Has 'Nimona' been scrapped? Disney to shut down Blue Sky Studios, the animation house behind 'Ice Age'
‘Nimona’, a fantasy webcomic by the American comic writer and artist Noelle Stevenson, was acquired by 20th Century Animation in June 2015 to be adapted into an animated feature film, with Patrick Osborne set to direct it. Produced by Blue Sky Studios, the film was first scheduled to be released on February 14, 2020.
After Disney's acquisition of Fox, the film’s premiere was pushed first to March 5, 2021, and then to January 14, 2022. But now, a Deadline report says that the film's release may not happen on said date. In fact, this time, it’s not a delay. The film has reportedly been scrapped.
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What happened?
On Tuesday, February 9, Deadline reported that Disney is shutting Blue Sky Studios, the $5.9 billion global-grossing studio and former animation division of 20th Century Fox. During its run, Blue Sky Studios churned out 13 feature films including the ‘Ice Age’ franchise, ‘Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!’, ‘Ferdinand’, ‘Epic’, ‘Robots’, ‘The Peanuts Movie’, and ‘Spies in Disguise’.
The report says that the past year has been challenging for Disney on many fronts due to the pandemic. A studio spokesperson told Deadline, “Given the current economic realities, after much consideration and evaluation, we have made the difficult decision to close filmmaking operations at Blue Sky Studios.”
The report says that the Blue Sky library and IP will remain part of Disney. But the production of ‘Nimona’ is being stopped and the film will no longer be released. ‘Nimona’ had ten months of production still left to complete.
The Blue Sky story
The Blue Sky Studios website chronicles the history of the company. In February 1986, Alison Brown, David Brown, Michael Ferraro, Carl Ludwig, Dr. Eugene Troubetzkoy, and Chris Wedge “sat together in a cramped apartment and fueled only by their determined enthusiasm, decided to pool what little money they had to start their own computer animation company.”
While they had big dreams, Blue Sky’s early days lacked software, money, and clients. The team, as per the website, worked for months without pay in their tiny one-room office equipped with only “three computers and a coffee maker”. After a razor commercial where they created a CGI blade, they caught Hollywood’s eye. The studio was hired for films like ‘Joe’s Apartment’, ‘A Simple Wish’, ‘Alien Resurrection’, and even ‘Fight Club’.
Around this time, the studio also created its own first short film, ‘Bunny’ in 1998. As per the studio’s creative director Chris Wedge, “It was a risk, it was the only thing we’ve done purely because we wanted, without any commercial gain in mind, but it paid off bigger than anything else we did.”
In 1999, Twentieth Century Fox bought Blue Sky and with the resources of a major studio behind it, the studio started production on its first animated feature, ‘Ice Age’. In 2019, 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios were acquired by The Walt Disney Company.
“We’ve come a long way from the humble beginnings of a one-room office with three computers, but the compulsion to tell thrilling stories is exactly the same,” the Blue Sky website says. “In fact, that one-room office is still nearby - a nine-minute drive to be exact. Either way, the best chapters of our story are yet to come and we can’t wait to animate them.” But are they anymore?
The last day for Blue Sky will reportedly be in April. As per Deadline, 450 Blue Sky employees are being impacted by this shuttering. Disney will be working with the employees to explore open positions at the other internal studios.