While many considered it to be inevitable, Disney has officially announced that they would be shutting down Blue Sky Studios.
As for 20th Century Fox’s animation division, the studio was acquired by Disney during their purchase of 20th Century Fox back in 2019. As Disney already owns and operates multiple animation studios of their own, many assumed it was only a matter of time before this announcement came.
Blue Sky Studios was initially founded back in 1987 and worked primarily on visual effects before bowing into a full-blown animation studio in the late 1990s. During their run as an animation studio, they churned out thirteen feature-length films including five films in the popular Ice Age franchise, two Rio films, and the Oscar-nominated Ferdinand among others.
With the past year having been financially difficult for many industries, Disney has been hit particularly hard by the ongoing global pandemic. While it’s hard to feel sympathy for one of the most profitable companies in the entertainment industry, between the loss of revenue from wide theatrical releases, docked cruise lines, and theme park closures, Disney is hemorrhaging money right now when compared to their usual income. This has unfortunately led to a number of layoffs and department closures at the company. As the third animation studio under Disney’s ownership behind Disney Animation Studios and Pixar, Blue Sky Studios never really stood a chance of survival when it came time for cuts to be made.
Deadline reports that the final day of operations for Blue Sky Studios will be in April. There are no plans for another studio to absorb the majority of Blue Sky’s employees or their projects, although Disney is working with the studio’s 450 employees to explore open positions at their other two internally owned animation studios.
Blue Sky Studios is based in Connecticut and was the largest animation studio on the East Coast of the United States, while Disney’s other two animation studios are both based on the West Coast in California. Even if Disney found positions for many of Blue Sky Studios’ employees, it would be a drastic change for their daily lives as they would have to move across the country.
The Blue Sky Studios film library and original IP will remain with Disney following the studio’s closure. Disney is actually already working on an all-new series for their Disney+ subscription streaming service based on Blue Sky Studios’ Ice Age franchise, although it is in development at another of their studios rather than Blue Sky.
Sadly, production has been stopped on the studios’ final project which was to be Nimona. The film was to be directed by Patrick Osborne and was planned for release in January 2022. As it had an additional 10 months left in its production, it is being scrapped altogether and will never be completed or released. Nimona was to follow the story of a young shapeshifter that teams up with a mad scientist to expose the ruler of the kingdom in which they reside.
That makes Spies In Disguise (2019) Blue Sky Studios’ final release. The film was produced by Fox prior to the Disney deal but was not released until after the deal had been finalized. It was ultimately distributed by Disney in December 2019 but vastly underperformed at the box office bringing in just $66 million domestically and $171 million worldwide against a budget of $100 million. The film, which starred Will Smith and Tom Holland, was meant to be the first in a franchise that will not be forever remembered as a failed launch.
A full list of feature-length films released by Blue Sky Studios is detailed below.
- Ice Age (2002)
- Robots (2005)
- Ice Age: Meltdown (2006)
- Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! (2008)
- Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)
- Rio (2011)
- Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012)
- Epic (2013)
- Rio 2 (2014)
- The Peanuts Movie (2015)
- Ice Age: Collision Course (2016),
- Ferdinand (2017)
- Spies in Disguise (2019)
Are you sad to see Blue Sky Studios go? Which of their films is your favorite? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and be sure to stick around Geek Anything for more animation updates.
