Ice Age: The Meltdown

***Ice Age: The Meltdown*** is a 2006 American computer-animated comedy adventure film produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox. As the first sequel to the 2002 film *Ice Age*, it focuses on The Herd escaping an upcoming flood, during which Manny finds love. It was directed by Carlos Saldanha, co-director of the first film, with the music composed by John Powell. The original voice cast — Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary and Chris Wedge — is joined by Queen Latifah, Seann William Scott and Josh Peck.

The film premiered in Belgium on March 1, 2006. It was eventually released in 70 countries, with the last release being in China, on June 9, 2006. *Ice Age: The Meltdown* received mixed critical reaction but was a box office success by earning over $660 million. Three more sequels were released — *Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs* in 2009, *Ice Age: Continental Drift* in 2012 and *Ice Age: Collision Course* in 2016.

## Voice cast

### Additional Voices

* Emily Anderson
* Jack Angel
* Shaun Baumel
* Bob Bergen
* Claudia Besso
* Kyle J. Bogert
* Rodger Bumpass
* Paul Butcher
* Blanca Camacho
* John Cygan
* Jennifer Darling
* Olivia DeLaurentis
* Harrison Fahn
* Bill Farmer
* Crispin Freeman
* Spencer Lacey Ganus
* Jess Harnell
* Tim Kirkpatrick
* David H. Kramer
* Sherry Lynn
* Danny Mann
* Laura Marano
* Madeleine Martin
* Matthew P. McCarthy
* Mickie McGowan
* Laraine Newman
* Jan Rabson
* Zack Shada
* Thomas Sharkey
* Ross Simanteris
* Rachel Stand
* Ariel Winter

## Production

After the release of *Ice Age* in March 2002, executive producer Chris Meledandri commented on the potential *Ice Age* sequel: "The success of *Ice Age* is something that gives us additional momentum. It's too early to say, but it's certainly something we'll explore." By June 2002, Blue Sky Studios was already working on the sequel. In 2003, Lori Forte, the producer of the first film, signed a multi-year deal with Fox Feature Films to develop and produce animated films, including a potential *Ice Age* sequel. During an interview with Denis Leary in July 2003, he said that he had expressed hope to reprise his role as Diego in the sequel: "I think there's a story – the people at Fox are working on one right now. I think they're talking about going back into the studios something around late Fall." In that same year, 2006 was reported as the planned release year, and by August 2004, its final release date, March 31, 2006, had been set.

Initially developed under the working title of *Ice Age 2*, it was renamed by June 2005 to *Ice Age 2: The Meltdown*, but for the film's final release in March 2006, the creators decided to remove the number *2*, calling it *Ice Age: The Meltdown*. However, in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Mexico, and Australia, its title is promoted as *Ice Age 2: The Meltdown*. Also, most of the sponsors of the film had the *2* in their packaging after the name change (they however did edit the *2* out of their TV ads).

Carlos Saldanha, the director of the film, strove to make the characters eyes appear alive and not mechanical. “You want the facial expressions to work. I wanted it to be so that if you looked into their eyes, you would know what they were thinking.” in his own words. The characters, despite being from the last movie, were remodeled for the sequel.

## Sequels

**Upcoming:** *The Pixelators: Supercharged* (2023)