It was just revealed that Disney is shutting down Blue Sky Studios!
The Walt Disney Company acquired the animation studio when it purchased 20th Century Fox, and now, will be closing it down, Deadline reports.
“Given the current economic realities, after much consideration and evaluation, we have made the difficult decision to close filmmaking operations at Blue Sky Studios,†a Disney spokesperson said.
Disney already has two other animation studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar.
Blue Sky is responsible for such movies as the Ice Age franchise, Ferdinand, Horton Hears a Who, Robots, Rio, The Peanuts Movie and Epic, as well as the most recent release, Spies In Disquise.
The studio had one film in production, Nimona, and it will reportedly be stopped and no longer be released. Disney+ is also working on an Ice Age TV series.
Blue Sky, which will close in April, had about 450 employees who will be impacted, and Disney will reportedly work with employees to try and find them positions at other internal studios.
Many fans learned of the news and took to Twitter to share that they are sad and upset that Blue Sky Studios is being shut down. Check out fan reactions below…
Gutted about Blue Sky. Feeling for all the artists there and very sad about NIMONA, a story I love, and representation SORELY needed in family films.
— Bruce Wright (@heybrucewright) February 9, 2021
The news of blue sky studios shutting down makes me worry about the future of feature animation when feature is already so synonymous with Disney.
— Nessa Tweneboah✨ (@Thepotenpro) February 9, 2021