Ice Age Special: Lost in the Tar Pits

Ice Age: Lost in the Tar Pits is a 2020 American computer-animated adventure comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Studios. It is the sequel to Ice Age: Collision Course (2016) and the sixth and final installment in the franchise. Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Lopez, Simon Pegg and Chris Wedge reprise their roles from the previous Ice Age films, with newcomers Michael B. Jordan, Allias Salmon, Jason Momoa and Dafne Keen joining the cast. In the film, the Herd find themselves lost in the valley of the tar pits while they encounter some new animals.

Ice Age: Lost in the Tar Pits was released in the United States in a limited amount of theatres on July 31, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was simultaneously released on video on demand and on Disney+. Distributed by 20th Century Studios and Blue Sky Studios under the 20th Century Animation label, it is the first and only Blue Sky film to be released under the studio's new name, 20th Century Studios. The film received positive reviews from critics, who praised the cast, visual effects, tone, heartfelt scenes, animation, score and Dafne Keen's performance and it was a box office success.

Plot
After the events of the fifth film, Scrat found himself back to Earth after his space adventure and reunites with his prized acorn. However, his acorn was swiped away by an owl, causing the squirrel to pursue it, but the owl was eventually stopped by a young human girl named Taleka. Amazed, Scrat showed her gratitude by kissing her hand after she gave him back the acorn before she leaves.

Cast

 * Ray Romano as Manny, a woolly mammoth and the leader of the Herd.
 * John Leguizamo as Sid, a ground sloth and the founder of the Herd.
 * Denis Leary as Diego, a Smilodon and a member of the Herd.
 * Chris Wedge as Scrat, a sabre-toothed squirrel. In the film, he successfully finds a place to keep his acorn safe.
 * Queen Latifah as Ellie, a woolly mammoth and Manny's wife.
 * Seann William Scott and Josh Peck as Crash and Eddie, two opossums and Ellie's adopted brothers, respectively.
 * Jessie J as Brooke, a ground sloth and Sid's love interest
 * Jennifer Lopez as Shira, a Smilodon and Diego's wife.
 * Simon Pegg as Buck, a weasel and the friend of the Herd.
 * Michael B. Jordan as Drotirick, a bloodthirsty Smilodon who is Soto's older brother and the main antagonist of the film.
 * Diedrich Bader as Oscar, a Smilodon and a former member of Soto's pack, he redeemed in the film.
 * Alan Tudyk as Lenny, a Homotherium, he redeemed in the film.
 * Allias Salmon as Aterox, a young adult American lion who befriends the Herd after his family were killed.
 * Jason Momoa as Ronko, a woolly mammoth and Manny's long-lost big brother. He reunited with him as he and Manny have a great brotherly relationship.
 * Dafne Keen as Taleka, a young Clovis human girl who was adopted by Aterox after being separated from her family as a baby. She speaks in a Latin accent.
 * Blair Underwood and Keegan-Michael Key as Blorg and Cal, a duo of short-faced bears who are the former henchmen of Drotirick. In the film, they betrayed him and helped the herd.
 * Steve Blum as unnamed Macrauchenia thug
 * Kari Wahlgren as unnamed ground sloth thug

Flynn, Raz, Gupta, Silas, Dobson, Rudy, Fast Tony and The Lone Gunslinger appear at the near end of the film and make non-speaking cameos while Kevin Michael Richardson, Fred Tatasciore and Jess Harnell provide the voices of the hyenas.

Production
Production started on April 2019.

Trivia

 * This is Blue Sky Studios’ last film before the studio closed in 2021.
 * The first Ice Age film to use 20th Century Studios logo. All of the Ice Age instalments use the 20th Century Fox logo.
 * At the end of the film, Manny breaks the fourth wall by telling the viewers that he and the Herd will always be there no matter what.
 * John Powell, who composed the three instalments, will be returning to score the film. He did films like Ice Age: The Meltdown, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Ice Age: Continental Drift. This time, he is joined by James Newton Howard who did Green Lantern and King Kong.
 * Jason Momoa’s first animated voice over role and his first animated film. The filmmakers officially cast Momoa as the voice of Ronko following his performance on Aquaman where he played the title lead character in this film. According to Momoa, he said that the character of Ronko has a heartfelt strong emotional equipment because he has a brotherly relationship with Ray Romano’s character because his character understands why Manny lost his old family to humans. He also stated that the loss of his family renders Manny into a loner but he changed for the better and when he met Ray Romano on the set for the first time, he asks Romano to share a scene with him together for the first time in the film.
 * This is the first and only Ice Age film where Scrat has successfully finds his acorn to keep it safe.
 * This takes place after the events of Ice Age: Collision Course.
 * Michael B. Jordan’s first animated film and his voice-over role in the film.
 * This is the first Ice Age film that Scrat doesn’t lose his acorn.
 * Some animals in the film were misplaced such as the hyenas as in real-life, hyenas are native to Africa and Asia.
 * Alan Tudyk and Diedrich Bader are the only actors from the first Ice Age film to both reprise their roles as Lenny and Oscar in the film, respectively.
 * Michael B. Jordan was cast as the voice of Drotirick by the studio, the filmmakers and the directors in the film following his performance on Creed and Black Panther.
 * This film marks the third time Manny makes elephant noises ever since the first film and the Christmas special.