Blue Sky Studios

For the production company owned by Sky Group, see Sky Studios.

Blue Sky Studios, Inc.
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryComputer animation
Motion pictures
PredecessorsMAGI
Fox Animation Studios
FoundedFebruary 22, 1987; 37 years ago (1987-02-22)
Founders
  • Chris Wedge
  • Carl Ludwig
  • Eugene Troubetzkoy
  • Alison Brown
  • David Brown
  • Michael Ferraro
DefunctApril 10, 2021; 3 years ago (2021-04-10)
FateClosed[1]
Successor20th Century Animation
Headquarters
Greenwich American Center
Greenwich, Connecticut
,
U.S.
Key people
ProductsAnimation production
Animated films
Number of employees
450[6] (2021)
Parent20th Century Animation
Websiteblueskystudios.com at the Wayback Machine (archived June 9, 2021) (now redirects to disney.com)

Blue Sky Studios, Inc. was an American visual effects and computer animation studio based in Greenwich, Connecticut. It was founded on February 22, 1987, by Chris Wedge, Michael Ferraro, Carl Ludwig, Alison Brown, David Brown, and Eugene Troubetzkoy after their employer, MAGI, one of the visual effects studios behind Tron (1982), shut down. Using its in-house rendering software, the studio created visual effects for commercials and films before dedicating itself to animated film production. It produced 13 feature films, the first being Ice Age (2002), and the final one being Spies in Disguise (2019).[7][8]

Blue Sky Studios was a subsidiary of 20th Century Animation until its acquisition by Disney, as part of their acquisition of 21st Century Fox assets in 2019. Blue Sky was closed down in April 2021 by Disney due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its business operations.[6][9]

Ice Age and Rio were the studio's most commercially successful franchises, while Robots (2005), Horton Hears a Who! (2008), The Peanuts Movie (2015), and the aforementioned Spies in Disguise were among its most critically praised films.[10] Scrat, a character from the Ice Age franchise, was the studio's mascot.

  1. ^ Owusu, Tony. "Disney Closes Animator Blue Sky Studios Amid Cost Cuts". The Street. MSN. Archived from the original on May 18, 2021. Retrieved May 18, 2021. The move resulted from the losses the media group has posted amid the coronavirus pandemic lockdown.
  2. ^ Kilday, Gregg (October 30, 2017). "Fox Animation Names Andrea Miloro, Robert Baird Co-Presidents". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on February 9, 2021. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference LATMillstein was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference VarietyBlueSky2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Vanessa Morrison Re-Ups With Fox, Brian Keane With Blue Sky After 'Ice Age 4′". Deadline. July 18, 2012. Archived from the original on February 9, 2021. Retrieved July 19, 2012.
  6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference DeadlineStudioClose was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "'Spies in Disguise' Crew Gives Us An Exclusive Tour of Blue Sky Studios". The Knockturnal. March 11, 2020. Archived from the original on February 9, 2021. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  8. ^ "Spies In Disguise Coming Soon To Disney+ In The UK". What's On Disney Plus. August 14, 2020. Archived from the original on February 9, 2021. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hollywood Reporter closure was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Alfar, Paolo (March 6, 2020). "Top 10 Blue Sky Studios Movies, Ranked (According To Rotten Tomatoes)". ScreenRant. Retrieved June 20, 2021.