Why 'Ice Age' Producer Blue Sky Studios Is Shutting Down

Blue Sky Studios, which is owned by Disney and the producer of "Ice Age," is shutting down in April due to the effects of the pandemic.

Blue Sky has produced popular movies like “Robots,” “Spies in Disguise,” “Rio” and more. It was also once 20th Century Fox’s animation division that grossed $15.3 billion worldwide with 13 releases.

Disney acquired all of 20th Century Studios and its assets in March 2019, which included this animation studio, according to Deadline. Since the pandemic hit all aspects of Disney, this was one aspect that the company found not monetarily viable.

“Given the current economic realities, after much consideration and evaluation, we have made the difficult decision to close filmmaking operations at Blue Sky Studios,” a studio spokesperson told the news outlet.

Many took to social media to express their disappointment.

I'm absolutely heartbroken and disappointed to hear that Disney is shutting down Blue Sky Studios. They made so many fun animated films and hearing they're being shut down is really upsetting. It's a major loss for the animation scene and I'm seriously not happy with this choice. pic.twitter.com/vuhcSYHImM
— Animated Antic (@Animated_Antic) February 9, 2021

the blue sky news is really upsetting. corporate mergers and monopolies rot the entertainment industry from the inside out. we’re always worse off with less studios around
— Jess Marfisi (@jessdrawz) February 9, 2021

Roughly 450 employees will be cut. Disney reportedly has plans to work with Greenwich, a Connecticut-based studio, to help those employees find another position within the company.

“Nimona” was the only movie in production at Blue Sky and production has stopped with no plans to release the film. Transfering to another platform hasn’t been announced.

Meanwhile, an “Ice Age” spin-off series is already in production at Disney+.