Anastasia (1997–1999), Ice Age (2002–present) and Rio (2011–present) are the studio's most commercially successful franchises, while Robots (2005), The Simpsons Movie (2007), Horton Hears a Who!

[7] The deal would mostly include original material, though a Nickelodeon executive did not rule out the possibility of making films based on The Ren & Stimpy Show, Rugrats and Doug.

[10] The week of May 6, 1994, Fox Family announced the hiring of Don Bluth and Gary Goldman for a new $100 million animation studio[11] which began construction that year in Phoenix, Arizona.

Following the studio's expansion, Blue Sky produced character animation for the films Alien Resurrection, A Simple Wish, Mouse Hunt, Star Trek: Insurrection and Fight Club.

[4] At this time, there were several animated films on the company's development slate: Dark Town with Henry Selick, Chris Columbus and Sam Hamm, Santa Calls at Blue Sky, and Matt Groening (The Simpsons), Steve Oedekerk and Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) projects.

The Phoenix studio at the time was producing Planet Ice expected in 1999 and directed by Art Vitello and Anastasia producer/directors Don Bluth and Gary Goldman's then soon to be announced project.

[25] Studio management pressured staff to sell their remaining shares and options to Fox on the promise of continued employment on feature-length films.

[citation needed] Instead, Ice Age, Blue Sky's first feature film, was released by Fox in conjunction with 20th Century Fox Animation on March 15, 2002, with financial success and critical acclaim, receiving a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards in 2003.

In January 2007, Meledandri left for Universal Pictures to set up Illumination there with Vanessa Morrison as his replacement while answering to newly appointed 20th Century Fox Film Group vice chairman Hutch Parker.

Morrison moved from the live action division where she handled family-children fare as senior vice president of production.

[27] Morrision was making deal with outside producers like she approved a stop-motion adaptation of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr.

[36] These projects would later be announced during Disney's Investor Day in December 2020 as animated feature films for the aforementioned streaming service.

[37] The first of these projects was an animated reboot of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which was released on December 3, 2021, under Walt Disney Pictures.

[3] On February 9, 2021, Disney announced that it was shutting down Blue Sky Studios in April 2021, the main unit of 20th Century Animation.

In November 8, 2024, during D23 in Brazil, it was officially announced that the studio would return to produce theatrical films starting with Ice Age 6 slated for December 18, 2026.

[50] The lack of box office success, coupled with the rise of computer animation, led Fox to shut down the studios.

[48] From 1997 until 2021, Fox owned Blue Sky Studios, a computer animation company known for the Ice Age franchise.

[51] Fox has had much more success with the studio, with the box office receipts of their films becoming competitive with the likes of Pixar and DreamWorks Animation.