Why Ice Age 6 should move its Release Date
With Ice Age 6 and Shrek 5 both set for December 2026, I believe that Ice Age 6 must move. Let's dive in.
Last November it was announced by 20th Century Studios that Ice Age 6 is set for December 18, 2026. While it seems like a great release date, especially for an animated feature, I believe this movie should move to another date. Why? Because of Shrek 5. At the time of the announcement, Shrek 5 was still set for July 1, 2026. But a few weeks ago, Universal / DreamWorks moved its release date for December 26, 2026.
When it comes to goodwill, Shrek is now at the top. The last movie was released in 2012 and grossed over 700 million dollars, while Puss in Boots: The Last Wish was released in 2022, received critical acclaim and, despite a pretty poor opening at the box office, was able to gross 485 million worldwide. The buzz for Shrek 5 is certainly there, and I already wrote about how it could be one of the highest grossing movies of 2026, especially if it’s good.
As for Ice Age, Look, at one point, this franchise was one of the biggest. The third and fourth movie grossed over 850 million worldwide each. Not to mention these movies were very popular overseas. But the last movie, Ice Age: Collision Course, received poor reviews, and grossed only 408 million, less than half of its predecessor (although I think it still made some profit, consider the fact that the budget was around 105 million). This is a serious drop. Since then, a Disney+ special was released in 2022, The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild, but this one got bad reviews too.
Putting this movie only one week before Shrek 5 will be a bloodbath. Yes, I believe you can have counter programming, especially in December. We had Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Mary Poppins Returns, Bumblebee and Aquaman all of them in December 2018. Even last December, we had Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Mufasa, both of them were released on the same day, and they were able to gross 489 million and 717 million, respectively).
But this time it’s different. It’s about bringing back the two most popular animation franchises of the 2000s in less than two weeks. Someone should move. Shrek 5 has tons of goodwill and people are really excited for it, while the Ice Age franchise is currently without too much buzz, as far as I know. If it was up to me, I would have moved Ice Age 6 to summer 2026 or summer 2027. Of course, there’s always the chance that the studios will decide to leave it at the current release date and market this as a special double-feature event, “Barbenheimer” style – Ice Shrek? Shrek Age? Who knows…
Like in the case of Shrek 5, above everything, the movie must be solid. Hear me out – they should bring back the baby for the first movie, but as an adult! The nostalgia will be huge!!
As of now, Ice Age 6 is set for December 18, 2026, the same release date of “An Untitled Denis Villeneuve Movie” which will probably be Dune Part Three.
Nostalgia is coming! 🥶