Cars (franchise)

Cars is a CGI-animated film series and Disney media franchise set in a world populated by anthropomorphic automobiles created by John Lasseter. The franchise began with the 2006 film of the same name, produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was followed by a sequel in 2011. A third film was released in 2017. The now defunct Disneytoon Studios produced the spin-off films Planes (2013) and Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014).

The first two Cars films were directed by John Lasseter, then-chief creative officer of Pixar, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Disneytoon Studios, while Cars 3 was directed by Brian Fee, a storyboard artist on the previous installments. Lasseter served as executive producer of Cars 3 and the Planes films. Together, the first two Cars films have accrued over $1 billion in box office revenue worldwide while the franchise has amassed over $10 billion in merchandising sales within the last 10 years.

Cars (2006)
Main article: Cars

Cars is the seventh Pixar film. The story is about rookie race car, Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), who gets lost on the way to California for a tiebreaker race in the Piston Cup, a famous race worldwide, and ends up in a little town called Radiator Springs on Route 66, that had since been forgotten because the Interstate was built. He accidentally wrecks the road and is sentenced to fix it. During his time, he goes tractor tipping with his new best friend Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) and goes on a drive with his love interest Sally Carrera (Bonnie Hunt).

After McQueen fixes the road, Doc Hudson (Paul Newman) no longer wants him in town, so he calls the news crew to take McQueen to Los Angeles, but it doesn't take long for Doc to realize how much he's helped Radiator Springs, so he goes back to being the Hudson Hornet and becomes McQueen's crew chief, while most of the Radiator Springs folks become his pit crew. McQueen is about to win the race, but helps The King (Richard Petty) cross the finish line after Chick Hicks (Michael Keaton) crashes him. Hicks wins the Piston Cup after being in third on the last lap, but is later booed by everyone as comeuppance, while McQueen receives praise for his behavior.

Despite his loss, Lightning is offered to be the new face of Dinoco, but he decides to stay with Rusteze. He does, however, arrange for Mater to ride in the Dinoco helicopter just like McQueen promised. The film ends with McQueen setting up his racing headquarters in Radiator Springs, thereby putting it back on the map.

Cars 2 (2011)
Main article: Cars 2

Cars 2 is the twelfth film from Pixar. The story is about Lightning McQueen competing in the first World Grand Prix, a three-part race set in Japan, Italy and England that will determine the world's fastest racecar. His rival in the race is Italian Formula One car, Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro). Along the way, Mater is mistaken for a spy by British spycar, Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) and falls in love with McMissile's assistant Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer).

The three of them uncover a plot to sabotage the race led by Professor Zündapp (Thomas Kretschmann) and a group of lemon cars, including Grem (Joe Mantegna) and Acer (Peter Jacobson). When the race reaches its conclusion in England, Mater figures out that Miles Axlerod (Eddie Izzard) is the mastermind behind the plot to sabotage the race, since he started it in the first place and had intended for cars everywhere to run on oil as revenge for the lemons' reputation as being "history's biggest loser cars," implying that Axlerod is also a lemon.

With the plot foiled and the villains defeated, Mater is knighted by the Queen of the United Kingdom (Vanessa Redgrave) and a new race is held in Radiator Springs. Mater is offered to join McMissile and Shiftwell on another mission, but he chooses to stay. He does, however, get to keep the rocket engines he acquired as the two agents take off in Siddeley (Jason Isaacs), the British spy jet.

Cars 3 (2017)
Main article: Cars 3

Cars 3 is Pixar's eighteenth film. The story focuses on Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), who deals with futuristic race cars taking over the world of racing. Jackson Storm (Armie Hammer) is an arrogant high tech racer who leads the next generation. As everyone begins to ask him if he might retire, McQueen struggles with keeping up with these racers and during the final race of the season, he suffers a horrible crash.

Four months later, McQueen mourns the late Doc Hudson and travels to the new Rusteze Racing Center, now under the management of Sterling (Nathan Fillion). He assigns Cruz Ramirez (Cristela Alonzo) to train him on the simulator, that McQueen accidentally loses control and destroys. Cruz's unconventional training methods and lack of racing experience angers McQueen, as they race on beaches and a demolition derby. Cruz reveals that she always wanted to be a racer but never found the confidence to do so. In Thomasville, they encounter Doc's old crew chief Smokey (Chris Cooper) who trains McQueen and explains to him that Doc found happiness in mentoring him. Smokey's training methods inspire Cruz as well.

At the Florida 500, McQueen begins racing, but remembers Cruz's racing dreams and has her take his place in the race. Using what she's learned on the road, Cruz found the confidence to catch up to Storm. She wins the race along with McQueen and begins racing for Dinoco, whose owner Tex, purchases Rusteze. Under the Dinoco-Rusteze brand, Cruz becomes a racer, sporting #51 and McQueen decides to continue racing, with a new paint job in memory of The Fabulous Hudson Hornet, but trains Cruz first.

Television Series
Main article: Cars Toons

Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales (2008-2012)
Mater's Tall Tales is a series of short animated films or Cars Toons featuring the characters Mater and Lightning McQueen from the Cars franchise. The first three shorts premiered in 2008 on Toon Disney, Disney Channel and ABC Family.[9] Not exclusive to television, the episodes have also been released on DVDs/Blu-rays or as a theatrical short. A total of 11 episodes have been released with "Time Travel Mater" (2012) being the most recent.[10]

All shorts in the series follow the same tall-tale formula: Mater tells a story of something he has done in the past. When Lightning questions Mater over whether the events in the story actually occurred (or in some episodes asks him what he did next), Mater always claimed that Lightning was also involved and continues the story including McQueen's sudden participation. The shorts end with Mater leaving the scene, often followed by characters or references to the story that was being told, suggesting the story might be real.

Cars Toons: Tales from Radiator Springs (2013-2014)
Tales from Radiator Springs is a series of short animated films or Cars Toons. The first three two-minute episodes - "Hiccups", "Bugged", and "Spinning" - premiered on March 22, 2013, on Disney Channel, and have been available online since March 24, 2013.[11] A fourth short in the series, titled "The Radiator Springs 500 ½", was released in spring 2014 on the digital movie service Disney Movies Anywhere. It premiered August 1, 2014, on Disney Channel. The short has a running time of 6 minutes rather than the usual two-minute running time.

Mater and the Ghostlight (2006)
Main article: Mater and the Ghostlight

Mater and the Ghostlight is a 2006 Pixar computer-animated short created for the DVD of Cars, which was released on October 25, 2006, in Australia and the United States on November 7, 2006.[14] The short, set in the Cars world, tells a story of Mater being haunted by a mysterious blue light.

Vitaminamulch: Air Spectacular (2014)
A Planes short film titled Vitaminamulch: Air Spectacular was released on the DVD and Blu-ray of Planes: Fire & Rescue.[15] It was directed by Dan Abraham and executive produced by John Lasseter. In the short film, Dusty Crophopper and Chug need to replace two daredevils in an airshow Leadbottom is hosting. At first unsuccessful, Dusty and Chug accidentally start a series of events that captures the audience's attention, eventually completing the stunt.

Miss Fritter’s Racing Skoool (2017)
Miss Fritter’s Racing Skoool is a 2017 Pixar computer-animated short created for the Blu-ray, Blu-ray 4K, Ultra HD, and DVD of Cars 3, which was released in the United States on November 7, 2017.[8] The short, set in the Cars world, follows the "blindsided testimonials from the Crazy 8’s, touting the transformative impact Miss Fritter’s Racing School has had in reshaping the direction of their lives".

Spin-Offs
In 2013, Disneytoon Studios, Pixar's now-defunct sister company, released a spin-off film set in the Cars world titled Planes featuring planes as the main characters. The film was followed by a sequel titled Planes: Fire & Rescue in 2014. In addition to a third Planes film[17] the studio was also planning several more spin-off films featuring boats, trains and other vehicles but those plans were never materialized due to the closure of Disneytoon Studios on June 28, 2018.

Planes (2013)
Planes is a computer-animated Cars spin-off film produced by Disneytoon Studios. The first film in a planned trilogy[17] where the main characters are planes, the film was released in theaters by Walt Disney Pictures on August 9, 2013.[20] The film was directed by Klay Hall and executive produced by John Lasseter.[21] In the film, Dusty Crophopper, a small-town cropdusting plane, follows his dreams by competing in a world air race despite his fear of heights.

Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014)
Main article: Planes: Fire & Rescue

A sequel, titled Planes: Fire & Rescue, was theatrically released on July 18, 2014.[22] This film is also produced by Disneytoon Studios. Bobs Gannaway, co-developer of Jake and the Never Land Pirates and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and co-director of Mickey Mouse Works and Secret of the Wings, directed the film.[23] Lasseter again served as executive producer. In the film, Dusty is now a world-famous air racer, but learns he will never be able to race again due to an engine problem. After accidentally starting a fire, Dusty decides to become a firefighter and trains at Piston Peak Air Attack.

Box-office performance
Earning over $1.7 billion, Cars, including its Planes spin-off films, is the eighth-highest grossing animated franchise.

In its opening weekend, the original Cars earned $60,119,509 in 3,985 theaters in the United States, ranking number one at the box office. In the United States, the film held onto the number one spot for two weeks before being surpassed by Click, and then by Superman Returns the following weekend. It went on to gross $461,983,149 worldwide (ranking number six in 2006 films) and $244,082,982 in the United States (the third-highest-grossing film of 2006 in the country, behind Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Night at the Museum). It was the highest grossing animated film of 2006 in the United States, but lost to Ice Age: The Meltdown in worldwide totals.[27]

Cars 2 has earned $191,452,396 in the United States and Canada, and $368,400,000 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $559,852,396.[28] Worldwide on its opening weekend, it made $109.0 million, marking the largest opening weekend for a 2011 animated title.[29]

Critical and Public response
The Cars films are the least well-received films produced by Pixar. Although Cars and Cars 3 received mostly positive reviews from critics, Cars 2 gathered less warm reception with mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, a first for the studio.