This shouldn’t come as a total surprise, but it’s still sad news, indeed. Deadline reports Disney is shutting down animation house Blue Sky Studios, once part of 20th Century Fox. The final day of operation will be in April.
While Blue Sky might not have been the biggest animator around, they produced a number of blockbuster films, most notably the Ice Age franchise, which Disney is developing a Disney+ series for now. Other hits included Rio, Ferdinand, Horton Hears a Who!, Robots, and my personal favorite, The Peanuts Movie.
The final movie by Blue Sky was the Will Smith/Tom Holland comedy Spies in Disguise, which earned $171M worldwide.
Some of the Blue Sky employees may be able to find jobs in other Disney positions. Maybe. But with Disney having Pixar and their own successful Walt Disney Animation Studios, the need for another group just wasn’t there.
I’d love it if the Blue Sky employees got together and started their own thing. We need more than just the Disney style out there, otherwise they won’t be motivated to try new things and push the animation envelope.
