Disney to shut down Blue Sky Studios, animation studio behind 'Ice Age'

February 10, 2021 Yesterday, US-based entertainment company Disney announced its plans to shut down, the animation studio behind the  movie franchise. "Given the current economic realities, after much consideration and evaluation, we have made the difficult decision to close filmmaking operations at Blue Sky Studios", Walt Disney Studios said in the statement. According to ', the studio will cease producing a movie-adaptation of ', which was scheduled to be released next year.

Based in, Connecticut, Blue Sky Studios was founded in 1987, and was later acquired by in 1999. Blue Sky's control went to Disney in 2019 when Disney bought assets of FOX Studios for around US$71 billion. Blue Sky had worked on ', , , and '. The studio went on to produce five Ice Age films, two ' movies, ' as well as , which received an Academy Award nomination for best animated feature film.

Disney also owns two other significant animation studios, Pixar and. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Disney has closed and. Disney planned last year to lay off about 32 thousand employees, many from Disney's theme parks. Disney also sold mobile video game unit. Disney reported a US$2.8 billion net loss in the 2020 fiscal year.