Rio may not have the sterling reputation of some Pixar releases, or even other Blue Sky franchises like Ice Age, but it was a big deal when the first film was released in 2011. It grossed a whopping $485 million at the global box office and was even nominated for Best Original Song at the 84th Academy Awards. Not a bad legacy to leave behind.
Given the success the first Rio had, it only made sense for Blue Sky Studios to release a sequel. Rio 2 (2014) may not have won over the critics to the extent that the first film did, but it managed to gross even more, taking in $499 million. The question, of course, in an industry dominated by sequels and spin-offs, is where the heck is Rio 3?! Well, it might be closer than you realize.
Let’s start at the beginning. During the Rio 2 promotional tour, director Carlos Saldanha talked about the possibility of a third film. He was not only open to the idea, but revealed that he had been thinking of ideas for what the story could be. “Of course, I have a lot of stories to tell, so we’re [starting to] prepare for it,” Saldanha told CinemaBlend. “Because we love these characters so much, and there are a lot of things in my head that maybe I couldn’t put in the movie. I wanted to take them to a different place. So I don’t know yet. We’ll see what happens.”
It seemed as though things ended there, as there was no mention of a third film until 2019. Then, quite unceremoniously, an update was provided by a press release for another film. Discussing Film broke news of a new Ice Age being developed by Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Fox after the latter had been purchased by Disney, and the outlet mentioned that a Rio spin-off was also in the planning stages.
The spin-off would reportedly focus on the characters Nico and Pedro, who appeared in Rio 2 and were voiced by Jamie Foxx and will.i.am, respectively. This makes sense, given that Foxx was one of the most vocal actors when it came to the possibility of extending the franchise. ‘They have to come to Miami,” he said in the aforementioned CinemaBlend interview.
Additional details would come in January 2022, when a press release for Ice Age: Adventures of Buck Wild revealed that Jim Hecht would be writing the script for a brand new Rio film. The press release, obtained by The DisInsider, read:
He is currently developing an animated series based on a New York Times best-selling children’s book and writing streaming movies for 20th Century Studios/Disney Plus. The feature projects include the next installment in the Ice Age franchise, the next installment in the Rio franchise and an animated feature version of the Night at the Museum movie franchise for 21 Laps Entertainment and Disney Plus.
The press release made it unclear whether Hecht is writing Rio 3, the Rio spin-off that was previously teased, or a spin-off that we don’t yet know about. Regardless, fans can rest assured knowing that they are getting another chapter in the franchise.