Delayed Reaction: Ice Age: Collision Course

The Pitch: How many times can we remake the same movie without anyone noticing?

I actually like these Ice Age reactions a lot. Not because the movies are anything special, but because the franchise is so curiously durable. In a lot of ways, it is the animated Fast and Furious series. Both started early in the 2000s. Nobody ever thought much about them. Then, a decade later, they're breaking box office records on the back of the foreign box office success. 2012's Continental Drift is the highest grossing movie ever to make >80% of it's money outside the United States. That's pretty crazy, given how seemingly anonymous these films are. The Fast and Furious movies make a lot of sense as mostly international hits. They are big, globe-trotting spectacles. Who doesn't like explosions, fast cars, and pretty people? I've been waiting for the bubble to finally burst for the Ice Age franchise and Collision Course is when it happened. Even before factoring in inflation, the domestic numbers plummeted (down 60% from the next lowest grossing movie in the franchise). Considering that the domestic to worldwide ratio remained about the same as the last movie, that means it took an equally large hit outside the US. While $408 million dollars is nothing to sneeze at, that barely beats how the first movie did 14 years earlier. If nothing else, it's a regression. I'm still betting on there being one more sequel.

Oh yeah, and the movie. It's OK. The cast is too big. Too many characters to service. I've never liked the Scrat stuff and the plot to too similar to what they've done before. I cared so little though, that it's hard for me to go after it too harshly.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend