Are the ‘Ice Age’ Movies on Disney+?
Perhaps the biggest selling point of Disney+ has been its comprehensive library of content. After all, the plus side — pun intended — of the company owning Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and National Geographic is that all of the above are fair game for subscribers.
With Disney’s acquisition of Fox, the possibilities grew even larger. Suddenly, The Simpsons became a major selling point for the streaming services. Films like Avatar and the Home Alone franchise (well, until recently) were also on the table. However, Disney+ has so far been selective about which Fox movies to release to subscribers.
Naturally, Fox films like the Die Hard series aren’t suited to Disney audiences. But what about the studio’s Ice Age franchise?
The ‘Ice Age’ franchise is much more successful than you might think
The Ice Age series kicked off in 2002, earning $386 million worldwide. With that level of return on investment, the film — produced by Blue Sky Studios (Spies in Disguise) — quickly exploded into an entire franchise. Altogether, Ice Age has inspired four sequels, seven short films, two TV specials, and assorted merchandise.
Collectively, the five Ice Age movies have earned more than $3.2 billion worldwide. Released from 2002 to 2016, none of the films was particularly appreciated by critics. Only the first earned a Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Nevertheless, the franchise remains one of the most successful animated franchises ever, following only Despicable Me and Shrek.
Is the ‘Ice Age’ series streaming on Disney+?
With that much of an audience ready to stream Scrat’s latest antics, the Ice Age films feel like an excellent fit for Disney+. Yet, none of the films are available for subscribers to stream. The only related project listed on the site, as of this writing, is the Easter-themed 2016 special Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade.
The reason behind this, as tends to be the case with streaming services, likely boils down to licensing deals. According to JustWatch.com, most of the Ice Age films are now streaming on DirecTV. Ice Age: The Meltdown is also streaming on Starz, while Ice Age: Collision Course is available to FXNow subscribers.
We know Disney+ is developing TV series for both Ice Age and Rio, another Blue Sky property. So clearly Disney is interested in the property. We imagine that — as appears to be the case with other Fox series — the Ice Age movies will make their way onto Disney+ as soon as they can. For now, Disney might as well focus on the properties not tangled up in deals that predate its acquisition of Fox.
Other Fox titles that aren’t available on Disney+
Subscribers might not be able to dive into the Ice Age franchise just yet. But that series is far from the only Fox property Disney+ isn’t currently streaming. In the United States, subscribers still don’t have access to Fox’s X-Men franchise, though this might be changing soon. The complex contracts behind the scenes has already created a difficult spot for streaming services.
For instance, none of the other Blue Sky films Fox produced — including Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! and The Peanuts Movie — are on Disney+. The same can be said for Fox hits The Croods, The Boss Baby, and the Alvin and the Chipmunks movies. Similarly, PG-13 fare like Independence Day, Mrs. Doubtfire, and the Planet of the Apes franchise is absent.
Who can say when Disney+ will expand the Fox side of its library? In the meantime, all subscribers can do is focus on the myriad options the streaming service still offers. At least we still have Baby Yoda.
