Blue Sky Studios: Difference between revisions

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Background

Blue Sky Studios was founded in February 1987 by Chris Wedge, Carl Ludwig, and four other artists and technicians who had previously worked on the 1982 Disney film Tron while employed at MAGI/Synthavision. Blue Sky produced the famous Nicktoons Blob commercial bumper which aired on Nickelodeon from 1993 to 1997. Blue Sky has also produced full-length animated movies beginning with Ice Age in 2002. In 2000, the studio was acquired by 20th Century Fox (now known as 20th Century Studios). On January 5, 2009, the studio was moved from White Plains, New York to Greenwich, Connecticut. Blue Sky also animated 20th Century's final logo for the studio's 75th anniversary. On December 14, 2017, Disney officially confirmed its acquisition of 21st Century Fox's key assets, including Blue Sky. On February 9, 2021, Disney announced they would close Blue Sky in April of that year, stating that functioning a third animation studio wasn't viable due to the financial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, Nimona, the studio's supposed fourteenth theatrical film, had to be switched over to another studio to take over in order for it to be completed. On April 7, 2021, the studio ceased operations, and its assets were now owned by Disney.

1st Logo (March 15, 2002-February 4, 2005)

Nickname: "The Blue Paintstroke"

Logo: On a black background, we see the words "Blue Sky" in white, accompanied by a blue paintstroke running underneath. Copyright info is seen at the bottom of the screen.

Variant: Sometimes, the logo appeared in a white oval. It's probably a prototype of the next logo.

FX/SFX: None for the appearances on the TV spots it appears on.

Music/Sounds: Part of the soundtrack from the trailer.

Availability: Near extinction. It made its only known appearances on two TV spots for Ice Age. It was long rumored that this appeared at the end of the films original theatrical release. The variant appeared on the Robots video game, while the next logo was on the actual film.

Editor's Note: It was unknown whether this elusive logo was real or not for a long time, until it was recently discovered (surprisingly) on the aforementioned TV spots.

2nd Logo (March 11, 2005-July 4, 2009)

Nicknames: "The Blue Sky Shield", "Blue Sky Studios Outline"

Logo: On a plain white background, we see a plain white shield with a blue outline rotating over the gray words "Blue Sky", in the same font as the previous logo. Then the word "studios", in grey, fades in underneath.

Variants:

On Robots (the first movie to have it), the logo is set against the blue sky atmosphere with "studios" in white. The logo fades out, as the camera pans back as the opening credits begin.
On Ice Age: The Meltdown, it takes place in the white background with "studios" in gray. The logo fades out and the camera pans to the left to start the feature.
On Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears A Who!, it is the same as the above variant, but it fades to the blurry opening shot, in which the opening credits begin.
On the 2-D version of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (the last movie to use it), it the same as the previous 2 variants, but the logo fades out and the camera pans up for the opening titles.
A still print version appears on the Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Angry Birds Rio, and Ice Age: Continental Drift video games.

FX/SFX: The circle rotating, fading in of the text.

Music/Sounds: None or the opening theme of the movie.

Availability: Uncommon. Can be seen on Robots, Ice Age: The Meltdown and its video game adaption, Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! and the 2-D version of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (July 1, 2009-July 13, 2012)

Nickname: "The Blue Sky Shield II"

Logo: Same as before, except that the words and outline zoom in slowly and have a drop shadow effect.

Variants:

On the 3-D version of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (the first movie to have it), the logo fades out and the camera pans up to the opening titles.
On the 2-D version of Rio, the background is black and the text below the logo is white.
On the video game adaption of Rio, the drop shadow is lighter.
On Ice Age: Continental Drift (the last movie to use it), the logo it fades to the opening shot.

FX/SFX: The zooming in of the words and drop shadow effects, fading in of the word below the logo.

Music/Sounds: Same as the previous logo.

Availability: Common. The normal version can be seen on the 3-D versions of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Rio as well as Ice Age: Continental Drift in both 2-D and 3-D. Also seen at the end of TV airings of Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas (and at the beginning on home media releases). Also appears on video games based on Blue Sky properties. It was last seen on trailers and some TV spots for Epic.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo (May 24, 2013-December 25, 2019)

Logo: On a white background, we see Scrat from the Ice Age films hopping along a solid blue surface towards an acorn turned on its side. When he reaches the acorn and embraces it, the surface suddenly tips to the right, so Scrat runs to the left and closer to the screen, causing the surface to tip towards the left, becoming increasingly vertical. Scrat panics and scrambles in vain to tip the surface back to the right, but ends up clinging to the vertical surface while his acorn falls off-screen. The camera then zooms out to reveal the vertical surface is the left side of the "B" in "Blue Sky" (the word "Blue" is in cyan while "Sky" is in dark blue), with "STUDIOS" seen below. Scrat then loses his grip from the "B" and falls from the logo off-screen, screaming.

Variants:

On the trailers for Rio 2 and Ice Age: Collision Course, Scrat is holding on to the "B".
On Rio 2, it plays as normal, but it fades to the opening shot.
On The Peanuts Movie, it animates as usual. The text fades out and the black rectangle outline draws in, as the opening titles plays, and black outline circles which becomes winter snowflakes begins to animate, as it dissolves into the opening shot.
A still version can be seen on the trailers for The Peanuts Movie, Ferdinand, and on video games based on Blue Sky Studios properties.
Trailers and TV spots for Spies in Disguise have a custom variant. This was supposed to appear on the film itself, along with a custom 20th Century Fox logo, but they did not make it into the movie.

FX/SFX: Excellent CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: Just the sounds of the surface tipping back and forth, a "whoosh" noise as the camera zooms out, and Scrat (voiced by Chris Wedge) making his little noises; he does his trademark scream at the end as he dives off-screen. None or the opening theme of the trailer for the still version.

Availability: More common than any of the previous logos. Seen on the last films from the company before its closure, which are (in chronological order) Epic, Rio 2, The Peanuts Movie, Ice Age: Collision Course, Ferdinand, and Spies in Disguise.

Editor's Note: None.

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 '''Logo:''' On a black background, we see the words "Blue Sky" in white, accompanied by a blue paintstroke running underneath. Copyright info is seen at the bottom of the screen.
-'''Variants:''' Sometimes, the logo appeared in a white oval. It's probably a prototype of the next logo.
+'''Variant:''' Sometimes, the logo appeared in a white oval. It's probably a prototype of the next logo.
 '''FX/SFX:''' None for the appearances on the TV spots it appears on.