It’s Officially the End of an Era for the Ice Age Movies

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The first trailer for the new movie was released this week, and it looks like classic fun. Expect lots of colorful animation, dinosaurs, and the silly, over-the-top physical humor that fans have loved in this series for twenty years.

The familiar faces of Ray Romano, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah, and Simon Pegg are all back, and the movie maintains the same fun spirit as previous Ice Age films. However, the latest trailer doesn’t mention a significant shift for the series. Boiling Point, scheduled for release on February 4, 2027, is a turning point because it’s the first Ice Age movie to be made under Disney’s ownership.

Ice Age Moves From 20th Century Fox To Disney

To fully appreciate the recent series, it’s helpful to remember the original Ice Age movies. The first one came out in March 2002, created by Blue Sky Studios and released by 20th Century Fox.

Honestly, no one really thought this movie would be huge. It was a smaller-budget animated film from a studio still trying to prove itself alongside giants like Pixar and Dreamworks. But wow, was I wrong! It ended up making $383 million worldwide – that’s incredible considering it only cost $59 million to make. It totally blew everyone’s expectations out of the water.

When Ice Age: Continental Drift came out in 2012, the Ice Age movies had become incredibly popular around the world, earning the most money of any animated film that year. The entire series has made a total of $3.2 billion worldwide from its five movies, and it’s become the most important part of what Blue Sky Studios is known for.

This studio is also known for the Rio movies and the Oscar-nominated Ferdinand. However, Ice Age was their biggest success – a rare, original animated franchise that Fox developed themselves, and one that proved incredibly profitable, especially considering most animated films ended up with Disney or Universal.

Disney’s purchase of Blue Sky Studios, which happened when they bought Fox, led to some changes. Disney already owned Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar, both hugely successful animation companies. Adding Blue Sky meant increased expenses and the challenge of merging different work environments. When the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted Disney’s movie theater and theme park income, the company made the difficult decision to close Blue Sky Studios in April 2021. Despite this, the Ice Age franchise continues to thrive.

The Ice Age franchise faced some challenges after the release of The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild in January 2022. This Disney+ spin-off was made without the original voice actors and received mostly negative reviews.

Things are different with the new Ice Age movie, Boiling Point. For the first time, it’s being made by Disney instead of Blue Sky Studios, the team that originally created the franchise. This change is likely to bring a fresh and unique direction to the series, marking a new chapter for Ice Age.

The Release Date of Ice Age: Boiling Point Matters

The timing of this release is interesting, as historically, this month is usually slow for movie theaters. This choice offers clues about how Disney views the Ice Age franchise and its potential.

The initial two Ice Age movies were released in March, followed by the next two in July. The series has never premiered in February, and Disney’s choice to release the newest film then can be interpreted in a couple of ways. One possibility is that Disney isn’t confident Ice Age: Boiling Point can compete with major blockbusters planned for 2027, and is releasing it during a less competitive time to ensure it still makes a profit.

There’s a positive way to look at this release date: February has proven to be a surprisingly good month for launching successful franchises. Both Deadpool and Black Panther were huge hits that debuted in February, and Ice Age has the potential to dominate the month in the same way.

Disney is building a lot of excitement for the new Ice Age movie, which is essentially a fresh start for the franchise. The plot details are being kept under wraps, with a brief description promising a thrilling adventure through a prehistoric world with dinosaurs and lava, featuring Manny, Sid, Diego, Ellie, Scrat, and the rest of the herd. The short trailer doesn’t reveal much about the story, encouraging fans to see it in theaters to find out more.

As a big fan of the Ice Age movies, I’m really glad to see Lori Forte back as a producer. She’s worked on every single one so far, and that’s a huge relief! It makes me hopeful that this new film, Boiling Point, will feel like a natural continuation of the story we know and love, and not just a reboot or something completely different. Having that consistent hand behind the scenes should really help maintain the spirit of the franchise.

Is This The Last Ice Age Movie?

Currently, it’s not officially confirmed if the latest film is the last in the Ice Age series. The franchise developed organically, with each new movie happening because the previous one did well. However, the films have gradually felt less important, and Collision Course – the lowest-earning Ice Age movie – indicated that interest in the characters might be fading.

Beyond being a film itself, Boiling Point is essentially a test for Disney. They need to see if the franchise can still attract audiences to theaters in 2027, especially considering it’s been 25 years since the first movie and 11 years since the last one. Whether a seventh film gets made depends on how well this one performs, and it also needs to appeal to a new generation – the original fans are no longer the primary moviegoing demographic.

While technically the sixth installment, Boiling Point clearly marks the beginning of a new direction for the Ice Age franchise.

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2026-06-07 22:21