Disney is closing down Ice Age animation studio Blue Sky and canceling its final film

Disney is shutting down Blue Sky Studios, the animation house responsible for the Ice Age movies, according to Deadline. The reason cited by a studio spokesperson is the “current economic realities,” likely referring to COVID, which has hit the movie industry in a number of ways.

Blue Sky previously operated under 20th Century Fox’s animation department but became a part of Disney when the company took over the entirety of Fox’s movie and TV show-making business in 2019. That included access to the X-Men franchise — something that may soon become culturally relevant — and Blue Sky Studios. Disney will be absorbing all of Blue Sky’s characters and IP, including its most popular franchises, Ice Age and Rio. Deadline reports that there are plans for a Disney Plus show featuring Ice Age characters.

The studio also produced a variety of CGI movies I remember fondly from my childhood, like Robots, and some recent movies I really enjoyed, such as 2015’s The Peanuts Movie and Ferdinand. The studio’s latest, and apparently last, movie was 2019’s Spies in Disguise. The movie it was working on, Nimona, is being canceled with 10 months left in production.