Chris Wedge
Chris Wedge is an influential figure in the world of animation, known primarily for his work in computer-generated imagery. Born on March 20, 1957, in Binghamton, New York, Wedge developed a passion for animation at an early age, leading him to pursue formal education in film and computer graphics. After graduating from the State University of New York at Purchase and obtaining a master's degree from Ohio State University, he began his career at Mathematical Applications Groups, Inc., where he worked on significant projects like the film Tron (1982).
In 1987, Wedge co-founded Blue Sky Studios, which became renowned for its animated films. He directed the Academy Award-winning short film Bunny (1998) and the highly successful feature film Ice Age (2002), where he also voiced the beloved character Scrat. Wedge continued to direct and produce several animated films, contributing to the Ice Age franchise and other projects like Robots (2005) and Epic (2013). His impact on the industry is marked by his ability to innovate within the realm of animation, making Blue Sky Studios a leading name in the field. Wedge resides in Katonah, New York, with his family, continuing his work in animation.
Subject Terms
Chris Wedge
Director
- Born: March 20, 1957
- Birthplace: Binghamton, New York
Contribution: John Wedge is a film director and producer best known for his computer animated films Ice Age (2002), Robots (2005), and Epic (2013).
Background
John Christian Wedge was born on March 20, 1957, in Binghamton, New York. He became attracted to animation at age twelve, when he saw a show on television about kids who were animating their own films using paper cutouts. His fascination with the art form continued to grow from then on and helped direct his career path. He attended Fayetteville-Manlius High School in Manlius, New York, and also spent a lot of time growing up in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, New York.
After graduating high school in 1975, Wedge attended the State University of New York (SUNY) at Purchase. He graduated with a bachelor of fine arts degree in film in 1981. Wedge then went to Ohio State University, in Columbus, where he received a master’s degree in computer graphics and art education in 1985.
Career
Before completing his master’s degree, Wedge landed an animation job with Mathematical Applications Groups, Inc. (MAGI), a computer technology company that provided computer graphics animation (CGI) for films. Wedge worked as the principal animator on the film Tron (1982) for the Walt Disney Company. While the special effects in Tron may seem dated to contemporary audiences, for the time they were groundbreaking; Tron has since been considered a highly influential science fiction film.
Wedge continued working on several other films for MAGI, including Where the Wild Things Are (1983) and the short films Tuber’s Two-Step (1985) and Balloon Guy (1987). In 1987, Wedge and five other employees of MAGI founded Blue Sky Studios, a computer animation film studio. The prolific studio produced hundreds of commercials during the first decade of its existence. Twentieth Century Fox’s visual effects company, VIFX, purchased Blue Sky Studios in August 1997. Blue Sky Studios then started creating effects for feature films.
The year 1998 saw the release of the computer-animated short film Bunny, written and directed by Wedge. The short focuses on a female rabbit that is taken to the afterlife and reunited with her deceased husband. At the Academy Awards the following year, Bunny was awarded best animated short film. The short also won a Golden Nica award at Prix Ars Electronica, which presents prizes for computer animation and other digital media. The success of Bunny proved that Wedge and Blue Sky Studios were ready to create their own feature film.
Fox gave Wedge and his filmmaking partner Carlos Saldanha—whom he had met while teaching animation at Manhattan’s School of Visual Arts—the job of directing Ice Age (2002), a computer animated comedy about a group of prehistoric animals migrating south. The film was originally planned to be animated traditionally, by hand, but when Fox had to close its traditional animation studio, Wedge and Saldanha were given the script for Blue Sky Studios to produce through computer animation. The film was a critical and box office success. It was nominated for an Academy Award for best animated feature in 2003. Wedge got to show off his voice talents for the film as well, providing the voice of the saber-toothed squirrel character named Scrat.
Wedge’s next directorial effort was Robots (2005), a computer-animated film about an idealistic robot who takes on corporate corruption at his job. Wedge helped develop the story with children’s book author William Joyce. Critics received the film favorably, and it was nominated for several awards. The American Film Institute also nominated the film for its 10 Top 10 list for animation, but it failed to make the final cut. Wedge has stated that he wished to do Robots in 3-D, but they did not have enough time to produce the film in that format.
For the next several years, Wedge acted as executive producer on several animated films created by Blue Sky Studios, including the next four films in the Ice Age franchise: Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006), Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009), Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012), and Ice Age: Collision Course (2016). Wedge continued voicing the character of Scrat for these films. He also produced the film Rio (2011), which received positive reviews and did well in theaters.
Wedge’s next film as a director was Epic (2013), another computer-animated collaboration with author William Joyce. Based on Joyce’s book The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs, the story follows a battle between good and evil in a fantasy world. Wedge has explained that they changed the plot of the book significantly in order to give it a grander, more immersive scale. Among the films honors, Wedge was nominated for a 2014 Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Directing an Animated Feature Production. The film was given mixed reviews by critics and grossed over $240 million worldwide. Wedge went on to direct the 2016 live-action science fiction feature, Monster Trucks, for Paramount Pictures.
Wedge served as executive producer for two non-Ice Age animated films for Blue Sky Studios in the late 2010s. The first was the 2017 animated feature Ferdinand, a story about a kind-hearted bull based on The Story of Ferdinand (1936) by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson. The second was Spies in Disguise (2019), about the world's best spy being turned into a pigeon, which Wedge co-executive produced with Kori Adelsen.
Impact
With his passion for animation, Wedge helped create Blue Sky Studios, one of the world’s premier computer animation studios. The Ice Age franchise Wedge helped kick off has become one of the most popular and lucrative computer animated franchises of all time. Wedge has established himself as one of the most successful directors of computer animated films, having won and been nominated for a number of awards.
Personal Life
Wedge lives with his wife and children in Katonah, New York.
Principal Works
Bunny, 1998
Ice Age, 2002
Robots, 2005
Ice Age: The Meltdown, 2006
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, 2009
Rio, 2011
Ice Age: Continental Drift, 2012
Epic, 2013
Rio 2, 2014
Ice Age: Collision Course, 2016
Monster Trucks, 2016
Ferdinand, 2017
Spies in Disguise, 2019
Bibliography
Buchman, Lisa. “Meet Chris Wedge, Ice Age Creator, Katonah Resident.” Bedford-Katonah Patch. Patch, 12 Sept. 2012. Web. 8 Aug. 2013.
Fine, Marshall. “Chris Wedge, the Man behind Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.” Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 3 July 2009. Web. 8 Aug. 2013.
Jacobs, Evan. “Director Chris Wedge Talks Robots, Tron, and Animation.” MovieWeb. MovieWeb, 8 Aug. 2005. Web. 8 Aug. 2013.
La Gorce, Tammy. “Animation and Inspiration: Behind the Storyboards.” New York Times. New York Times Co., 23 Nov. 2012. Web. 8 Aug. 2013.
Philbrick, Jami. “Director Chris Wedge Talks Epic and Screens Scenes from the Film.” I Am Rogue. Relativity Media, 23 Mar. 2013. Web. 8 Aug. 2013.