News Analysis India

Tag: Ice Age

  • Ice Age 3: The buck starts here

    By Express News Service

    The Ice Age franchise is completing two decades this year and one of its fan-favourite characters, Buck, is getting his standalone film with The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild. The film, which will stream on Disney+ Hotstar from Friday, has actor Simon Pegg returning to voice the one-eyed weasel. Connecting virtually for a press conference, Pegg says that he had always wanted a film for Buck. “I have been dropping hints about this for 12 years (laughs). The Ice Age story has so many fabulous characters and given how this is the era of the cinematic universe, I don’t think there is another animation franchise more suited to an expansion like this. This is a lovely way to give over some time to not only Buck and Crash and Eddie, but also Zee and other new characters who are welcome additions to this fabulous group.”

    Despite lending his voice for several films like The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, Pegg feels Buck is still a challenging character to pull off. “Buck is in my muscle memory now, because I have played him a few times, but I just have to get a lot of sleep before sessions because they are always extremely energetic as Buck is just full-on all the time. After the voiceover session, I am always exhausted because I put everything into the voice. If it’s a live-action performance, you have gesticulations and expressions to lean on.

    With this work, it all goes through that one facet of your ability to perform; it’s incredibly fun,” says Pegg, who loves this character for many reasons. “I have strong affection for him because he was born the same year my daughter was born. She’s grown up with these films, and with him, and rather strangely, even as this new Ice Age installment comes out, my sister just gave birth this week. So, there’s a new Ice Age baby to take the stories forward (smiles).”

    On account of the pandemic, Pegg had to experience a new set-up for voicing Buck which he found to be intriguing, considering he has never met actor Justina Machado who has lent her voice to Buck’s partner in crime, Zee. “We met over Zoom. The most incredible thing about animation is the assembling of all the pieces and creating chemistry. It was amazing seeing Buck and Zee having this relationship and chemistry. Also, I ended up doing a lot of my sessions from my house. The engineers set up the studio in this room and I would shuffle in. I didn’t wear pants for some of the sessions. For a lot of it, I was wearing my slippers. It has been one of my favourite jobs ever, because I didn’t even have to leave the house,” concludes Pegg, laughing. 

  • Disney to shut down ‘Ice Age’ franchise animation house ‘Blue Sky Studios’

    By ANI
    WASHINGTON: The Walt Disney Co. is closing their ‘Blue Sky Studios’, the animation production house behind the much-loved series Ice Age, Rio, and many more.

    The American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate, Disney has made a move to close the studio that churned out more than 13 iconic films since Fox bought it in 1999.

    According to Deadline, this decision came after Disney faced an economic crisis due to the COVID-19 induced pandemic. Not only this but also due to the monetary losses, the company shut down its theme parks and cruise lines.

    However, the pending project of the Ice age series from the studio library will be helmed by Disney itself.

    An Ice Age series for Disney+ that was first declared during a year ago’s financial backers gathering, is as yet being developed. The ‘Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild’, highlighting the voice of Simon Pegg, is scheduled to show up early by 2022.

    Whereas, the much-anticipated animation feature drama based on the novel by Noelle Stevenson ‘Nimona’, was likewise removed completely from Disney’s schedule and will no longer be released. The film was another Fox title and had 10 months left of creation. It was last scheduled for theatres on Jan. 14, 2022, reported by Deadline.

    Blue Sky Studios was originally founded in 1986 by Alison Brown, David Brown, Michael Ferraro, Carl Ludwig, Dr. Eugene Troubetzkoy, and Chris Wedge, according to the studio’s website. In their early days, the team worked on photorealistic CG effects on Joe’s Apartment (1996), A Simple Wish (1997), Alien Resurrection (1997), and Fight Club (1999). Bunny became their first of what would later grow into a collection of short films in 1998.

    As per Deadline, the last day for the Blue Sky studio will be in April. The number of employees being affected numbers 450. Disney will be working with the employees at the Greenwich, CT-based studio to explore open positions at the other internal studios.