Here it is... released today in front of the Simpsons Movie (which is awesome) and exclusively online at AOL.

If you have plans to see the Simpsons Movie (and who doesn't), make sure you get there a little early to catch the trailers. The first trailer for our next film, Horton Hears A Who!, starring Jim Carrey and Steve Carell will be showing in front of the Simpsons.

We're getting a screening tomorrow. Mmmmmm popcorn.....

Nobody here is surprised that we did not get nominated for Best Animated Film in the Oscars this year. Especially since the field was limited to 3 films. But we're all pretty proud that the follow-up animated short, "No Time For Nuts", featuring Scrat was nominated for Best Short Film (animated). 

Yay, at least we get to win something

Although Scrat and his preshistoric buddies from Fox/Blue Sky’s Ice Age: The Meltdown may have been snubbed by many of the year-end critics and awards groups, they are laughing all the way to the bank. According to a report released last week by Kagan Research, the movie was the most profitable, widely released feature of 2006. Produced with an estimated price tag of $256.4 million, Ice Age: The Meltdown brought in $1.1 billion during its all-release windows, placing it high on the list of Kagan’s profitability index.

read the entire story on Animation Magazine  

Blue Sky's lucky numbers this weekend: 2, 21, 70, 68, 21 (again), 1, 3, and 1 (again)After much anticipation, "Ice Age (2) The Meltdown" finally opened this weekend. We've It earned $21.7 million on Friday it's opening night. I went and saw it in Union Square with a bunch of friends and was encouraged by the fact that the 6 evening shows that night were all sold out.Yesterday, we all peeked at Box Office Mojo to see how we fared the rest of the weekend and freaked out seeing the estimate of a $70.5 million opening weekend. I reloaded the page 3 times to make sure I wasn't seeing something wrong. Today, as is usually expected, the estimates were rounded down to the actual numbers reported for the weekend. Ice Age The Meltdown took the top spot with $68 millionIt is now the 21st biggest opening weekend in history above "Star Wars Episode 1", and Pixar's "Monsters Inc." and "Toy Story 2".We are the #1 biggest opening in history for the month of March. Blue Sky now holds all 3 top March movies with "Ice Age The Meltdown", "Ice Age", and "Robots" respectively.We currently are the #1 biggest weekend box office opener for 2006. Okay enough of that... we are pretty excited over the success of Ice Age The Meltdown.  Phones were ablaze yesterday with calls and text messages of disbelief. Don't get me wrong, we all had faith the movie would do well, but nobody expected it would do quite this well. It will be interesting to see how much staying power it has. I think it should hold pretty strong, but with "Magagascar 2" "The Wild" coming April 14th that could prove interesting...

12 months later... it's done. That's not a typo. 12 months.

The first commercials for Ice Age: The Meltdown have been posted online. We saw some of them in a meeting the other day but one thing is standing out. There is a line in one of the commercials that was replaced. Instead of the word, "Damn!", a beaver says, "Dang!"  Is 'damn' really still a swear word? TV has been more and more lenient in language with continuous use of the word 'ass' and other borderline material. Even cable networks have started allowing the four letter words occasionally. Sure, "Ice Age: The Meltdown" is targeted towards kids, but 'Damn!' (said in a very animated and comical way) doesn't strike me as offensive. Perhaps that's it. Perhaps they just didn't want to run the risk of offending people with it. Although... I question the type of person who would be offended by it. The line in the movie has more context, it's not just a character "swearing", but still. The line is extremely funny as it was written, and coincidentally, the voice is my friend George (aka "the talent"). We're not sure who overdubbed the commercial, but it definitely doesn't have the humor the original line had. Perhaps trading a good funny line grabber, for not offending the way-too-easily offended. It's a wash in my book.Do kids need to hear the word? While I'd imagine most kids who see this film will be  well beyond 'damn', most animated films these days have a slew of ass, poop, and fart jokes built right in (yes, prior Blue Sky films included). I think this is worse. Enough of my banter. Not a big deal really, but I still wonder, is 'damn' still a swear word? Even to the religious population? 

So it's official, the movie has been re-titled domestically as Ice Age: The Meltdown. Out with the deuce. Good riddance. We got a pretty good explanation of how it came to be today and all I can say is it makes sense. It's a little late in the game, but the main marketing blitz hasn't begun yet. Internationally, the movie will remain "Ice Age 2" as the title without the two doesn't translate as universally.Found some wallpapers and IM icons provided by promotional partner, ConAgra Foods.  Lighting just finished. We're in the home stretch and people are getting very stoked.

So with just over 2 months until the release, Ice Age 2 items are showing up at Amazon , Toys-R-Us, and in grocery stores (I picked up my limited edition Scrat Acorn-shaped Eggo Waffles last week).

Production's still in full force, but we're almost done... and then it's a free month off baby.