Ice Age: Boiling Point — Everything We Know About the Return of a Prehistoric Giant

The ice is thawing, the lava is bubbling, and after nearly a decade in hibernation, the Ice Age herd is stomping back onto the big screen. Disney and 20th Century Animation officially unveiled the sixth instalment of the billion-dollar franchise at Destination D23 in Orlando, and it finally has a name: Ice Age: Boiling Point. The prehistoric gang returns to theatres on February 5, 2027, setting the stage for a new era of mammoths, sloths, saber-tooths, and everyone’s favourite acorn-obsessed squirrel.

For fans who grew up on Manny, Sid, Diego and Scrat, this is less a franchise revival and more of a time capsule cracking open. When the first Ice Age hit cinemas in 2002, it was part of that early-2000s boom of CG animation that gave us Shrek and Monsters, Inc.. Today, twenty-three years and five sequels later, the herd remains one of the most enduring animated ensembles in pop culture.

The New Adventure

According to Disney, Boiling Point will be a “dinosaur-and-lava-filled madcap adventure” that transports the herd to unexplored corners of the Lost World — an area teased in Dawn of the Dinosaurs but never fully explored. Expect prehistoric peril dialled up to volcanic levels. Yes, that means Sid bumbling dangerously close to magma, Manny trying to keep the family grounded (literally), and Diego once again wondering why he sticks around.

The voice cast — a big reason this series has had such longevity — is also back. Ray Romano returns as Manny, John Leguizamo as Sid, Denis Leary as Diego, Queen Latifah as Ellie, and Simon Pegg as Buck the weasel. And yes, Scrat is back too. The mischievous rodent has practically carried the franchise’s slapstick DNA, even headlining his own shorts (Scrat Tales on Disney+) and spin-offs.

A Franchise That Refuses to Extinct

Financially speaking, Ice Age has been a box-office mammoth. Across five films, the franchise has grossed $3.2 billion worldwide, making it one of the top-grossing animated properties of all time. That said, diminishing returns were setting in. The last mainline film, Collision Course (2016), still pulled in $408.5 million globally but fell short of the billion-dollar highs of its heyday.

The question, then, is whether Boiling Point can reheat the brand for a generation that now has Frozen, Minions, and Spider-Verse as its animated touchstones. The nostalgia card is obvious: those who watched the original in theatres are now adults, and their kids are exactly the demographic Disney wants in the seats.

The Ice Age announcement didn’t land in a vacuum. At the same D23 event, Disney revealed Toy Story 5, Zootopia 2, and Hexed — a new original slated for 2026. Together, they sketch out Disney’s roadmap: a balance of fresh IP with reliable box-office anchors.

The Ice Age franchise, with its oddball herd learning to function as a family, has always mirrored the anxieties of its time — climate change, extinction, survival, migration. Boiling Point, with its lava flows and dinosaur chaos, feels like a timely metaphor for a world grappling with global warming and ecological collapse. Whether Disney leans into that subtext or keeps it kid-friendly chaos remains to be seen.

The Bottom Line

So here’s where we are: the herd is back, the lava is flowing, and February 2027 is circled on the calendar. Ice Age: Boiling Point will either re-establish the franchise as a generational crossover hit or serve as one last nostalgic romp before the ice finally cracks for good.

What’s clear is that Disney isn’t letting one of its most lucrative animated properties go extinct quietly. And honestly? If Sid the Sloth wobbling dangerously close to a lava pit can still make us laugh, maybe that’s reason enough for us.