Ice Age Collision Course (2016): Cast, Plot and Ending Explained

Ice Age Collision Course is a family adventure in which Scrat, chasing his acorn, accidentally triggers a chain of events in space that sends asteroids toward Earth. Down on the ground, the herd, including Manny, Sid and Diego, is dealing with family changes as Peaches gets engaged to Julian.

When meteors begin raining down, the herd takes shelter in a cave. Buck, the one eyed weasel played by Simon Pegg, finds an ancient stone tablet showing that asteroids have wiped out life before, and where the next big one is going to land. That discovery turns a family story into a race against time. If you have followed the saga since Ice Age (2002), this is its fifth theatrical chapter.

The full story starts with Scrat's pursuit of an acorn, which accidentally sets asteroids on a course for Earth. The herd shelters in a cave while meteors fall around them. Buck discovers an old stone pillar showing that past extinctions were caused by asteroids, and that the next major impact will hit near an ancient volcano.

Gavin and his family of flying dinosaurs plan to escape the impact by flying away, and they are happy to leave the rest of the world behind. Buck works out that the asteroids are electromagnetic, so the herd decides to launch special crystals into orbit to pull the main asteroid off course. The search for crystals takes them to Geotopia, a hidden city whose residents depend on the crystals to stay young.

Sid, by mistake, destroys the city's crystals and the residents begin to age. Brooke, a Geotopian, convinces her people to help the herd anyway. Together the herd and the Geotopians fill the volcano with crystals, and Buck persuades Gavin's family to join the effort. Julian helps Manny push in the final crystal, and the resulting eruption repels the asteroid.

A crystal shard falls into a hot spring, which restores the Geotopians' youth. Peaches and Julian are married, Diego and Shira are celebrated by the local kids, and Brooke is reunited with Sid at the wedding.

The Ice Age Collision Course release date was July 22, 2016 in the US, with earlier openings in Australia on June 30 and in the UK on July 1, according to Box Office Mojo, which lists all three as reported dates.

The US date moved by a week. Fox shifted the film from July 15 to July 22, 2016, a change Deadline first reported, and the new slot also took it off the date of Sony's Ghostbusters.

The film is rated PG in the US, U in the UK and G in Australia. For where it sits among the other films, see ice age movies in order.

The ending works on two levels: the eruption fueled by the crystals pushes the main asteroid away from Earth and saves the world, and the accidental shard that lands in a hot spring returns youth to the Geotopians. That second beat quietly undoes Sid's mistake, since he is the one who destroyed their crystals in the first place.

The film then closes at the wedding of Peaches and Julian, with Diego and Shira honored by young animals and Brooke back with Sid. In my opinion, the wedding is the real ending, because it pays off the family thread that Continental Drift began when Peaches was a teenager clashing with her father. The asteroid plot is the spectacle, while Manny letting go of his daughter is the story.

Perhaps the neatest detail is who finishes the job: Julian helps Manny push in the final crystal, so the future son in law is part of the rescue rather than a bystander. Buck persuading Gavin's flying dinosaurs to rejoin the effort also matters, since it turns their selfish escape plan into a team effort.

That wraps up the family storylines and leaves the herd together and settled. It could be argued that this is why the film feels like a farewell to the theatrical run, though the saga did continue on Disney Plus with ice age buck wild, and a sixth theatrical film, Ice Age: Boiling Point, is set for February 5, 2027. As for whether Scrat finally ate his acorn, published plot summaries of the ending center on the eruption and the wedding and do not have him finishing it. His chase is what starts the disaster.

Ice Age Collision Course has no live action filming locations, because it is a fully animated film made at Blue Sky Studios. Its places exist only on screen.

The herd shelters in a cave when the meteors begin to fall, and that is where Buck finds the stone tablet and pillar. The story later reaches Geotopia, a hidden city whose residents rely on crystals to stay young, and the volcano that Buck identifies as the next impact site.

Ice Age: Collision Course had the largest budget of the five main films at $105 million, according to The Numbers and Box Office Mojo.

Chris Wedge, an executive producer, voices Scrat, and director Michael Thurmeier also voices the Gravedigger Beaver and a Party Molehog.

The score soundtrack came out digitally and on CD from Varese Sarabande on July 22, 2016.

Fox moved the release back one week, from July 15 to July 22, 2016, which also took it off the date of Sony's Ghostbusters.

Box Office Mojo's figures for this title differ from The Numbers because they include a 2020 re-release, so the grosses here follow The Numbers.

As for money, the film earned $64 million domestically and $402 million worldwide, according to The Numbers. That is the lowest domestic total of the five main films, while the worldwide total still edged past the worldwide total of Ice Age (2002). See ice age box office for the full comparison.