The author of this article is @North of the Little Wan family
Find the spiritual corner of everyone in the light and shadow
Not long ago, Disney announced that it decided to close its Blue Sky Studio this month due to its inability to support the normal operation of three animation studios (Disney Animation, Pixar and Blue Sky Studio) at the same time.
For a time, the audience and animation practitioners were in an uproar, and the Blue Sky Studio, which has accompanied us for 34 years, wants to say goodbye to us.
Farewell letter from the co-founders of Blue Sky Studios
Maybe some viewers are a little unfamiliar with the name, but when it comes to coming up with its work, I believe that everyone who likes animation will feel sorry: the "Ice Age" series, the "Rio Adventure" series, "The Adventures of the Bull", "The Adventures of robots", "Snoopy: Peanuts Movie" and so on....
As one of the most senior 3D animation studios in the United States, Blue Sky Studio once shouldered too many of our childhood dreams.
Although it is about to disappear into the torrent of Disney's reform wave, the good memories it has left us will always exist, and in this sad news, Xiao Wan wants to share some stories about Sky Blue Studios with you.
In the world of animation, Blue Sky Studios is considered a unique island – it is the only feature-length animation studio on the East Coast of the United States, and it also carries the glory of the dreams of that era.
Blue Sky Studios was originally founded in 1987, and the main founders came from all walks of life, some were electrical engineers, some had worked at NASA on the tracking system of the Apollo lunar module, and some people came from marketing and financial backgrounds...
The founders of Blue Sky Studios
The studio's original business was to produce CG ads and logos for film, television, and entertainment programs, and like Pixar, Blue Sky Studios quietly started with its own technology.
With excellent creative and special effects production techniques, they quickly attracted the attention of major film companies, and the first to throw an olive branch to Blue Sky Studios was now the owner Disney.
In 1982, Blue Sky Studios participated in the production of Disney's classic science fiction film Electronic World Championship, contracting most of the special effects animation of the film.
As the first cyberspace movie in history, the whimsical creativity and amazing special effects of "Electronic World Championship" not only made Disney earn 33 million at the box office, but also opened a window for sky blue studios.
Since then, customers from Hollywood have flocked to the scene, and special effects orders have continued. Blue Sky Studios has produced many different styles of film special effects for 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures, including some classic works that we are familiar with.
For example, some of the virtual scenes in "Titanic", the terrifying monsters in "Alien 4", and the building collapse special effect at the end of "Fight Club" are the brainchild of Blue Sky Studios.
However, Blue Sky Studios was not satisfied with its own success in the field of special effects, and creative director Chris Wedge began to strive to create more narrative works.
So in 1998, Blue Sky Studios decided to use its own technology to enter the hottest animation industry at that time. That same year, they released a 7-minute animated short film, Mrs. Brown Rabbit.
The short film won the 71st Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1999 for its groundbreaking light rendering technology and unique perspective.
Since then, Blue Sky Studios has begun to metamorphose, not only continuing to insist on its own creative and distinctive commercial animation production, but also influencing the development of American long-form animation.
If Disney opened the door to world animation with a small mouse, then Blue Sky Studios started a new journey with a small squirrel.
In 1999, 20th Century Fox successfully acquired Blue Sky Studios as its own animation production division.
Blue Sky Studios also used the abundant resources of 20th Century Fox to start producing its first commercial animated film, "Ice Age".
"Ice Age" tells the story of three animals with very different personalities that had to get together during the prehistoric Ice Age, because of the sudden abandonment of a human baby.
The vitriolous mammoth, the rugged giant tree otter, and the scheming saber-toothed tiger together, they cross the treacherous and cold glacier, overcome the odds, and send a human baby back to their home.
Although the effect of Ice Age is somewhat outdated from the current point of view, blue sky studios at that time relied on their own independently developed three-dimensional renderers to be at the forefront of animation technology in the world.
What seemed very advanced at the time, coupled with a prehistoric story that did not fall into the cliché, made "Ice Age" a huge box office success, with a box office of $46.3 million in the first weekend and a total box office of $383 million, making the series a golden sign of Blue Sky Studios.
And the little squirrel Scullater, designed for the opening of the film, has become a household animation star.
Blue Sky Studios then launched four Ice Age films, which have grossed more than $3.2 billion worldwide.
Among them, 2009's "Ice Age: Dawn of Dinosaurs" grossed $886 million, becoming the world's number one animated film that year.
As of 2019's "Becoming a Secret Agent", Blue Sky Studio has produced a total of 13 high-quality long-form animated films.
Among them are not only the world-renowned animation IP, "Ice Age" and "Rio Adventure" series, but also the word-of-mouth masterpiece "Snoopy: Peanut Movie" that uses breakthrough technology and the Oscar-nominated best feature animation "The Adventures of the Bull".
Before announcing its closure, Blue Sky Studios was working on the animated film Nimona, based on the comic of the same name.
The medieval magic adventure animation is said to be 75% in production, but with the confirmation of the studio's closure, viewers may never see the film again.
The only good news is that Ice Age 6 won't be affected by studio closures and will be released in 2022, but it won't be Blue Sky Studios that will make it anymore.
And "Rio Adventure 3" is also in the process of intensive preparations, and I believe that it will meet with us in some form in the near future.
34 years is enough to change some people and things, but some things can't be changed, such as the happy memories that Ice Age brings us.
Those moments of watching Blue Sky Studios animation with friends seem like it was just yesterday.
Xiao Wan believes that Blue Sky Studio is still accompanying us, and behind that former glory, there is no end. It's just that when it no longer exists, the memories that were once dusty will be more cherished by us and the memories will be endless.
Note: Some of the pictures in this article come from Douban and the Internet, if there is infringement, please take the initiative to contact us.