Watching the Ice Age Movies in Order to Bring Out Your Nomadism!

ice age movies in order

Ready for a wild ride through the Ice Age? This iconic animated franchise has captured hearts with its hilarious humor, thrilling adventures, and unforgettable characters. From Manny the Mammoth to Sid the Sloth, the Ice Age crew has become a beloved part of pop culture. 

Remember that time Blue Sky Studios first introduced us to this prehistoric world in 2002? It was a game-changer! The original film and its sequels quickly became box office hits, spawning short films and introducing new, wacky characters along the way. 

Unfortunately, Blue Sky Studios closed its doors in 2021. However, the Ice Age adventure isn’t over yet!

Disney has picked up the torch and is planning to continue the series, giving fans even more reasons to laugh, cheer, and root for their favorite woolly mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, and sloths. 

In the meantime, why not revisit the classic Ice Age movies? You can catch up on the hilarious antics of Manny, Ellie, Sid, Diego, and the ever-distracted Scrat. And don’t forget about the spin-off, Ice Age: Adventures of Buck Wild, which introduces the zany Buck and his dinosaur buddies. 

All The Ice Age Movies In Order

All The Ice Age Movies In Order

If you want to know how many Ice Age movies are there for your viewing pleasure, it’s a bridge you can cross when you get there. In this article, we will enumerate and explain the Ice Age movies in order. Let’s get started!

Let us set the record straight and enlist the films in order, both chronologically and by their release date. Let’s get right into it, or as Sid puts it, “bada-bing, bada-boom.”

MovieYear
Ice AgeMarch 15, 2002
Ice Age: The MeltdownMarch 31, 2006
Ice Age: Dawn of the DinosaursJuly 1, 2009
Ice Age: Continental DriftJuly 13, 2012
Ice Age: Collision CourseJuly 22, 2016
Ice Age: Adventures of Buck WildJanuary 28,  2022

The Ice Age movies in order also include short films that have been released intermittently. Here are the short films in order of their release:

  • Gone Nutty – November 26, 2002
  • No Time for Nuts – November 21, 2006
  • Surviving Sid – December 9, 2008
  • Scrat’s Continental Crack-Up – December 25, 2010
  • Scrat’s Continental Crack-Up: Part 2 – December 16, 2011
  • Cosmic Scrat-tastrophe – November 6, 2015
  • Scrat: Spaced Out – October 11, 2016

The Ice Age Movies and Short Films In Order

The Ice Age Movies and Short Films In Order

This franchise has not made any prequels yet, so your best bet is to watch the movies in their order of release. You need not watch the short films to understand the central theme of the story because they are shorter spin-offs of the characters in the films. But if you are in the mood to enjoy Ice Age fully, we suggest the following order of the films for you to watch.

Ice Age

Ice Age

This is the first of the franchise and was a massive hit at the box office. It begins with Sid, the silly yet empathetic sloth who has been abandoned by his own kind. He joins Manny, alone mammoth, on their mission to return a human child back to his father. Diego, a sabretoothed tiger, is ordered by the leader of his pack to get the child. The movie grossed over $383 million and got nominated at the 75th Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature.

Gone Nutty

Gone Nutty

This is the first short film that was set directly after the events of the Ice Age. It depicts the story of Scrat after the human baby was delivered to his father. He is finding it tough to collect acorns as usual while trying to store up as much as he can. The film got nominated for the 2003 Academy Award for Animated Short Film.

Ice Age: The Meltdown

Ice Age_ The Meltdown

After they join forces in the previous film, Manny, Sid, and Diego face a more dangerous crisis of biblical origins. Manny also deals with the problem of him being the last surviving mammoth. He then finds his true love in Ellie, a female mammoth who thinks she is an opossum. It was a huge commercial success, earning north of $600 million at the box office.

No Time For Nuts

No Time For Nuts

The franchise’s second short film follows the events of The Meltdown with the time-traveling antics of Scrat. Scrat tries to find a place to hide his acorn after he gets it back. He, however, ends up digging up a long-buried time machine. He switches it on with his slovenly, unassuming maneuvers. Also, he gets hurled into numerous adventures spanning various points in universal history.

Surviving Sid

Surviving Sid

This short film is entirely different from its predecessors because it focuses on the adventures of Sid. It is set two weeks after the events of Ice Age: The Meltdown. Sid tries to settle into his new role of being a camp counselor at a school of children. His desperate attempts to pacify the children lead to some of the most hilarious fails, reinstating why he is unfit for the job.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs  

This movie features the debut of the one-eyed, mentally unstable weasel called Buck. He helps Manny and the herd on their rescue search for Sid from the underground world of dinosaurs. It is a subtle nod to the theory of hollow earth. Manny and Ellie welcome their first child, while Crash and Eddie find their new role model in Buck.

Scrat’s Continental Crack-Up

Scrat’s Continental Crack-Up

This movie was released alongside Gulliver’s Travels. It is a short parody film depicting the continental drift. It centers around the misadventures of Scrat while it poorly explains the creation of the continents.

Scrat’s Continental Crack-Up: Part 2

Scrat’s Continental Crack-Up_ Part 2

The second part of the short film was released on the same day as Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked. It teases the coming events of the Ice Age: Continental Drift. The story continues with Scrat’s infinite struggle to find the perfect acorn.

Ice Age: Continental Drift

Ice Age_ Continental Drift

This feature is set 16 years after the events of Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Manny and Ellie’s daughter Peaches (Keke Palmer) is now a teenager. The herd is set to face new earth-splitting disasters caused by the aftermath of Scrat’s problematic adventures. While at it, they also have personal issues to resolve. The film collected $877 million worldwide and went on to become the highest-grossing animated film of 2012.

Cosmic Scrat-tastrophe

Cosmic Scrat-tastrophe

This is a five-minute long short film that encompasses the beginning of the next film in the series Ice Age: Collision Course. This time, Scrat’s pursuit of an acorn has led him to outer space. It results in the imminent disaster the characters are set to face in the fifth movie of the franchise.

Ice-Age: Collision Course

Ice-Age_ Collision Course

This movie follows the herd who are reunited with Buck in their attempt to save the different populations of animals that reside on Earth. Scrat’s infamous exploits have caused unforeseen devastation, and this time, Earth will be hit by asteroids. The film was a success but could not be compared to its previous ventures. It collected a total of $408 million worldwide.

Scrat: Spaced Out

Scrat_ Spaced Out

This is set at the end of the events of Collision Course, which deals with Scrat’s unending saga of getting his acorn. This time, he is set to fight three other Scrats from outer space, a.k.a. Scratzons, in order to get back his beloved acorn, which he again fails quite hilariously inspite of fighting bravely.

Ice Age: Adventures Of Buck Wild

Ice Age_ Adventures Of Buck Wild

Buck, Crash, and Eddy try to keep the Lost World from being overtaken by dinosaurs as they set out to find a place of their own. Lori Forte talked about shifting the franchise direction towards a whole new world, “I’ve really honestly been living in the Ice Age for the last 20 years. I’ve been living with all these saber tooth tigers and mammoths and possums and weasels for so long. Just the extension, like Simon said, it’s such a great franchise to open it up and to spend time with certain characters that we can’t get to see all the time.”

She continues, “We came up with Buck for Dawn of the Dinosaurs, which was the third Ice Age film. And it obviously it’s such a lovable and eccentric and wacky and joyful and adventurous character and Simon brought all of that to life for us. I mean, he is all those things I just mentioned, eccentric and joyful and wacky and lovable and wonderful.”

Watching the Ice Age Movies in Order? Best Movie Marathon EVER

Simon Pegg explains the movies perfectly, “What’s beautiful about these films is that all that stuff is there, and it makes them feel very rich and very nuanced, but it is just enormous fun. It’s ridiculously silly, it’s relentlessly funny, it’s beautiful to look at. But all of that doesn’t mean anything unless it’s founded in something meaningful and real. And these films always have been that.”

The teaming up of a mammoth, a sloth, and a sabretooth tiger leads to a series of the strangest adventures while trying their best to just survive. They try their best to keep themselves and everyone in the herd (that they keep picking up from several of their runs) safe from different adversities, as well as the oncoming Ice Age.

Whether you watch the Ice Age movies in order or as stand-alone films for some random entertainment, this one is sure to bring you the heartiest laughter and a warm dose of fun.

If you have thoughts to share or questions to ask, please leave a comment below. We would love to hear from you!

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Abdul Aziz Mondal

Abdul Aziz Mondol is a professional blogger who is having a colossal interest in writing blogs and other jones of calligraphies. In terms of his professional commitments, he loves to share content related to business, finance, technology, and the gaming niche.