DVDizzy Forum

I need to rewatch Blue Sky's movies, but I can't say I really love any of them with the exception of Peanuts. Still I can't help but to feel saddened by the fact that a 30 years old studio is being closed overnight without even a chance to complete a feature they have been working on for so long. Disney should have at least tried to sell it

This has more details coming from employees:

Disney is shutting down the animation studio behind the 'Ice Age' movies. Some staffers say they're shocked at the lack of communication and feel betrayed that its final movie won't be released.
https://www.businessinsider.com/blue-sk ... own-2021-2

I imagine their reactions are much the same as most of us outsiders-looking-in: they probably knew the studio wasn't long for this world after Disney bought FOX, but they thought they'd at least let them finish what they were working on first.

Five Things I’ll Miss About Blue Sky Studios: Recollections Of A Former Employee
https://www.cartoonbrew.com/opinion/fiv ... 01871.html

Looks like the first link is behind a paywall.

One of the great things about the studio is that it was on the other side of the country. Being that far away, it could evolve in its own direction, and it felt more independent. Unlike Pixar and Disney, which has grown to look more and more similar to each other in the last decade or so.

And they are right about feeling betrayed, because in my opinion, they really were betrayed. They were working on a project that had been greenilghted a long time ago, and was in the middle of production. Pulling the plug like that is unheard of.
Simply closing the entire studio is such a waste. Like so many others have asked themselves; why not just try to sell it? If I was Jeff Bezos or someone similar, I would have paid for it myself.

Rumpelstiltskin wrote:Looks like the first link is behind a paywall.

Oh, I read it using the Pocket app, and if you're quick and load it before the paywall screen loads, you can still read it on Pocket...

Rumpelstiltskin wrote:Simply closing the entire studio is such a waste. Like so many others have asked themselves; why not just try to sell it?

I think the biggest "conspiracy theory" is that Disney just buys and throws it its competition, so it's not competition anymore... But if Disney still owned it, Disney would profit from the films, so it doesn't quite add up. It's sad all around.

Disney's Divinity wrote:they probably knew the studio wasn't long for this world after Disney bought FOX, but they thought they'd at least let them finish what they were working on first.

Yeah, reading the employees' discuss Nimona, it sounds like it really was going to be a special film, so it's a huge shame that it won't see the light of day.

blackcauldron85 wrote:

Rumpelstiltskin wrote:Simply closing the entire studio is such a waste. Like so many others have asked themselves; why not just try to sell it?

I think the biggest "conspiracy theory" is that Disney just buys and throws it its competition, so it's not competition anymore... But if Disney still owned it, Disney would profit from the films, so it doesn't quite add up. It's sad all around.

In addition, with the exception of Ice Age and Rio franchises, non of their films passed $300 millions, so they weren't really a "competition", at least not in the way Dreamworks used to be.
I heard that Disney did try to sell the studio but no one wanted it, but it's mostly internet talk, I don't know if it's true.

I love Robots !

farerb wrote:In addition, with the exception of Ice Age and Rio franchises, non of their films passed $300 millions, so they weren't really a "competition", at least not in the way Dreamworks used to be. I heard that Disney did try to sell the studio but no one wanted it, but it's mostly internet talk, I don't know if it's true.

Blue Sky is an Oscar-winning studio with plenty of successful movies under their belt, I doubt there wouldn't be someone interested. Blue Sky was also in Connecticut, which allowed them to take advantage of state tax credits and so their films had lower budgets than the average Disney, Pixar and DreamWorks films. Thus their movies didn't need to make the $400 or $500 million that, say, Disney Animation's CG movies have to in order to turn a profit. Spies in Disguise was their first genuine box-office flop and interesting, that's the first one Disney distributed. Some of their recent films, like The Peanuts Movie, Ferdinand and Spies in Disguise were also critically well received with Ferdinand getting nominated for an Oscar and a lot of people feeling Peanuts should have been nominated.

I think Netflix would certainly be interested, since they're investing a lot in animation and funding a lot of creative projects from major talents. Disney obviously wants to compete with Netflix, as they're devoting a lot of energy and resources into Disney+. So it's such a strange decision to invest less in animation rather than more, especially with what a massive success Soul apparently was on Disney+. Blue Sky could create more original content for the streaming service.

It also stinks they strung the studio along for two years with the expectation that they would finish and release Nimona. It's such a waste of resources to spend so much time and money on a project that's so close to completion and then cancel and not release it. DreamWorks did the same thing with a movie called BOO: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations. That one was also almost finished, with fully rendered scenes and everything, but DWA still pulled the plug and a rough cut is probably sitting in a hard drive somewhere gathering dust. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if a disgruntled Blue Sky employee leaked a bunch of footage from Nimoma.

I didn't know that before Ice Age, they were trying to adapt William Joyce's Santa Calls. It's interesting they ended up making a movie based on one of his books later on with Epic.

Illumination Founder Chris Meledandri Mourns The End Of Blue Sky Studios And Celebrates Its Origins
https://deadline.com/2021/02/blue-sky-s ... 234694658/

William Joyce also produced, designed and came up with the story for Robots. Always felt his sensibilities were a good fit for Blue Sky.

Off into the Wild Blue Sky: Reflecting on the ‘Ice Age’ Studio’s Legacy
https://www.animationmagazine.net/featu ... os-legacy/

Blue Sky Took $49M In Excess Tax Credits, Say Auditors
https://www.cartoonbrew.com/law/blue-sk ... 03723.html

I read about that the other day. But I wouldn't be surprised if most of these big companies like Disney and Dreamworks do it, too, considering how they like to screw their workers regularly. I almost wonder if Disney's looking to give Blue Sky bad press to cover up the negative press they themselves are receiving for shutting them down with a film featuring prominent gay characters that was 70% complete.

I think that story is being blown out of proportion. Blue Sky is a film production company. They made films that were released in theatres worldwide. They were perfectly in their right to qualify for the film production tax credit.

I think that Disney made a huge mistake. Not just in terms of loosing the company and jobs but with what they could have done with it.

Disney could have used the studio to bring back the Fairy line with more movies and/or series. And, in general, keep making animated movies/series. They would be on par on superior to what Disney Toons used to do.

Well it seems like WDAS themselves are doing what Disneytoons used to do like RBTI, Frozen II and the TV shows (the only difference is better production values), so I don't see why Disney needs Blue Sky for that.

farerb wrote:Well it seems like WDAS themselves are doing what Disneytoons used to do like RBTI, Frozen II and the TV shows (the only difference is better production values), so I don't see why Disney needs Blue Sky for that.

I think this is harsh. "Prestigious" studios like Pixar have made quite a few more sequels than WDAS. Re the TV shows - I would personally prefer if WDAS made solely theatrical animation, but I cannot possibly have a problem with them creating animation for TV as long as it is high quality and worthy of the Disney Animation moniker. Since none of these series are yet available for public consumption, it is way too soon to judge.

Also, this really isn't the first time WDAS has created animation for TV. The last decade gave us the Prep & Landing TV specials, and the studio created animation exclusively for Walt Disney's TV programmes in the 1950s and 1960s. I haven't watched these programs myself, but I recall that Walt was adamant that the quality should be comparable to the theatrical animation.

So yeah - WDAS' output has been largely theatrical, but they have made contributions to TV and other formats too (even video games!)

With the exception of the Toy Story sequels, pretty much all of them were poorly received and gave Pixar a bad name, which they themselves even acknowledge. I don't actually mind sequels if they actually have the same quality as their original output and (to me at least) RBTI and Frozen II didn't. Maybe the TV shows will be different.

I think the most head-scratching thing about them closing Blue Sky Studios is Disney's recent announcement of focusing a large amount of attention on building Disney+. And what any streaming service needs is a continuous flow of content, both new and library. It's a major reason why Netflix got so big and why they will continue to invest a lot in new productions to keep those subscribers coming. Blue Sky could have supplied Disney+ with new content and if Disney had made the decision to make Blue Sky a studio that produced movies exclusively for D+, well, then they don't have to worry about theatrical grosses anymore. It's a win-win for everyone.

I think in the streaming animation game, Netflix has more exciting projects coming than Disney+, if I'm being entirely honest. Gullermo del Toro's Pinocchio, Henry Selick's Wendall and Wild, My Father's Dragon, Mitchells vs the Machines, Wish Dragon, Back to the Outback, Chicken Run 2, Arlo the Alligator Boy, The Magician's Elephant to name a sample. And those are just the animated movies. If Disney+ had become a home for upcoming Blue Sky films, that would have been a major get for D+. It's disappointing they didn't see it that way.