It's Officially the End of an Era for the Ice Age Movies - MCE Notices | California State Portal

The first trailer for Ice Age: Boiling Point arrived this week, and on the surface, it is exactly what one would expect. There is colorful, animated chaos, prehistoric creatures, and the particular brand of broad physical comedy that has kept the franchise alive over the last two decades.

Ray Romano, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah, and Simon Pegg all return in their respective roles, and the entire herd, along with Ice Age’s winning formula, is intact. However, the new trailer does not address one big change in this new Ice Age film, which actually is a turning point for the franchise. Boiling Point, which is due on February 4, 2027, marks a new era for the Ice Age movie, as it is the first to exist under Disney’s watch.

Ice Age Moves From 20th Century Fox To Disney

Image via 20th Century Studios/ Courtesy: Everett Collection

To understand why Ice Age: Boiling Point is the start of a new era for the series, it helps to understand what the Ice Age franchise actually was in its original context. The first Ice Age movie arrived in March 2002, produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox.

It was not expected to be a blockbuster, since it was only a mid-budget animated gamble by a studio trying to establish itself as a genuine competitor to Pixar and Dreamworks Animation. However, it far exceeded expectations, grossing $383 million worldwide on a $59 million budget.

By the time Ice Age: Continental Drift landed in 2012, the franchise had become a genuine global phenomenon, raking in $877 million and ranking among the highest-grossing animated films of that year. The total franchise gross across five theatrical movies stands at a whopping $3.2 billion worldwide, making it the cornerstone of Blue Sky’s identity.

The studio also produced the Rio franchise and the Oscar-nominated Ferdinand, but Ice Age was its flagship, and a rare animation victory for Fox to call its own in a sea of films that either went to Disney or Universal. It was homegrown, hugely profitable, and an original to boot.

However, Disney’s acquisition of Blue Sky Studios (which came as part of Disney’s larger Fox purchase) has changed that. Disney already had Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar, two of the world’s most celebrated animation brands, under one roof. Adding Blue Sky to its roster meant more overhead costs and new cultures to assimilate. The global COVID-19 pandemic proved too much of a catastrophic burden on Disney’s theatrical and theme park revenues, and thus, the Hollywood giant was forced to shutter Blue Sky in April 2021. Ice Age, however, has remained alive.

There was, at the time, a fair bit of uncertainty for the franchise, after it returned with The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild in January 2022, a Disney+ exclusive spin-off produced without the core voice cast that landed with a critical thud. It called into question Ice Age‘s theatrical future, but now Ice Age: Boiling Point seems to have answered that question.

The context is completely different this time around. Boiling Point is the first Ice Age movie not to involve Blue Sky at all, but will be Disney-led. The franchise is being carried forward by a company that did not build it. This is bound to create something completely unique for the long-running animated series, ushering in a new era for the Ice Age property.

The Release Date of Ice Age: Boiling Point Matters

Ice Age: Boiling Point has been given a February 2027 release date, a month that has historically been one of the quieter periods in the theatrical calendar. The placement is worth examining because it reveals to audiences how Disney is sizing up Ice Age as a property.

The first two Ice Age films opened in March, and the next two came in July. The franchise has never been released in February, and this Disney decision can be read in two ways. The pessimistic reading is that Disney does not fully trust Ice Age: Boiling Point to compete against other tentpole 2027 films, and is parking it in a lower-stakes window where it could still be profitable.

The optimistic take on this unusual release date is that February has become a shrewder bet than what it used to be. Deadpool and Black Panther were massive franchises that were launched in February, and Ice Age has the pedigree to own the whole month, just like these properties.

Disney is also piquing audience curiosity to the maximum amount for what can fairly be called a revival. The synopsis is intentionally sparse, reading: “a wild adventure through dinosaurs and lava as Manny, Sid, Diego, Ellie, Scrat, and the herd explore uncharted regions of the dangerous Lost World.” The teaser trailer, too, offers little beyond the tone and cast confirmation, prompting audiences to actually head to theatres and watch it.

Producers Lori Forte and Patrick Worlock are attached, with Forte representing a crucial thread of continuity as she has produced every Ice Age film. Hopefully, this means that Boiling Point will have the important context and nuance of the rest of the franchise, rather than becoming a brand-new film.

Is This The Last Ice Age Movie?

As of writing, there is no actual confirmation of whether this is the concluding chapter of Ice Age. The franchise itself never operated on a clear creative roadmap, with each Ice Age sequel arriving due to the unprecedented success of the last. However, each installment has, at the same time, felt a little less essential than the last, and Collision Course, which was the lowest-grossing Ice Age film, suggested that the appetite for these prehistoric critters was not infinite.

Therefore, Boiling Point also serves as a proof-of-concept for Disney, which needs to know whether the franchise still has theatrical drawing power in 2027, a quarter-century after the original and a whopping 11 years after the last entry. A seventh film depends on the success of this one and needs to be culturally relevant, too, since the generation that saw the original in theaters is no longer in their 30s.

What is certain is that Boiling Point is, most definitely, the first chapter of a new era for Ice Age, even if it is, on paper, the sixth film.