KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 — Blue Sky Studios, the animation studio behind the Ice Age films has finally let Scrat, the hyperactive squirrel have his acorn after 20 years of being foiled by the Arctic elements.
The clip, which sees the lovable saber-toothed squirrel given his wish of tucking into the all-elusive acorn, was released to mark Blue Sky’s last production as a studio.
“In the final days of Blue Sky Studios, a small team of artists came together to do one final shot.
“This shot is a farewell, a send-off on our own terms,” said the video's caption.
Many fans of the Ice Age films fondly remember the adventures of Manny the woolly mammoth, Sid the sloth, Diego the saber-toothed tiger, and the running gag of sidekick Scrat never being able to eat his acorn in peace.
Blue Sky Studios was a computer animation company active from 1987 to 2021, most widely known for their animated feature films in the early 2000s to 2010s including Rio, Robots, Horton Hears a Who! and The Peanuts Movie.
Following the Disney and 20th Century Fox merger in 2019, Blue Sky Studios remained under Disney Animation until the pandemic impacted their business negatively.
On April 7, 2021, co-founder Chris Wedge announced on social media that Blue Sky Studios was shutting down permanently, thanking fans of the films and creators behind the studio.
A letter from Blue Sky Co-Founder, Chris Wedge.
— Blue Sky Studios (@blueskystudios) April 7, 2021
With the news of Blue Sky’s closing, we send 34-years worth of gratitude and appreciation to our friends and fans throughout the world. 💙 pic.twitter.com/uN4h4wVzvz
Following the farewell video posted nearly a year after the studio's closure, fans who grew up with the films took to Twitter to share their sentiments.
It's such a simple scene... but knowing that poor man's journey. Getting his acorn is such a beautiful way to say goodbye to @blueskystudios https://t.co/e1tgFIOqwq
— 𝕂ℝ𝕀𝕊 (@krztophr) April 14, 2022
How to make a whole generation weep in 35 seconds https://t.co/WoIclzHfa4
— Jillian Clare (@jillianclare) April 14, 2022
Beautiful ending for a great movie licence which followed me during all my childhood
— ArcheD6 (@D6Arche) April 13, 2022
The Ice Age franchise, however, won’t be ending anytime soon as The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild was released as a feature on Disney+ on March 25 and a sixth Ice Age film is reportedly in the works, though it is unclear if it will be part of the main story or another spin-off.