Ice Age creator announces date for newest animated feature, to be set in Rio de Janeiro

Twentieth Century Fox Animation president Vanessa Morrison recently announced that Rio, the latest animated feature film from Blue Sky Studios, will be released by Fox on April 8, 2011.

Rio is a story of a nerdy macaw who leaves the comforts of his cage in small town Minnesota and heads to Rio de Janeiro. He embarks on the adventure of a lifetime, learning to open himself up to all that life has to offer along the way.

The project has long been nurtured by the Brazilian-born Saldanha, who is putting the finishing touches on Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, the newest chapter in the blockbuster Ice Age franchise, which opens on July 1, 2009. Saldanha has been one of the principal creative forces at Blue Sky Studios since 1993. He teamed with Chris Wedge to co-direct Ice Age in 2002, and followed up with Robots in 2005. Ice Age was nominated for an Oscar in 2003. Saldanha took the directorial reins on its sequel, Ice Age: The Meltdown in 2006, the third computer-animated feature film from Fox and Blue Sky Studios, which was the most profitable animated movie of the year and one of the biggest in Fox’s history.

Fox and Blue Sky Studio’s most recent venture, 2008’s Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who!, featured Jim Carrey and Steve Carell, and was one of the year’s top grossing films.