Ice Age: Collision Course trailer sees Scrat go to space and create the entire solar system

Because, truly, this franchise has now officially run out of ideas.

The new trailer for Ice Age: Collision Course catapults its sabre-toothed squirrel Scrat to space, where he becomes responsible for creating the entire solar system. Seriously, to think on how or why this happens is to pose the risk of serious injury to your brain. 

The Ice Age movies stopped dealing with the actual Ice Age about two films back, when dinosaurs popped up to chill with the woolly mammoths they existed a few million years previous to. That said, this fifth instalment in the series is legitimately insane.

Yes, the Ice Age franchise is putting forward the theory that Scrat created the solar system. Yes, in this trailer, that tiny squirrel perpetually looking for its prized nut in its own charming, bumbling manner finds himself in a UFO; which consequently blasts off into space and right into a couple of planets, accidentally aligning the entire solar system as we know it today. 

Oh, and also sending a shower of debris towards planet Earth which promises to murder all of his fluffy animal friends, Manny (Ray Romano) and Sid (John Leguizamo) included. The herd are forced to leave their home and embark on a grand adventure, eventually discovering a magical land overseen by spiritual guru Shangri Llama (Jesse Tyler Ferguson). Granted, that's an excellent pun; but the spiralling ludicrousness has pushed this entire series far beyond its own allowances for suspension of disbelief. In short, these movies just aren't good enough to be this stupid anymore; a point at which even the antics of a beloved character like Scrat have started to grow so thin.

That said, the franchise doesn't seem to be fading in its popularity yet; the last two films, Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Continental Drift, scored over $850 million worldwide. Scrat even made his debut this year as a balloon in New York's iconic Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The film also features voices from Queen Latifah, Nick Offerman, Jennifer Lopez, Jessie J, and Simon Pegg. Famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson also stars, and was somehow OK with being a part of this scientific take.

Ice Age: Collision Course hits UK theatres 29 July.