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Ice Age 6 Is Happening And Will Be In Theaters In 2026

Disney confirmed at the D23 Brazil event today that Ice Age 6 is in production and will be released in theaters sometime in 2026.

There were a lot of casualties when Disney acquired 20th Century Fox in 2019. People lost their jobs, and no one was really sure what the future would look like for many creatives. One of the casualties was Blue Sky Studios. The animation studio was founded in 1987 and was chugging along as part of 20th Century Fox animation for a long time. They never quite gained the notoriety of Pixar or Dreamworks, but they put out good films that brought in a ton of money and were favorites for an entire generation. They produced thirteen films in total, but the ones they are probably the best known for and the ones that grossed the company $6 billion in revenue across five theatrical films is the Ice Age franchise. The first film was released in 2002, and sequels were released in 2006, 2009, 2012, and 2016. A large pile of short films and two television specials were also released in 2011 and 2016, respectively.

However, despite all of those wins and other critically acclaimed films, Blue Sky was closed down by Disney two years after the Fox acquisition in April 2021. There was a lot of drama about this, including how Disney dropped the ball on the animated adaptation of Nimona, which eventually ended up being saved by Netflix. Disney isn't a company that leaves money on the table, and the Ice Age movies are massive today. So it was a surprise to exactly no one when Ice Age 6 was confirmed at the D23 Brazil event today. We got a short video confirming the movie, and the description confirms that the film is in production and that "Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah, Denis Leary, and Simon Pegg are returning for an all-new big screen adventure!"

According to the video, Ice Age 6 is also getting a theatrical release, which will be released in theaters in 2026. The Disney release schedule has a lot of openings in 2026, but none of them are technically listed as 20th Century releases and that is what this film should be listed under. So your guess is as good as ours as to where this one is getting released on the calendar. It's still a shame what happened to Blue Sky, and there is a good chance the way Disney dismantled that studio could leave a bad taste in the mouths of animation enthusiasts going into Ice Age 6. 

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