Blue Sky Headed to Rio

files/pictures/picture-35.jpgBlue Sky Studios announced their next animated feature, RIO, will be released by Twentieth Century Fox on April 8, 2011.

Carlos Saldanha, whose ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN earned a worldwide box office of more than $650 million, is set to direct the digital 3-D animation feature. Chris Jenkins (SURF'S UP) and Bruce Anderson (DR. SEUSS' HORTON HEARS A WHO!) will produce.

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, opening everywhere 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 (2002) and ROBOTS (2005). After the success of ICE AGE, Saldanha took the directorial reins on its sequel, ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN (2006), the third computer-animated feature film from Twentieth Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios.

Twentieth Century Fox and Blue Sky Studio's most recent venture was 2008's hit DR. SEUSS' HORTON HEARS A WHO!.