Ice Age: Collision Course

***Ice Age: Collision Course*** (also called ***Ice Age 5: Collision Course*** or simply known as ***Ice Age 5***) is an American 2016 computer-animated science fiction comedy film and a sequel to 2012 film *Ice Age: Continental Drift* and the fifth installment in the *Ice Age* franchise. It was released on July 22, 2016. The film received negative reviews from critics and was an American box office bomb, grossing $65 million in the US. The film, however, was more successful other countries, with a gross of $345 million in those areas. In total, the film grossed $410 million worldwide against its $105 million budget. It stars the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Adam DeVine, Keke Palmer, Jessie J, Jennifer Lopez, and Queen Latifah.

## Synopsis

Scrat's epic pursuit of his elusive acorn catapults him into space where he accidentally sets off a series of cosmic events that transform and threaten Planet Earth. To save themselves from peril, Manny, Sid, Diego, and the rest of the herd leave their home and embark on a quest-filled adventure full of comedy and excitement while travelling to exotic new landscapes and encountering a host of colorful new characters and *Ice Age: Collision Course* animal characters and *Ice Age: Collision Course* main characters.

## Plot

The film opens, as usual, with Scrat (Chris Wedge) trying to find some place to store his acorn. Before he can stick it in the ice, he falls through some ice and into what first seems to be a cave. Scrat puts the acorn on a pad that turns on a giant flying saucer. He bursts it out of the ice block it was trapped in and out into space. After hitting the planets like pinball or pool balls, and creating the solar system, Scrat ends up shot out of the saucer with the acorn. He decides to stick it into an asteroid, naturally causing it to split and send it hurtling toward Earth.

Down on Earth, Manny (Ray Romano) and his daughter, Peaches (Keke Palmer), are playing hockey with a turtle shell with Crash (Seann William Scott) and Eddie (Josh Peck) as announcers. They're joined by Peaches' fiancé, Julian (Adam DeVine), a lovable mammoth. Ellie (Queen Latifah), Manny's wife, and Granny (Wanda Sykes) join them on the ice rink. Julian gives Ellie flowers, which Manny is annoyed with, just like every other thing Julian does, even though everyone else loves him. Julian then gives Manny a giant bear hug, which Manny is very uncomfortable with. Ellie then pulls Peaches away for something private.

Sid (John Leguizamo) is practicing a proposal for another sloth named Francine (Melissa Rauch) and he brought her to a Romantic Area, where he proposed to her with a clam shell, but she rejects the offer and breaks up with him. Sid tried to convince her to stay with him including the fact that he planned their future: Their wedding, their eight kids, and their burial plots. He even hired a Mariachi Band. She explains that they've only been on one date, that had lasted fourteen minutes. Sid tried to change her mind, but she said he was too clingy for her. She then plucked Sid off her back, as he wanted her to give him a piggyback ride on her back and walked out, dissatisfied. As she left, Francine told herself she should start dating outside her species. Sid asked if this was about the bikini he made her wear, unaware it was poison ivy. This made Francine angry and she threw the bikini offscreen at Sid's face.

Manny talks to Diego (Denis Leary) over Ellie having been acting weird. Manny asks Diego if Shira (Jennifer Lopez) ever giggles. Diego glances over to his wife, who is ferociously chasing a gazelle. Diego answers that his mate isn't a big giggler.

Manny finds Ellie and all their other animal friends having organized a party for their anniversary, which Manny totally forgot. Before that can become obvious, fireworks start going off in the sky, which everyone thinks is Manny's gift to her. Around this same time, Diego and Shira watch kids play, and think of their own kids. They end up scaring a young aardvark and a young start. During the party, Julian lets it slip that he and Peaches will be moving away from Manny and Ellie after getting married, even though they believed the two of them would live near them as neighbors. Moments later, a meteor comes falling toward them all. The animals run for cover as a full-blown meteor shower starts coming down. The herd runs into a cave and waits it out.

Underground, a family of Dino-Birds, Gavin (Nick Offerman), and his two kids Gertie (Stephanie Beatriz) and Roger (Max Greenfield), swipe an egg from a triceratops. Buck (Simon Pegg) a weasel, swoops down and chases after the dino-birds, retrieving the egg and returning it to its mother. Buck then comes across an old stone pillar that prophecizes a doomsday event, which he takes with him to the surface. The dino-birds decide to follow him and kill him. The herd looks outside the cave and sees everything nearly in total ruins. Buck crawls out of the hole from underground and reunites with his friends while meeting Shira, Granny, Julian, and a grown-up Peaches. Buck pulls out the a Stone Tablet and explains that every few millions of years, Earth gets cleansed by a gigantic asteroid that crashes in the exact same spot, so if they can head to the crash site, they can perhaps figure out a way to stop this asteroid from hitting. As they head out, the dino-birds hear their plan, and Gavin thinks they can avoid it since they can fly and avoid the crash, but Roger calls him out on that being a bad idea, so Gavin berates him like always. Gavin tells Roger he'd be useless if he didn't have his mother's eyes. Roger spots the herd with his great eyesight and they head off.

On their way, the herd picks up some rocks that happen to be magnetized. Since Crash and Eddie are confused (or just way too dumb to understand), Buck brings them inside his mind to meet Neil deBuck Weasel (Neil deGrasse Tyson), along with Pythagoras Buck and Robo Buck to explain the magnetic attraction of the rocks. The herd figures that if they get enough of these rocks, they can propel the asteroid away from Earth.

As Scrat continues to get his nut, he uses the ship to cause some trouble on Earth. He pulls the moon around the planet to cause water to rise, which works to let the herd pass through. Then he hits another planet and causes an electric storm. The animals protect each other from the threat. Buck, after escaping the storm hears a baby, and runs inside. He then adopts the baby pumpkin as his own, naming her Bronwyn, even though the herd finds it strange. Manny and Ellie try to get in the way of Peaches and Julian's plan to move away. Manny first plays hockey with Julian, but since the guy isn't very coordinated, Manny accidentally whacks him in the face with the puck and causes him to fall into the icy water. Later, Ellie (with help from Sid, Granny, Crash, and Eddie) sets Peaches up with some problems she and Julian could face as parents. Peaches quickly takes care of everything like a champ. The herd rests for the night. The dino-birds stalk them and send Roger to get Buck. He flies into the cave, but he ends up taking Granny instead. She isn't afraid of the dino-birds, even when Gavin swallows her whole. She drags Gavin around from inside his stomach, trying to get out. Gertie helps her dad cough up Granny.

In the morning, the herd notices Granny is missing. They hear her yelling and see that the noise is coming from a crashed asteroid that is filled with thousands of magnetic crystals, calls Geotopia. They find Granny getting a massage from a bunny named Teddy (Michael Strahan). The herd is met by a kind sloth named Brooke (Jessie J), who instantly falls for Sid, and he reciprocates. She calls her minicorn squad, Bubbles and Misty (Lilly Singh) to get Sid. The Shangri Llama (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) makes the herd do some yoga exercises as Buck tries to ask him for help in launching the magnetic crystals up in the air to stop the incoming asteroid. The Shangri Llama refuses since the asteroid crystals are what has kept him, Brooke, and the other animals living in the asteroid young and attractive.
Brooke asks Sid to be her life mate, which he accepts. He wants to give her a nice crystal as a gift, so he picks one out of the wall, which causes the whole asteroid to fall apart and make the animals look like their proper ages, including Brooke. The Geotopians chastise Sid. However, when it becomes clear the danger they are in, Brooke rallies the other animals to help the herd plug up the geysers so they can throw the crystals into an active volcano to shoot them into the sky to pull the asteroid off course. As they were working, Buck looked up into the sky to determine the time impact of the asteroid, witnessing that the mammals were ahead of it's timing of colliding with Earth.

Meanwhile, Scrat prepares to head back to earth, activating the ship. Unfortunately, he ends up crashing into the asteroid, causing it to head towards earth faster. Noticing this, the animals started to work harder with getting the biggest crystal in. As they set the plan in motion, the dino-birds swoop in, prevent the animals from getting in the largest crystal by knocking it over in a ditch, and try to kill Buck, but he appeals to Roger and helps him convince Gavin and Gertie to help out so that they can all survive. The dino-birds help pull the biggest crystal toward the volcano, but it is too heavy to push in. Manny tries to do it with Julian, but Julian suggests they let it roll down the hill so that it can eventually roll into the volcano. The plan works, but the crystals don't shoot up until Granny plugs up the last geyser. The asteroid then flies off-course and back into space. The animals celebrate.

Sid and Brooke say goodbye to each other, giving each other drawings to remember one another. Granny also decides to stay, since she thinks Geotopia is fantastic. After Sid leaves, the Geotopians get into a hot tub, where a crystal falls in. This makes everyone young again, including Brooke, Granny and Teddy (these last two get engaged).
The rest of the herd gathers for Peaches and Julian's wedding. Manny and Ellie finally accept that their girl will be starting her own family soon. Diego and Shira then tell the same kids they scared earlier the story of how they helped save the world. Brooke arrives at the wedding and reunites with Sid, then sings a song for the party.

Neil deBuck Weasel then takes us to Mars to show that it was once a hospitable planet. This changes when Scrat shows up and dries the place out, making it uninhabitable. It kills strange mars creatures, one witnessing it all. He gets back in his ship and flees, ending the film from there.

During a mid-credits scene, Scrat appears again with his acorn, but his snout gets slammed by a door. When he tries to get his acorn, he ends up getting beaten by the door several times, until he quickly runs through. Scrat grabs his acorn and blows a raspberry at the door, until it opens vertically, smacking him. This causes the acorn to bounce into a room where there are several doors that stands between the acorn and Scrat. Scrat, looking shocked, slowly gets up and groans, walking towards the next door. Scrat's yells are then heard as the UFO flies through space.

## Voice Cast

### Main characters

* Ray Romano as Manny, a woolly mammoth, the leader of The Herd and Ellie's husband.
* John Leguizamo as Sid, a ground sloth, the founder of The Herd, the love interest of Brooke and Granny's Grandson.
* Denis Leary as Diego, a saber-tooth tiger, the member of The Herd and Shira's husband.
* Queen Latifah as Ellie, a female woolly mammoth, Manny's wife and Crash and Eddie's adopted sister.
* Simon Pegg as Buck, a one-eyed weasel and a dinosaur hunter who reunites with The Herd after his home is destroyed by the Drift.
* Jennifer Lopez as Shira, a female saber-tooth tiger, Diego's wife and former first mate of Captain Gutt's pirate crew.
* Seann William Scott and Josh Peck as Crash and Eddie, two Opossum and Ellie's adopted brothers.
* Neil deGrasse Tyson as Neil deBuck Weasel, a weasel astronomer who exists in Buck's mind.
* Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Shangri Llama, a yoga-loving llama and the spiritual leader of Geotopia.
* Jessie J as Brooke, a ground sloth who is a resident of Geotopia and the love interest of Sid.
* Keke Palmer as Peaches, a young female woolly mammoth, Manny and Ellie's daughter and Julian's wife.
* Adam DeVine as Julian, a woolly mammoth and Peaches's husband.
* Wanda Sykes as Granny, an aging ground sloth, Sid's grandmother and Teddy's girlfriend.
* Melissa Rauch as Francine, a ground sloth who has a close relationship with Sid as she is his ex-girlfriend and the minor antagonist.
* Michael Strahan as Teddy, a fearless rabbit, a resident of Geotopia and Granny's boyfriend.
* Nick Offerman as Gavin, a Dino-Bird of the herd and the father of Roger and Gertie.
* Stephanie Beatriz as Gertie, a Dino-Bird of the herd and Gavin's daughter.
* Max Greenfield as Roger, a Dino-Bird of the herd and Gavin's son.
* Chris Wedge as Scrat, a saber-tooth squirrel.

## Production

The concept of *Collision Course* was deeply rooted in a scene from the first *Ice Age* film where Manny and his friends are walking through an ice cave and they spot a spaceship that's encased in ice, an item that inspired this film in the series. As with the third film, which was also inspired by the ice cave scene in which the herd comes across a dinosaur that was incased in ice, the team went back to the first film to search for a possible inspiration for this next installment. The characters were first hand-drawn on animation software, complete with color and animated clips of the characters doing specific actions. They were then sent to be hand-sculpted with clay, and ultimately scanned into CGI software and animated around the model.

The "Figaro's Aria" sequence which involved Buck saving an egg from a trio of dromaeosaurs proved to be one of the most challenging sequences for Blue Sky Studios' animators, as it involved a continuous uninterrupted shot that ran for around two minutes long. It was one of the first scenes put into production but also one of the last to exit production due to its time-consuming and difficult structure, as the team would only be able to produce three or four seconds of footage a week.

The recording session took place in Los Angeles, California since most of the actors live there while the studio is based in New York City. Director Mike and co-director Galen T. Chu would take turns travelling to L.A. to head the recording sessions. In the film, Simon Pegg sang a rendition of "Figaro". Jesse Tyler Ferguson was offered the role after the producers saw his performance in *Modern Family]*. It is his first time working in an animated film. *Ferguson blew out his voice on the first day of the recording session because he did a lot of yelling. He then took a few days off and came back later to finish his part. He admitted that he struggled the first time he heard his voice come out of his character's mouth. As a result, he decided to stop watching interviews of himself on television because he found them to be "too weird".*

A promotional poster, shown in June 2015, at the Licensing Expo, revealed the film's full title: *Ice Age: Collision Course*

## Release

Initially the film was scheduled for release on July 15, 2016. However, the release was delayed to July 22, to avoid competition with the *Ghostbusters* reboot that was also scheduled for July 15. An extended sneak peek of the movie in the form of a short film called *Cosmic Scrat-tastrophe* was attached to theatrical showings of Blue Sky Studio's *The Peanuts Movie* on November 6, 2015.

## Reception

### Critical Response

The film received massive negative reviews from critics, with many calling it the worst film in the franchise. It scored a 18% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 34 "generally unfavorable reviews" on Metacritic.

### Audience Response

Audiences are very mixed-to-negative about this film. Some like it, while tons of fans hate this film. Some would even go as far at to say that this film doesn't even exist in the *Ice Age* continuity. It holds a 39% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. The film earned a "B+" from CinemaScore. Many fans consider it the weakest *Ice Age* film and that not even Buck could save this film. However, this film was yet to become a cult classic.

### Box Office

The film tanked in the U.S, only grossing $64 million against its $105 million budget, but it was a success internationally, grossing $344 million outside of the U.S. Its worldwide total was $408 million, which is successful, despite being the worst *Ice Age* film ever made.

## Trivia

* This is the only film out of the franchise where Manny doesn't say that he's poofy, since it's proven when he's shocked by lightning.
* This is also the only film to have a mid-credits scene.
* Coincidentally, this film was released on John Leguizamo's 52nd birthday.
* This is the first *Ice Age* movie since the original film not to have John Powell compose the score. The original film had David Newman compose the score, while John Debney provides the score for the fifth film.
* This is the first *Ice Age* film to use the banana peel slip sound effect (sometimes called "zoom away") originally from various Hanna-Barbera cartoons.
* Is the lowest-grossing *Ice Age* sequel, having grossed only $408 million worldwide. It is also the lowest-grossing *Ice Age* film in the U.S, making only $64 million.
* Though it Was demolished at the box office, the film was still a success.
* It is the most the poorly-reviewed *Ice Age* film with a 18% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 34 on Metacritic.
* Often considered the weakest *Ice Age* film.
* Besides having the worst reviews of the series, it lost money facing competition with Pixar's *Finding Dory* and Illumination's *The Secret Life of Pets*.
* It was the only movie in the franchise to not become the Highest-Grossing Film of the Year.
* The idea of the film came from the first *Ice Age* film where the characters come across a spaceship encased in ice.
* The fourth highest-grossing *Ice Age* film.
* With the film's release date set in 2016, roughly four years after *Ice Age: Continental Drift'*s release in 2012, this is quite similar to the four-year gap between *Ice Age* (2002) and *Ice Age: The Meltdown* (2006).
* Louis made a cameo appearance since his voice actor Josh Gad was busy doing his projects.
* The film was released on the 10th anniversary of the series first sequel, *The Meltdown*.
* Some scenes and lines that were shown in the trailers and TV spots that did not end up in the final film include:
	+ Crash and Eddie were on top of Diego saying "*You just got burned!*"
	+ Diego tries to do the caterpillar on the Shangri Llama.
	+ Sid was bouncing while Manny and Diego watch on.
	+ Buck was using different lines in the video of Buck's Sing along song.
	+ Sid, Diego, and Manny were fuzzed up in the different settings

## See also

* *Ice Age* franchise
* *Ice Age: Collision Course* Transcript

1. ↑ *Ice Age 5* name revealed to be *Ice Age Collision Course*!
2. ↑ *Ice Age 5* name revealed to be *Ice Age Collision Course*!