Blue Sky Studios is an American computer animation film studio based in Greenwich, Connecticut. Founded in 1987 by one of the visual effects companies behind Tron, it has been owned by 20th Century Fox since 1997. Using its in-house rendering software, the studio had worked on visual effects for commercials and films, before releasing its first animated film, Ice Age, in 2002 and completely dedicating itself to producing animated films. The studio has produced nine animated films, with Ice Age and Rio being its most successful film franchises.
History
1987â€"97
Blue Sky was founded in February 1987 by Chris Wedge, Carl Ludwig, Dr. Eugene Troubetzkoy, Alison Brown, David Brown and Michael Ferraro, who had previously worked on the Disney film Tron while employed at MAGI/Synthavision. Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, the studio concentrated on the production of television commercials and visual effects for film. Some of the more memorable commercials that Blue Sky worked on during this time period were a Chock Full O' Nuts spot with a talking coffee bean, and an intro for a Nickelodeon block called Nicktoons that featured the show's mascot, Nick Boy, realized as human-shaped orange goo. Using their proprietary animation pipeline, the studio produced over 200 spots for clients such as Chrysler, M&M/Mars, General Foods, Texaco, and the United States Marines.
1997â€"present
In August 1997, 20th Century Fox's Los Angeles-based visual effects company, VIFX, acquired Blue Sky Studios to form a new visual effects and animation company. The new company produced visual effects for films such as The X-Files, Blade, Armageddon, Titanic and Alien: Resurrection. In 1998, Chris Wedge realized long unfulfilled dreams and produced the Academy Award-winning animated short film, Bunny.
Due to the F/X market crash, Fox decided to leave the visual effects business. In March 1999, they sold VIFX to another visual effects house, Rhythm & Hues Studios, and considered selling Blue Sky next. At the time, the studio got the opportunity with the Ice Age script to turn it into a comedy. In 2002, Ice Age was released to great critical and commercial success. The film got a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and established Blue Sky as the third studio, after Pixar and DreamWorks, to launch a successful CGI franchise.
In January 2009, the studio moved from White Plains, New York into Greenwich, Connecticut.
In 2013, Chris Wedge took a leave of absence to direct Paramount Animation's live-action/computer-animated film Monster Trucks.
Technology
The studio is notable for its proprietary CGI Studio, a rendering software system like Pixar's RenderMan. Initially developed by Eugene Troubetzkoy, Carl Ludwig, Tom Bisogno and Michael Ferraro, CGI Studio was notable for its use of ray tracing as opposed to REYES-like scanline rendering prevalent throughout the CG industry.
Filmography
Feature films
Released films
Upcoming films
Films in development
Television specials
Short films
Commercials
- Braun "The Last Word" (1992)
- Nicktoons "Show Open" (1993)
- Chock full o'Nuts "Complements" (1993)
- Nestlé "Cookie Jar" (1993)
- Pepsi "Swingers" (1996)
- Rayovac "Fierce Creatures/Super Stomper" (1997)
- Target "Toys" (1998)
Contributions
- Square One Television (1987) â€" "Mathman" segments
- Joe's Apartment (1996) â€" dancing and singing cockroaches
- Alien Resurrection (1997) â€" the aliens
- A Simple Wish (1997) â€" numerous characters and special effects
- Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) â€" several alien creatures
- Jesus' Son (1999) â€" sacred heart, "liquid" glass, and screaming cotton ball effects
- Fight Club (1999) â€" the "sliding" penguin
- The Sopranos (2000) â€" the "talking fish" in the episode "Funhouse"
- Titan A.E. (2000) â€" 3D animation: creation of the new world
- 20th Century Fox logo (2009) â€" improved and upgraded animation, extra searchlight and palm trees. This logo was first seen on Avatar.
