$6 Billion Movie Franchise With Dismal RT Record Has Its Worst-Reviewed Entry Become Global Netflix Hit

Summary Ice Age: Collision Course is No. 7 on Netflix's weekly global viewership chart.

The movie is the worst-reviewed installment in the entire franchise.

The success of Ice Age on streaming could be good news for the future of the series.

Ice Age: Collision Course has become a global Netflix hit despite being the worst-reviewed movie in the animated franchise. Between box office, merchandising, and other considerations, the Ice Age franchise has earned more than $6 billion. However, only the first movie has been rated Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, earning a 77% score while the follow-ups The Meltdown (56%), Dawn of the Dinosaurs (46%), Continental Drift (37%), Collision Course (18%), and Buck Wild (19%) have resulted in a trend of progressively dismal critic scores.

Netflix has now unveiled their official chart of the Top 10 most viewed English-language movies for the week of May 20 through May 26. Alongside Dawn of the Dinosaurs at No. 3, Ice Age: Collision Course has landed at No. 7 thanks to 7.2 million viewers amassing a total of 11.7 million hours viewed. This has been the case in spite of the fact that the movie isn't even available in the United States, one of the streaming service's primary territories.

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Could The Ice Age Franchise Turn Around After This Netflix Success?

There Hasn't Been A Theatrical Ice Age Movie Since 2016

The Ice Age movies aren't exactly having trouble connecting with audiences even as they premiere. At the box office alone, the series has become the 22nd highest-grossing movie franchise in history, outranking franchises including The Hobbit, Godzilla, Superman, and Sony's Marvel Universe. However, this global Netflix success could help reverse a trend of diminishing returns that has occurred since the franchise peaked with its third installment. Below, see a breakdown of the franchise's box office history:

Title Budget Worldwide Box Office Ice Age (2002) $59 million $383.2 million Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006) $80 million $667 million Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) $90 million $886.7 million Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) $95 million $877.2 million Ice Age: Collision Course (2016) $105 million $408.5 million

After the franchise showed just a slight dip in its fourth installment, Collision Course, which boasted the biggest budget yet, crashed and earned less than half the gross of the previous movie. This may be one of the reasons that the 2022 spinoff movie The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild was released directly to streaming on Disney+. However, other factors included recent worldwide theatrical shutdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the fact that the movie was originally developed as a television show.

Regardless of the provenance of the 2022 title, the franchise has not had a theatrical installment in nearly a decade, most likely because of the disappointing performance of Ice Age: Collision Course. However, the resurgence in interest in the movie on streaming could potentially translate to interest in a new theatrical installment as well. This could push the possible Ice Age 7 closer to fruition because, while it was seemingly revealed to be in pre-production on a Disney PR page in the early 2020s, it still has not been officially announced.

Source: Netflix