Summary
- Watching the Ice Age movies in order is easy, as the franchise has a linear timeline with a simple storyline centered around Manny, Sid, Diego, and the popular character, Scrat.
- Despite being successful overall, the Ice Age movies have faced mixed reviews for its recent entries, with 2016's Collision Course being a disappointment compared to previous films. This could indicate a decline in audience interest, and future films will need to work hard to feel fresh.
- The Ice Age series includes short films that add humor and expand on the films' stories, with most of them featuring the fan-favorite character, Scrat. These shorts have been released as special features on DVDs and before screenings of other films.
Watching the Ice Age movies in order is a relatively simple task since the beloved animated franchise has followed a linear timeline with its releases. The original Ice Age was helmed by Chris Wedge and follows a wooly mammoth named Manny (Ray Romano), a sloth called Sid (John Leguizamo), and saber-tooth tiger Diego (Dennis Leary) as they team up to protect a human baby. The real breakout star proved to be Scrat, a squirrel looking for a place to bury his acorn. Scrat (voiced by Wedge), was only supposed to be a minor character, but his popularity saw him being given an increased role in the franchise.
The Ice Age movies have proven to be enormously successful, and they have collectively grossed over $3.2 billion worldwide (via Box Office Mojo). In addition to the main entries, 2022 saw the arrival of the poorly-reviewed The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild, a spin-off movie released exclusively to Disney+ that focused on Simon Pegg's title character. Ice Age has also received several short films, many of which focus on the further adventures of Scrat and there have even been TV specials like 2011's Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas.
Ice Age Movies In Order (By Release Date & Chronologically)
- Ice Age (2002)
- Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (2006)
- Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)
- Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012)
- Ice Age: Collision Course (2016)
- The Ice Age Adventures Of Buck Wild (2022)
The Ice Age movies may have been very successful, but the last couple of entries have received mixed reviews and weren't well received in general. 2016's Ice Age: Collision Course was a particular disappointment and while it was a solid success - grossing over $400 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo) - it made less than half of the previous entry. This may be a sign audience interest in the series itself is waning, so if a theatrical Ice Age 7 does move ahead, the filmmakers behind it will have to work hard to make it feel fresh again.
This is particularly true following the panning that greeted The Ice Age Adventures Of Buck Wild, which was criticized for everything from the writing to the lackluster animation (via Rotten Tomatoes). While the last movie was quite poor, the TV series Ice Age: Scrat Tales was well-received and focused on the beloved squirrel even introducing his son, Baby Scrat.
Ice Age Short Films In Order (By Release Date & Chronologically)
- Gone Nutty (2002)
- No Time For Nuts (2006)
- Surviving Sid (2008)
- Scrat In Love (2009)
- Scrat's Continental Crack-Up (2012)
- Cosmic Scrat-tastrophe (2015)
- Scrat: Spaced Out (2016)
- The End (2022)
Along with the successful feature films, the Ice Age series has also seen its fair share of short films that add a few extra laughs to the experience. Most of the shorts center around the neurotic squirrel Scrat, and they serve a variety of purposes from simple laughs to expanding upon the individual films. 2022's The End was a love letter from the creators to the fans and showed Scrat finally getting his precious acorn after a two-decades-long pursuit. Most of the shorts appeared as special features on DVD releases, but others screened before films like 2015's Peanuts.
What's Next For The Ice Age Franchise?
Though Disney acquired the franchise when they purchased Fox, they haven't exploited the intellectual property to its fullest. The disappointment of 2022's The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild was palpable, and it seems the future of the series might be on hold. The possibility of a seventh Ice Age film was broached during the promotion process of the sixth movie, and producer Lori Forte made it clear that another film would be dependent upon audience reaction to the sixth. Considering how poorly the sixth film performed critically, it seems as if the future of the Ice Age movies is in jeopardy.