New Ice Age 4 Characters and Trailer

The official Ice Age Twitter feed has introduced us to a bunch of the new characters that we'll be meeting in the fourth entry in the Ice Age series, Ice Age: Continental Drift. The new characters range from members of the pirate crew (top) that we've seen in the trailers and clips thus far, to new members of Manny and co.'s group.

We've been introduced to self-appointed Master of the Seas, Captain Gutt (Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones), the main antagonist of the film, and his pirate crew, consisting of:

• Shira (Jennifer Lopez) - Captain Gutt's saber-toothed first mate, and presumably a later love-interest for Diego.
• Flynn (Nick Frost, Hot Fuzz) - "a British elephant seal with a heart of gold".
• Raz (Rebel Wilson, Bridesmaids) - "a prehistoric kangaroo" and the ship's weapons expert.
• Squint (Aziz Ansari, 30 Minutes or Less) - a prehistoric rabbit, and a valued member of Gutt's crew.
• Silas (Alain Chabat) - a 'Blue-footed Booby' that "flies ahead of the ship to ensure smooth sailing".
• Gupta (Kunal Nayyar, The Big Bang Theory) - "the Bengali badger" who acts as the ship's Jolly Roger.

There are a bunch of other characters joining the franchise as well, including some new Mammoths - Ethan, his posse and Louis - and some new sloths - Sid's absent family who show up to dump his elderly Granny on him.

In addition to this huge glut of new characters, iTunes Movie Trailers have the second trailer for the film for us, which you can watch here. It certainly enforces the epic feel of the film, as well as Blue Sky Studios' usual comedy; Ice Age 4 is certainly looking good so far!

Ice Age: Continental Drift arrives in cinemas on 13th July.

First Full-Length Ice Age 4 Trailer

After many clips and short films, both online and preceding films, we finally get the first full-length, theatrical for Ice Age: Continental Drift. The fourth installment in the ever popular Ice Age franchise is due for release on 13th July.

Whilst I'm not overly sold on the idea of a fourth Ice Age - the third, after all, was rather trite and cheesy - I have faith in Blue Sky Studios and there'll always be a place in my heart for Manny and friends. Also, the trailer doesn't look half bad; reasonably funny, what seems like the next logical step in terms of plot, and some truly stunning animation.

Head on over to iTunes Movie Trailers to check it out.

Ice Age Parodies The Artist

Ahead of a new trailer being released (on 5th March) for the fourth installment in Blue Sky Studios' much loved Ice Age franchise, Ice Age: Continental Drift, the studio have rolled out a parody of Oscar frontrunner, The Artist.

The video (above) is a black-and-white montage of clips from previous Ice Age films and shorts, showing the love between Scrat and the acorn that was such a popular side-story in the first 3 films, and it seems only topical given that the Oscars are this Sunday, and The Artist is almost a certainty.

Ice Age: Continental Drift is due for release on 6th July.

"Scrat Continental Drift"

You may recall a while back, I told you all about a clip from a planned Blue Sky Studios short film, Srat's Continental Crack Up, starring Scrat from the Ice Age franchise. The clip garnered attention as many thought it a teaser trailer for Ice Age 4, rather than a short film, my theory was that it was both, and I appear to be right.

The full short, embedded above, premiered with select showings of Guilliver's Travels and Rio and acts as a promotional trailer for Ice Age: Continental Drift, due out in July of next year.

Most recently, artist and animator Ric Sluiter (who was part of the team for the original Circle 7 planned Toy Story 3) posted the above picture on his blog, citing it as "Scrat Continental Drift Colour Key"... What?
This seems a tad conflicting, as this appears to be a shot from the above short film, called "Scrat's Continental Crack-Up", whereas Ice Age 4 is to be subtitiled, "Continental Drift", the title on this colour key is a combination of both. This could be an error on Ric's part or perhaps, if the short film really is nothing more than a teaser trailer, a hint that scenes from the short will feature in Ice Age 4.

Hmmm... I guess we'll have to wait to see.

Scrat's Continental Crack-Up

          
Recently, the video embedded above made its way online. The video is believed to be a trailer for the upcoming Blue Sky Studios short film, Scrat's Continental Crack-Up, however many claim it is a teaser trailer for the upcoming 2012 feature film, Ice Age: Continental Drift (or Ice Age 4). However, it may well be both...

A short, starring Scrat (a staple of the Ice Age movies), this far into work on Ice Age 4, and concerning continental plates moving, like the film, is surely linked to it.

Regardless of the mystery and speculation, the clip looks great (I am still concerned about the film as a whole though after the cringe fest that was Ice Age 3), however we also have this screenshot of the film to fuel the fire that this is indeed a trailer, as both debuted within weeks of each other.

Don't forget Blue Sky Studios' next feature film, Rio, out next year, you can watch the trailer here.