academy Award for Animated Short Film.

No Time for Nuts
No Time for Nuts is a 2006 animated short film, directed by Chris Renaud and Mike Thurmeier, and it was originally released on the Ice Age: The Meltdown DVD. The short follows Scrat on a chase after his nut, which has been accidentally sent back in time by a frozen time machine. No Time for Nuts was nominated for the 2007 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

Surviving Sid
Surviving Sid is a 2008 animated short film, directed by Galen Tan Chu and Karen Disher. It was originally released on the Horton Hears a Who! DVD and Blu-ray. Unlike the first two Ice Age short films, Surviving Sid focuses on Sid, who incompetently "leads" a small group of camping children.

Scrat's Continental Crack-Up
Scrat's Continental Crack-Up is the first of a 2012 two-part animated short.

Scrat's Continental Crack-Up: Part 2
Scrat's Continental Crack-Up: Part 2 is the second of a 2012 two-part animated short.

Cosmic Scrat-tastrophe
Cosmic Scrat-tastrophe is a 2015 animated short film. The short once again follows Scrat, who discovers a flying saucer frozen in a block of ice and accidentally powers it on and ends up creating the Solar System through a series of mishaps.

Scrat: Spaced Out
Scrat: Spaced Out is a 2016 animated short film. The short once again follows Scrat, trying to get back to Earth after the events in Cosmic Scrat-tastrophe.

Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas
In the middle of decorating for the holiday season, Sid accidentally destroys Manny's favourite decorations. Sid, convinced by Manny that he is now on Santa's naughty list, takes off with Crash, Eddie and Peaches for the North Pole to get back on the Santa's good side. When on the North Pole, Sid and his crew accidentally destroy Santa's Workshop. When Manny, Ellie and Diego, worried over Peaches's safety, arrive at the North Pole, they must come together and save Christmas.

Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade
The special centers on a harried prehistoric bird mom who entrusts her precious, soon-to-hatch egg to Sid. When she recommends him to her neighbors—a condor mother, Cholly Bear and Gladys Glypto—business booms at his new egg-sitting service.

However, dastardly pirate bunny Squint, who is seeking revenge on the herd, steals, camouflages and hides all the eggs. Once again, with Squint’s twin brother, Clint, assisting, Manny, Diego and the rest of the gang come to the rescue and take off on a daring mission that turns into the world’s first Easter egg hunt.

Television series
CEO of 20th Century Fox Stacey Snider announced that a television series based on Ice Age and centered around the character Buck is in development. With Disney's purchase of Fox, it could potentially appear on the Disney+ streaming platform.

Television specials

 * Note: A dark grey cell indicates character did not appear in that medium.

Box office performance
All five films, produced on a total budget of $429 million, have grossed over $3.2 billion worldwide, making Ice Age the 18th highest-grossing franchise of all time, and the third highest-grossing animated franchise worldwide behind Despicable Me and Shrek. The first four films were the highest-grossing animated films in each year they were released, and among the eight highest-grossing films in their respective release years. However, the fifth film was considered a commercial disappointment and is the lowest-grossing film in both the franchise and Blue Sky's filmography (when adjusted for inflation).

Critical and public response
While the first film received generally positive reviews, the series has received some criticism for making no attempt to be scientifically accurate  and has suffered a steadily declining critical reception with each succeeding film.

Video games

 * Ice Age was released in 2002 by Ubisoft for Game Boy Advance.
 * Ice Age 2: The Meltdown was released in 2006 by Sierra Entertainment for Wii, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Xbox, and PC.
 * Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs was released by Activision on June 30, 2009, for PC, Wii, DS, PS2, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.
 * Ice Age 3 - Boulder Drop was an online game released in 2009.
 * Ice Age 3 - Dino Dinner was an online game released in 2009.
 * Ice Age 3 - Slippery Slope was an online game released in 2009.
 * Ice Age Village was a mobile video game released by Gameloft on April 5, 2012, to iPhone, iPad, and various Android devices, and on April 24, 2013, to Windows Phone. The game allows players to build a village while characters from the films set them goals. Player's can also visit their friend's villages, play mini games and watch videos.
 * Ice Age: Continental Drift – Arctic Games was released by Activision on July 10, 2012, to Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, and Xbox 360.
 * Ice Age Online was a free-to-play browser-based adventure platform game produced by Bigpoint Games for its gaming portal. Beta version of the game was launched on July 10, 2012, which put players in the role of Sid, who has to rescue lost members of his herd, separated by a volcanic eruption.
 * Ice Age - Clueless Ice Sloth was an online game released in 2012.
 * Ice Age Adventures was a free-to-play game was released by Gameloft on August 7, 2014 for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Android, Windows Phone and Windows 8.
 * Ice Age: Arctic Blast was a mobile match-3 puzzle game, developed by Zynga and Eat Sleep Play, and featuring content from all five films, was released in June 2016 for iOS and Android devices.
 * Ice Age Avalanche was an online game released in 2016.
 * Ice Age Hailstorm was an online game released in 2016.
 * Ice Age Mission Control was an online game released in 2016.
 * Ice Age - Manic Meteor Run! was an online game released in 2016.
 * Ice Age - Geode Jam! was an online game released in 2016.
 * Ice Age - Coloring Book was an online game released in 2016.
 * Ice Age - Matching Cards was an online game released in 2016.
 * Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure was released in 2019 for PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.

Live show
''Ice Age Live! A Mammoth Adventure is a live arena ice show that combines ice skating, aerial arts, puppetry and film, and tells a new story based on the first three Ice Age'' films. The plot begins with baby mammoth Peaches being kidnapped by an evil hawk-like creature called Shadow. Her father Manny sets off to rescue Peaches, accompanied by Sid and Diego. Their mission is successful, but on the way home they encounter avalanches and rockfalls, diverting them into a fantasy underground kingdom.

It is being produced by Stage Entertainment Touring Productions, and directed by Guy Caron and Michael Curry. The music and lyrics were written by Ella Louise Allaire and Martin Lord Ferguson. With the preview shows from October 19 to 21, 2012, in Cardiff, and from October 25 to 28, 2012, in Nottingham, A Mammoth Adventure officially premiered on November 2, 2012, during its three-day tour from November 1 to 3 at Wembley Arena in London. It continued in Germany in November 2012, with a plan to visit more than 30 countries in its five-year worldwide tour. In August 2016, ''Ice Age Live! A Mammoth Adventure concluded its world tour and was replaced in North America by Ice Age On Ice''.

Themed land
Ice Age inspired rides and attractions will be featured at the first 20th Century Fox theme park, called 20th Century Fox World, to open in 2019 as part of Malaysia-based Resorts World Genting.