• The drawings of characters during the end credit roll were all done by the children of the animators. The same is true of the picture that Sid draws of himself on a cave wall. Sid's drawing was done by 3 year old Will Shefelman, son of a story artist Dan Shefelman. The story artist working on the scene was having difficulty drawing like a 3 year old so he consulted an expert.

 

• John Leguizamo tried 30 different voices for Sid. After viewing a documentary about sloths, he learned that they store food in their mouths; this led to him wondering what he would sound like with food in his mouth. After attempting to speak as if he had food in his mouth, he decided that it was the perfect voice for Sid.

 

• Despite the Dodo's less than brilliant survival instincts, they outlived all of the major character's species. Dodos were wiped out around the mid to late 17th century, whilst woolly mammoths (Manny) died out 10,000 years ago (a dwarf race existed until 1700 BC), ground sloths (Sid) are widely accepted to have become extinct some 2500 BC (although it has been proposed a small group survived till 1550 AD), and saber tooth tigers (Diego) were wiped out around 10,000 BC. Not even Neanderthals like Roshan and his father survived the Dodo.

 

• All the actors were encouraged to improvise as much as possible to help keep the animation spontaneous.

 

• Chris Wedge, director, is the voice of Scrat, but has no intelligible dialogue; the plan to have Scrat talk was quickly dropped, as he worked better as a silent character for comedic effect. The name 'Scrat' is a combination of the words 'squirrel' and 'rat', as Scrat has characteristics of both species; Wedge has also called him "saber-toothed squirrel." Scrat's opening adventure was inserted because, without it, the first real snow and ice sequence wouldn't take place until about 37 minutes into the film. This was the only role intended for Scrat, but he proved to be such a popular character with test audiences that he was given more scenes, and has appeared in other movies.

 

• Each of the frozen beings Sid sees in the ice is connected to an installment in the franchise: a carnivorous fish, a dinosaur, a set of sloths, and a flying saucer.

 

• Though Scrat was designed as a fictional animal, in 2009, scientists in Argentina unearthed the remains of a small, extinct mammal resembling a shrew with long fangs. This animal was given the scientific name of "Cronopio Dentiacutus", in tribute to Scrat.

 

• The film was originally intended as a drama but Fox would only accept it as a children's comedy.

 

• This is the only film in the Ice Age series to show human characters, and the only Blue Sky Studios film to have any human characters for almost a decade. Blue Sky wouldn't feature any human characters again until the 2011 film Rio.

 

• The first drawings seen in the cave (before entering the giant area with the mammoth drawings) are replicas of the earliest known cave drawings (found at Lascaux, in the south of France). They have been dated at somewhere between 15,000 and 17,000 years old.

 

• Originally, Sid was supposed to be a con-sloth and a hustler, and there were even two finished scenes of the character conning some aardvark kids and a very suggestive scene with two female sloths later in the movie. Sid was also supposed to have a female sloth named Sylvia chasing after him, whom he despised and kept ditching. All the removed scenes can be seen on the "Super Cool Edition" DVD.

 

• When Sid, Diego, Manny and Roshan are in the ice tunnel, a Flying saucer appeared and Roshan makes a "Star Trek"-hand sign. (Vulcan Salute)

 

• No cave paintings of the sabre-toothed cat Smilodon have ever been found.

 

• Writer Michael J. Wilson has stated on his blog that his daughter Flora came up with the idea for an animal that was a mixture of both squirrel and rat, naming it Scrat, and that the animal was obsessed with pursuing his acorn.

 

• Jack Black's first animated film. Later he'd go onto voice Lenny the Shark in Shark Tale (2004), Po the Giant Panda in the Kung Fu Panda films, Slappy the Ventriloquist Dummy in in the first Goosebumps (2015) film, and Bowser in The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023).

 

• Many of the animals appearing in the sequels to the film were designed initially for the first Ice Age but were cut.

 

• 20th Century Fox initially expected the film to open around the $30 million mark. Its opening weekend was $46.3 million.

 

• All ground sloths in this film and its successors were designed with traits of both prehistoric ground sloths and modern tree sloths. Initially in design, Sid, as a ground sloth, resembled one of the more notable species of ground sloth, the Megatherium, which was the size of an elephant. The species of sloth that Sid and the others resemble most in the finished films is a species of Caribbean ground sloths that were more the size of pigs.

 

• The only stipulation that consulting anthropologists from the American Museum of Natural History in New York insisted on with the production was that there should be no dinosaurs. They would have been long gone 20,000 years ago, though a great deal of the animals shown in the film didn't live in the same eras or locations as the main characters. Dinosaurs were finally included in the second sequel, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009), the explanation being that they survived extinction in underground caves.

 

• James Earl Jones and Ving Rhames were originally considered to play Manny.

 

• Was Blue Sky Studios's only film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature until Ferdinand (2017), fifteen years later.

 

• In the final days before Blue Sky Studios closed, a team of artists stayed on to produce the studio's final piece of animation: a clip of Scrat finally getting the acorn.

 

• The "rhinos" in the movie are actually titanotheres (or brontotheres), mammals from the Oligocene period and are no relation to modern rhinos as they went extinct, several million years before the Ice Age depicted in the film. Ice Age rhinos looked more like modern rhinos, but covered with thick fur coats just like the mammoths.

 

• Some additional character names: the baby is Roshan, his mother is Nadia, his father is Runar. The sabers are Soto, Zeke, Oscar ("haughty saber") and Lenny ("fat saber"). The female sloths in the pool are Jennifer ("He's not much to look at...") and Rachel ("All the sensitive ones get eaten."). The "rhinos" are Carl (the one with thick horns) and Frank (the one with thin horns). The source for this information is from an autographed original script purchased at auction. There is a signed COA from 20th Century Fox Archives, auction item number ICE0032.

 

• The responsibility for animating Sid's snowboard sequence was given to animators who went snowboarding in real life.

 

• The production team originally thought of turning the 20th Century Fox logo into ice when it appears before the film. Even though it can be seen in one of the trailers, they cut that out and placed the regular logo in the film, but pushed up a bit so you can see the bottom portion of it.

 

• Antonio Banderas was considered for the role of Diego.

 

• Supposedly the reason Don Bluth refused to make the film is when 20th Century Fox said they wanted it to be CG after the failure of 2D animation, Bluth refused due to his personal hate for fully CG animation and angrily walked away from the project.

 

• The filmmakers made it so that many of the scenes with Scrat appear directly after dramatic moments in the film.

 

• In the movie, Manny is referred to as Manfred, Manny, that neeny weeny mammoth, Manny the Moody Mammoth, Manny the Melancholy, friend, Jumbo, the mammoth, Fat Hair Boy, and buddy.

 

• This was Hollywood's 8th full CGI animated feature.

 

• This was Blue Sky Studios' first feature film.

 

• The film opened in March 2002. Within three weeks it had become the first film of that year to pass the $100 million milestone in box office takings.

 

• Is the only film in the Ice Age franchise to be released on VHS in the US. ("Ice Age: The Meltdown" (2006) was also released on VHS, albeit only internationally in the following nine countries: Argentina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Poland and Russia.)

• On the 2-Disc Special Edition DVD of the film, Ray Romano calls the movie a "dramedy" and explains why the movie is both drama and comedy, and this is corroborated by director Chris Wedge in his own interview on the special features.

  Fox wanted a children's comedy, so Blue Sky took that direction, but kept the drama aspect a notable element of the movie, hence why the cast and crew refer to it as a "dramedy."

• Chris Wedge regrets that he didn't get the bunny from his short Bunny (1998) into the film as an easter egg.

 

• Pre-production took over a year before any animation occurred.

 

• The eighth-highest-grossing film of 2002.

 

• Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Knoxville, Dave Foley, Adam Sandler, Michael J. Fox, Ewan McGregor, Jerry Seinfeld, Billy Crystal, Eric Idle & Danny DeVito were all considered for the role of Sid before John Leguizamo was cast.

 

• Gone Nutty (2002) aka "Scrat's Missing Adventure" was created exclusively for the DVD release.

 

• Chris Wedge claims that Scrat's species of saber-tooth squirrel has a scientific name given by the writers but Wedge has since forgotten it.

 

• This made $383 million from a $59 million budget.

 

• This feature is included in the first wave of Blu-Ray releases by Fox. A total of five movies were included in this, the others being Fantastic Four (2005), Behind Enemy Lines (2001), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) and Kiss of the Dragon (2001).

 

• The fat saber-tooth cat named Lenny was actually described as a scimitar cat in the film's Essential Guide book.

 

• Movie signage and the book version include a female sloth named Sylvia, who is not seen in the released movie. In the book, Sid manages to avoid accompanying her on the migration south, because she is interested in a commitment.

 

• This was originally set to be directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman by Fox Animation Studios until the failure of Titan A.E. (2000) put paid to that. With the departure of Bluth and Goldman, the project migrated to Blue Sky instead.

 

• The first movie to be produced by Fox Animation since Titan A.E. (2000), which also featured John Leguizamo).

 

• James Earl Jones, Ving Rhames, Johnny Depp, Pierce Brosnan, Kevin Kline, Robert De Niro, Albert Brooks, Nicolas Cage, Sylvester Stallone, Kevin Costner, Keith David, Bruce Willis, Jeff Bridges, Jim Belushi, Michael Keaton & Val Kilmer were all considered for the role of Manfred before Ray Romano was cast.

 

• 20th Century Fox launched it on the home market with a marketing budget of $85 million, the largest amount they had spent up till then on a DVD release.
• Blue Sky Animation has been developing improvements in computer-generated characters for over 15 years now. It was responsible for some of the aliens in Alien: Resurrection (1997) and the talking cockroaches in Joe's Apartment (1996).

 

• This is the only Blue Sky Studios film to have the "Twentieth Century Fox presents" credit.

 

• Diego is named after Diegoaelurus, an extinct saber-toothed mammal (though technically not a cat) that existed in the Middle Eocene Epoch. Diegoaelurus Was named after San Diego, where its fossilized remains were found.

 

• After the folding of Fox Animation Studios, this project was offered to Disney who turned it down. Ironically, with the Disney acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019 (which includes Blue Sky), the property now belongs to the House of Mouse.

 

• Leonardo DiCaprio was considered for the role of Sid.

 

• Denis Leary's second animated film. The first being A Bug's Life (1998).

 

• Diedrich Bader's first time voice acting in a theatrical film. Later he'd go onto voice Ted Bedderhead the Bear in The Country Bears (2002), John in Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone (2005), Tank the Penguin in Surf's Up (2007), one of the Veteran Cats in Bolt (2008), and Bing the Goose in Duck Duck Goose (2018).

 

• According to the promos, Scrat was originally going to be Manny's pet squirrel and the comic relief sidekick to Manny, Sid, and Diego in the movie, who was going to help them return the baby to its family and fight Soto and his pack. However, when the movie was released, Scrat was actually revealed to be a minor character who stars in a subplot where he chases his acorn.

 

• At 77% fresh, this is the only film in the Ice Age franchise to be certified fresh by Rotten tomatoes, let alone fresh at all, as all four of its sequels are rotten. It was also Blue Sky Studios's only certified fresh film until Horton Hears a Who! (2008) and The Peanuts Movie (2015).

 

• The first theatrically released animated film for Alan Tudyk. Later he'd go onto voice Cholly the Chalicotherium in this film's sequel Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006), Milton the Sloth in another sequel Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012), Mr Squeegee the Robot in Astro Boy (2009), King Candy in Wreck-It Ralph (2012), Duke of Weselton in Frozen (2013), Alistair Krei in Big Hero 6 (2014), Duke Weaselton the Weasel in Zootopia (2016), Heihei the Chicken in Moana (2016), and KnowsMore in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018).

 

• Kristen Johnston voiced Sylvia in three deleted scenes.

 

• This is 20th Century Fox's second animated film composed by David Newman. The first was Anastasia (1997) which was released five years before this film.

 

• Three years in production.

 

• Kelsey Grammer were considered for the role of Diego.

 

• Burt Reynolds were considered for the role of Soto.

 

• George Carlin were considered for the role of Diego.

 

• Clancy Brown were considered for the role of Manfred.

 

• Bob Saget were considered for the role of Sid.

 

• Charlton Heston were considered for the role of Soto.

 

• Robert De Niro was considered for the role of Manfred.

 

• Scrat was supposed to be in the team but been scrapped, because Chris Wedge tell it should be his own story.

 

• Christopher Walken, Alan Rickman, Sam Elliot, James Gandolfini, Patrick Stewart & Michael Wincott were all considered for the role of Soto before Goran Visnjic was cast.

 

• Some of the screams in the film were reused a few times.

 

• This is the only film in the Ice Age franchise to be scored by David Newman.

 

• Anthony Hopkins, Ralph Fiennes, Kiefer Sutherland, Toby Stephens, Kevin Spacey, Liam Neeson, Tommy Lee Jones, Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Tim Curry, Ian McKellen & Lance Henriksen were all considered for the role of Diego before Denis Leary was cast.

 

• Leonardo DiCaprio was the first choice for the role of Sid, Antonio Banderas was the first choice for the role of Diego, and James Earl Jones was the first choice for the role of Manny.

 

• Brad Pitt was considered for the role of Diego.

 

• The only Blue Sky Studios film to get more than one sequel.

 

• Ray Romano and Denis Leary are 4 months apart in age, being both born in 1957.

 

• The only film in the Ice Age franchise to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature.

 

• Bryan Cranston were considered for the role of Manfred.

 

• Tom Hanks were considered for the role of Manfred.

 

• Jeremy Irons were considered for the role of Diego.

 

• Jackie Mason were considered for the role of Sid.

 

• Werner Herzog were considered for the role of Soto.

 

• Stacy Keach were considered for the role of Manfred.

 

• Billy Connolly were considered for the role of Manfred.

 

• Ben Kingsley were considered for the role of Diego.

 

• Warren Beatty were considered for the role of Manfred.

 

• Hank Azaria were considered for the role of Sid.

 

• Harry Shearer were considered for the role of Diego.

 

• Dan Castellaneta were considered for the role of Manfred.

 

• Patrick McGoohan were considered for the role of Soto.

 

• There was an alternate scene of Sid in the hottub with the ladies which shows him saying to them "Let's jump in the gene pool and see what happens." One of the female sloths then kicks him in the groin. This was cut because it was not suitable for children and may have gotten the film a PG-13 rating.

 

• This and Rio (2011) would be the only Blue Sky Studios films to have spawned sequels.

 

• At 1 hour 21 minutes, this is the shortest film in the franchise.

 

• Jane Krakowski's first animated film and only one outside Sony Animation's Open Season franchise.

 

• This is the first Blue Sky Studios film to use Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros. and Cartoon Trax Volume 1 sound effects.

 

• If Scrat would talked his voice actors would be Robin Williams, Louis C.K., Patton Oswalt, Eddie Izzard, Eddie Murphy, Jim Carrey and Bill Burr will be consider as the voice of Scrat.

 

• The only Blue Sky Studios film to have a logo with a blue dash this doesn't include Robots (2005) released 3 years later which had an updated logo for the release although the old logo with the blue dash does appear on the poster of Robots.

 

• Albert Brooks was considered for the voice of Manny.

 

• Denis Leary (Diego), Cedric The Entertainer (Carl), and Stephen Root (Frank) have also appeared in films by Pixar Leary previously appeared in A Bug's Life (1998), as Francis the Ladybug, Cedric later appeared in Planes (2013) and its sequel Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014), as Leadbottom, and Root later appeared in Finding Nemo (2003), and its sequel Finding Dory (2016), as Bubbles the Yellow Tang.

 

• Cedric The Entertainer's first animated film. Later he'd go onto voice Maurice the Aye Aye in the Madagascar films, Golly the Goose in Charlotte's Web (2006), and Leadbottom in the Planes films.

 

• Paul Newman were considered for the role of Diego.

 

• Stephen Root's first animated film. Later he'd go onto voice Zeb Zoober the Bear in The Country Bears (2002), Bubbles the Yellow Tang in the Finding films, the Aardvark dad in Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006), the Rabbit Doctor in Rango (2011), and Grandpa Crud the Cat in Dog Man (2025).

 

• Most of the cast had made this film their first voice over role in an animated film for all voices of the main characters except for John Leguizamo, Denis Leary and Diedrich Bader: John Leguizamo was in Don Bluth's animated film Titan A.E. (2000), another animated film by 20th Century Fox, Denis Leary was in A Bug's Life (1998) and Diedrich Bader was in Bartok the Magnificent (1999), also by 20th Century Fox and Recess: School's Out (2001).

 

• John Malkovich were considered for the role of Diego.

 

• Nathaniel Parker were considered for the role of Soto.

 

• John O'Hurley were considered for the role of Manfred.

 

• The main trio in the film have the same personalities as the title characters of The Powerpuff Girls (1998). Manny is similar to Blossom (the hot-headed commander and leader), Sid is similar to Bubbles (the joy and laughter), and Diego is similar to Buttercup (the toughest fighter). The movie was released the same year as The Powerpuff Girls Movie (2002).

 

• Brad Garrett was considered for the role of Carl.

 

• Cody Cameron was considered for the role of Lenny.

 

• Mark Hamill were considered for the role of Diego.

 

• Chris Miller was considered for the role of Oscar.

 

• The names of 2 of the smilodons Oscar and Lenny would later be used for characters in Dreamworks Animation's Shark Tale (2004) 2 years later, which also stars Zeke the smilodon's voice actor Jack Black.

 

• Ray Liotta were considered for the role of Soto.

 

• Dabney Coleman were considered for the role of Manfred.

 

• Kevin Conroy were considered for the role of Manfred.

 

• Both Ray Romano and John Leguizamo grew up in Queens, New York City.

 

• Josh Hamilton's only animated movie.

 

• Coincidentally, both this film and Matilda (1996) feature a score by David Newman and the use of the song "Send Me on My Way" by Rusted Root.

 

• Chris Rock was considered to voice of Sid.

 

• Bob Hoskins was considered to voice of Diego.

 

• Brad Garrett was considered to voice of Manfred.

 

• Don Rickles was considered to voice of Manfred.

 

• Aside from the cave paintings which were even used to represent Manny's backstory, this is the only Ice Age film to not feature any Mammoths aside from Manny himself, with it being uncertain to the others until the events of the next film on if there ever any other Mammoths left.

 

• In an interview for the film Denis Leary said it was way cooler voicing Diego in this film than Francis the guy ladybug in A Bug's Life although he could of just been joking around. (not kidding)

 

• According to an interview with Jay Leno on July 12th 2012, Denis Leary's character Diego originally died near the end of the film, which caused the test audience of children to burst into tears, so it was re-done.

 

• When the sabertooth pack attacks the human camp and Roshan's mother runs away with him as Diego pursues, Runar (dad) is blocked off by the other sabertooths to prevent him from aiding her and the baby. This mirrors the later scene in the cave as Manny replays the events of his family's fate at the hands of human hunters through the animated cave paintings. A group of human hunters blocked Manny from coming to his mate's and calf's aid as another group of hunters attacked them.

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