Ice Age: Scrat Tales will start streaming on Disney+ from April 13th, 2022. Disney+ announced the release date along with a new poster of the show on social media. Ice Age fans were excited with this announcement. The show, which is a spin-off from the Ice Age franchise, features Scrat. Scrat is a saber-toothed squirrel who is obsessed with collecting acorns, constantly putting his life in danger to obtain and defend them.
However, the release date revelation also left some fans surprised. Fans had believed that they had already seen the last of Scrat after he was missing in the most recent Ice Age movie released on Disney+, The Ice Age: Adventures of Buck Wild. Scrat first appeared in Ice Age which was released in 2002. Several people over the years had claimed ownership of this character over the last 20 years. The strongest claim has been from Ivy Silberstein.
Back in 1999, Ivy Silberstein pitched a character to Blue Sky she called “SQRAT,” a combination of a squirrel and a rat which the studio said they weren’t interested in. However, once she saw the character appear in Ice Age, she filed a lawsuit against 20th Century Fox (Blue Sky was a 20th Century subsidiary). The judge eventually ruled that Fox and Ivy both owned Scrat equally. Not satisfied, Ivy continued to fight for total ownership. When Disney bought 20th Century, the rights to the Ice Age franchise folded under Disney.
On 28th January 2022, when the latest installment in the Ice Age franchise dropped, Ivy Silberstein tweeted that she had won as Scrat was missing in the movie.
No #Scrat in #Disney #IceAge 6
Thank You @WaltDisneyCo @abigaildisney for Respecting My Trademarks & Character#Sqrat I Created May 19, 1999. 20 Years Ago March 12, 2002 The First Ice Age Released, it's been a 20 Year Fight! I WON! https://t.co/kqanxC0YkI https://t.co/ptM6UgfqJ7 pic.twitter.com/MHq39xOBex— IVY SUPERSONIC [email protected] (@IWantJustice) January 28, 2022
This led to reports that Disney may have lost the rights to the character. Some Fans were hopeful that Ivy would license the character to Disney going forward but there was no official confirmation regarding any of these reports. Thus, there was no clarity on the character’s future.
The Scrat Tales announcement has now left followers of the franchise confused. Some believe this show was in the works long before the dispute was settled and could thus be the last time we see Scrat on-screen in its current form.
The series comprises six all-new animated shorts starring Scrat who experiences the ups and downs of fatherhood, as he and the adorable, mischievous Baby Scrat, alternately bond with each other and battle for ownership of the highly treasured Acorn.
What do you think? Is this show a final good-bye to Scrat?
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