Ice Age: The Meltdown

Ice Age: The Meltdown
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Carlos Saldanha
Produced by	Lori Forte
Screenplay by	Peter Gaulke Gerry Swallow Jim Hecht
Story by	Peter Gaulke Gerry Swallow
Starring	Ray Romano John Leguizamo Denis Leary Seann William Scott Queen Latifah
Music by	John Powell
Edited by	Harry Hitner
Production company	Blue Sky Studios 20th Century Fox Animation
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	March 31, 2006 (2006-03-31)
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$80 million
Box office	$660.9 million

Ice Age: The Meltdown is a 2006 American computer-animated comedy adventure film produced by Blue Sky Studios and released by 20th Century Fox. As the first sequel to the 2002 film Ice Age, it focuses on the herd escaping an upcoming flood, during which Manny finds love. It was directed by Carlos Saldanha, co-director of the first film, with the music composed by John Powell. The original voice cast — Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary and Chris Wedge — is joined by Queen Latifah, Seann William Scott and Josh Peck.

The film premiered in Belgium on March 1, 2006. It was eventually released in 70 countries, with the last release being in China, on June 9, 2006.The Meltdown received mixed critical reaction but was a box office success by earning over $660 million. Three more sequels were released — Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs in 2009, Ice Age: Continental Drift in 2012 and Ice Age: Collision Course in 2016.

In the opening scene, Scrat, the saber-toothed squirrel climbs a glacier to bury his acorn, but accidentally opens a hole in it, causing water to spurt out. The world of ice is slowly melting. The creatures of the Ice Age are all shown enjoying themselves on slides and pools made by the melting ice; among them the three protagonists of the first film: Manny, Sid, and Diego. Sid opens a small day camp, where none of the younger creatures take him seriously, nor do Manny and Diego, which leaves Sid seeking a daring deed. Fast Tony, a local con artist is claiming that the earth will flood and that the bark and reeds which he sells are needed to stay alive. Manny dismisses the idea, but is distracted when he sees that Sid will try to high dive from a giant waterfall; as Manny goes with Diego to the top of the waterfall to save Sid from his act of daredevilry, suddenly the ice under Diego's feet begins breaking, causing him to bolt in fear, this also made Sid figure out that Diego is afraid of the water. The herd figure that the pleasant weather has caused the ice shelves to melt, and it is kept from destroying the valley only by the glaciers, which have formed a dam.