"Ice Age 6" Gets Release Window

Get ready to head back to the Pleistocene era as Manny, Sid, Diego and the rest of the herd will soon return to screens. 

Disney and 20th Century Animation announced Friday that “Ice Age 6” is in the works. 

In a video announcing the entry, Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah, Denis Leary, and Simon Pegg, who have all led the voice cast of the family franchise, announced that they are coming back for a new adventure. The movie is currently in production.

The last “Ice Age” movie, “Collision Course,” opened in theaters in 2016, grossing $408.5 million globallly. It’s a franchise that’s had legs — the first movie, “Ice Age,” bowed in 2002. 

There have also been several shorts and series featuring various woolly mammoths, ground sloths, saber-tooth tigers and other prehistoric creatures who populate the movies, as well as a 2022 spin-off, “The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild.” Audiences have been more receptive to the films than critics — the last entry suffered an 18% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Disney didn’t offer an update on when “Ice Age 6” will debut in cinemas. 

There have been big changes at the companies that make the franchise. In 2017, Disney announced plans to buy most of 21st Century Fox’s film and television operations, and with them the rights to franchises such as “The Simpsons,” “X-Men,” “Alien,” and yes, “Ice Age.” That sale was completed in 2019. 

The new “Ice Age” will be the first film in the franchise released in cinemas under Disney’s ownership.