Development of a third Cars film began in late 2011 after the release of its predecessor, and entered production in 2014, with Pixar's then-CCO John Lasseter stating that it would be a "very emotional story", and go back to the first film's themes. The production team for the film conducted research on multiple NASCAR racers, particularly older ones, as well as a sports psychoanalyst, while also focusing on McQueen's relationship with Doc Hudson and its meaning. The production utilized a new rendering system, Rix Integration Subsystem (RIS), which was previously used in Finding Dory (2016). New cast members including Hammer and Alonzo were announced in January 2017, followed by Fillion, Washington and DeLaria two months later. Randy Newman, who had worked on the first film, composed the film's score with artists such as Andra Day, James Bay, Brad Paisley and Jorge Blanco contributing tracks for the film.
Cars 3 was first screened for the NASCAR industry in Kannapolis, North Carolina on May 23, 2017, before its theatrical release in the United States on June 16, accompanied by the animated short film Lou. It received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $383 million worldwide against its $175 million budget, becoming the lowest-grossing film of the franchise, but still a box office success.
Plot
Five years after competing in the World Grand Prix,[b]Lightning McQueen, now a seven-time Piston Cup champion,[5] finds himself overshadowed by Jackson Storm, a rookie who is the first of a new generation of race cars that are equipped with advanced technology to improve their speed and performance. As Storm goes on a winning streak throughout the season, most racing veterans either retire or are dismissed by their sponsors in favor of younger next-gen racers. In the final race of the season at Los Angeles, Lightning briefly gains first place but starts falling behind after being overtaken by Storm and the other next-gen racers. He desperately tries to keep up, but in doing so, loses control and suffers a rollover crash after hitting the outside wall, leaving him severely injured and unable to race.
Four months later, Lightning, who has since recovered from his crash, decides that he will continue racing and calls his sponsors, Rusty and Dusty, who reveal they have sold Rust-eze to a wealthy business car named Sterling. Sterling assigns Lightning to train at the Rust-eze Racing Center under Cruz Ramirez, where he struggles to adapt to the modern training methods. After Lightning accidentally damages a simulator, Sterling tries to force him to retire. Adamant that he can still race, Lightning offers that if he wins the upcoming Florida 500, he can decide if he wants to keep racing; otherwise, he will retire immediately. Sterling reluctantly accepts the deal on the condition that Cruz must go with him.
Cruz's unconventional training methods and lack of real-world racing experience frustrate Lightning as they attempt to record his top speed at Fireball Beach. When Lightning decides to train at the Thunder Hollow Speedway, they realize it is being used for a figure-8 styledemolition derby called the "Crazy Eight" and are forced to participate, in which Cruz wins and accidentally reveals him to the public. Lightning angrily lashes out at Cruz after the derby and accidentally breaks her trophy. Cruz reveals that she had always wanted to be a racer but was never confident enough to enter a race, so she resigns as Lightning's trainer and heads back to the racing center. Ashamed and without other options, Lightning calls his friend Mater for advice, who suggests that Lightning track down Doc Hudson's mentor and crew chief Smokey in his hometown of Thomasville, Georgia. Hence, Lightning catches up to Cruz and convinces her to rejoin him. In Thomasville, they meet up with Smokey, who reveals that, even though Doc never raced again, he found new happiness in training Lightning.[c] After Lightning accepts that he is an older car and will never be as fast as Storm, Smokey and Doc's old friends, Junior "Midnight" Moon, River Scott, and Louise "Barnstormer" Nash, help him learn new tricks to overcome his speed disadvantage, using Cruz as his sparring partner. After many attempts, Lightning finally manages to pass Cruz during the final practice race at Thomasville Speedway. However, Cruz suddenly overtakes Lightning, which causes him to remember being passed by Storm before his accident, shaking his confidence.
At the Florida 500, Lightning starts at the back but, with assistance from Smokey in the pits, manages to gradually push up the ranks. Sterling, who still believes that Lightning cannot win, orders Cruz back to the training center to prepare a rookie for the following race despite her wanting to stay. Overhearing the exchange on his radio and remembering Cruz's dream of racing, Lightning avoids a massive multi-car pile-up and has his crew outfit Cruz to take his place in the race, giving her a second chance to become a race car. While shaky at first, Cruz starts overtaking one car after another, thanks to Lightning coaching her from the pits. She eventually ends up right behind Storm. Feeling threatened, Storm tries to intimidate Cruz and even rams her against the wall in the final lap. Using one of Doc's old moves, Cruz flips over Storm, overtaking him, and wins the race.
As Cruz celebrates her victory, Sterling offers her a role on his team, but she instead takes a counteroffer from Dinoco's owner Tex Dinoco. Since Lightning and Cruz were both wearing #95, Lightning becomes the joint-winner of the race and effectively passes his deal with Sterling. Returning to Radiator Springs, Lightning reveals that Tex has bought Rust-eze from Sterling. Now decked in Doc's old racing colors, Lightning decides to continue racing but trains Cruz first for the rest of the season.
Tom and Ray Magliozzi as Rusty and Dusty Rust-eze, respectively,[11] the owners of Rust-eze. Following Tom's death in 2014, unused archive recordings from the first film were used for Rusty's lines.
Margo Martindale as Louise "Barnstormer" Nash,[9] a white 1950 Nash Ambassador and a retired Piston Cup racer from the 1950s who was one of the three legends to live in Thomasville with Doc and Smokey.
Isiah Whitlock Jr. as River Scott,[9] a grey and black 1938 Dirt Track Racer and a retired Piston Cup racer who is one of Doc's friends.
Bob Peterson as Chick Hicks, a former rival of Lightning who now hosts his own talk show called "Chick's Picks" on Racing Sports Network. He was originally voiced by Michael Keaton in the first film.
Bob Peterson also voices Dr. Damage, a white and orange modified ambulance who partakes in the Crazy 8 demolition derby.
Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso voices the foreign language versions of Hamilton, with Vettel voicing 'Vettel' and 'Sebastian' in the Italian and German dubs respectively, and Alonso voicing 'Fernando' in the Spanish dub.[12]
Cheech Marin as Ramone, a 1959 Chevrolet Impala coupé Lowrider that owns the "Ramone's House of Body Art" store.
Katherine Helmond as Lizzie, a 1923 Ford Model T Coupe who is the elderly owner of a roadside souvenir and accessory shop (Radiator Springs Curios). This was Helmond's final appearance in the Cars franchise before her death in 2019.[13]
Prior to the film's release, John Lasseter, who had directed the previous Cars films, stated that the film would have a "very emotional story", similar in tone to the first film.[19] Co-writer Kiel Murray, who also co-wrote the original Cars, said of the return to the series' roots, "With these franchises you always want to know who it's about. The first movie was about McQueen, and the second movie was a sort of off-ramp to the Mater story. We wanted to get back to the McQueen story. When we looked at what would be next for him, we wondered what that would be like both as an athlete, and also for what he was dealing with in the rest of his life."[20]
According to director Brian Fee, the production team did a lot of research, and, while they "looked at athletes in other sports", the team mainly focused on NASCAR racers. Fee said that they "even talked to a sports psychoanalyst who explained that many of these drivers can't imagine themselves doing anything else", an idea that resonated with the team. Mike Rich said that rookies taking over the sport is a "kind of endless story in sports" and compared McQueen to Wayne Gretzky and Misty May-Treanor as well as many others. Fee said that "being a parent became [his] main resource to find and understand the emotion" in the film's storyline. Scott Morse, the film's story supervisor, said that he wanted to highlight the film's emotional core and the character's relationships, wanting the film to feel like a sports film while also focusing on McQueen realizing "what their relationship meant to Doc".[1]
The production utilized a new rendering mode, Rix Integration Subsystem (RIS), which made scenes like the demolition derby race possible. The system was previously used in Finding Dory (2016).[21] In previous Pixar films, the animators had to do the animation first before the rendering, but RIS allowed animation and rendering to take place simultaneously in a process called "hardware shading", making it much easier for the animators to see what a completed scene would look like when finished.[22]
Fee said that the film's animation is "art directed realism" and stated that it causes the film's characters and sets to "feel more real and alive than ever before", while Bill Cone, the film's production designer, said that "The term [they] use is believability, which is the basis for everything [Pixar does]". Global technology supervisor Sudeep Rangaswamy said that his team used an automatic process for the film's shots, which, in his words "allows a lot of flexibility" and that "It made shots that were previously impossible to render possible". Director of photography-camera Jeremy Lasky and editor Jason Hudak researched NASCAR footage for the film's race scenes.[1]
Fee said that both the score and the soundtrack "really help support the story we are telling". Both the soundtrack and the score were released on June 16, 2017.[23]
The soundtrack features "Run That Race", an original song written and performed by Dan Auerbach, who stated the song is "about never giving up and always trying your best".[23] Auerbach said that the filmmakers showed him the story and some dialogue, from which he pieced together a story for the song.[1] The soundtrack also features "Ride", an original song performed by ZZ Ward featuring Gary Clark Jr., which was released as a single on April 14, 2017.[23]
The film's score was composed by Pixar's frequent collaborator, Randy Newman, who previously composed the first film's score. Tom MacDougall, Disney's executive vice-president of music, said that Newman has "a real connection to the Cars world" and that "His ability to capture the feelings on this film, its characters, locations, and the Americana theme throughout is extraordinary-the music is so naturally fluid and inspired. It really feels like Randy is coming home with this score."[23] Newman quoted tracks from the first film in moments where Fee "wanted to evoke an earlier time".[1]
Release
Theatrical
Cars 3 was released in theaters on Friday, June 16, 2017, in the United States, in 3D,[24]Dolby Cinema and selected IMAX theaters,[25] accompanied by the Pixar short film Lou.[26] The film had a special screening for the NASCAR industry in Kannapolis, North Carolina on May 23, 2017.[27] The world premiere was held in Anaheim, California on June 10, 2017.[28]
Cars 3 was released on Digital HD on October 24, 2017, and was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on November 7, 2017, by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. Physical copies contain an audio commentary, behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, and the short films Miss Fritter's Racing Skoool and Lou.[33]
Short film
The BBC, Disney and Lego released a short film via YouTube, on April 13, 2018, that is inspired by both the Cars franchise as well as the popular TV series Top Gear. The film tells the story of Lightning McQueen's trip to the Top Gear track, where he achieves his dream of racing against the Stig.[34][35]
Reception
Box office
Cars 3 grossed $152.9 million in the United States and Canada and $231 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $383.9 million, against a production budget of $175 million.[4]
In North America, Cars 3 was released alongside Rough Night, 47 Meters Down and All Eyez on Me, and was projected to gross $55–60 million from 4,256 theaters in its opening weekend.[36][37] It made $2.8 million from Thursday night previews and $19.5 million on its first day. It went on to open to $53.7 million, finishing first at the box office and dethroning two-time first-place finisher Wonder Woman. Cars 3 had the lowest opening of the series, but nevertheless was the 16th Pixar film to debut at number one.[38] In its second weekend, the film grossed $24.1 million, dropping to third place, behind Transformers: The Last Knight and Wonder Woman.[39] In its third weekend the film made $9.7 million ($14.1 million over the five-day 4 July holiday weekend), dropping to fifth.[40]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 68% of 234 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.10/10. The website's consensus reads: "Cars 3 has an unexpectedly poignant story to go with its dazzling animation, suggesting Pixar's most middle-of-the-road franchise may have a surprising amount of tread left."[41]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 59 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[42] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[38]
The film was praised for its animation, story, and emotional depth, and it was considered an improvement over its predecessor by many critics.[43]Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote, "Cars 3 is a friendly, rollicking movie made with warmth and dash, and to the extent that it taps our primal affection for this series, it more than gets the job done. Yet in many ways it's the tasteful version of a straight-to-DVD (or streaming) sequel."[44] David Fear of Rolling Stone gave the film a positive review, saying: "There's an emotional resonance to this story about growing old, chasing glory days and the joy of passing the baton that leaves the other two films choking on its digitally rendered dust. The end goal this time out isn't just to sell a few more toys and Lightning McQueen lunchboxes. It's actually tapping into something deeper than a corporate bottom line."[45] Mike Ryan of Uproxx called the film "the Rocky III of the Cars franchise", and wrote "There's a hint of sadness that seems to be present throughout Cars 3 that gives it a little more weight than the previous installments."[46]
Alonso Duralde of TheWrap gave the film a mixed review, saying: "As a spawner of merchandise, Cars 3 fires on all pistons but, as a movie, it's a harmless but never stimulating 109 minutes."[47] Vicky Roach of News.com.au gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, saying: "Returning to the iconic, backroads nostalgia of the original film, Cars 3 puts the flashy, unpopular middle film squarely in its rear vision mirror. The route that the filmmakers take might be familiar, but after gunning it, they take the corners like pros."[48]
Regarding a possible Cars 4, Cars 3 producers Kevin Reher and Andrea Warren stated speaking to CinemaBlend that "If there's a good story to tell, I mean, our heads kinda break after having gotten this one done, like "Oh my god," what could you do the further adventures of? But like any sequel, from Toy Story 4 to Incredibles 2, as long as there's a good story to tell it's worth investing, we do love these characters, we love them as much as the public does."[61] Regarding which character would be the main protagonist in the film, Reher and Warren stated that "if Cruz is a breakout character, kind of like Mater was, she would be involved in a 4".[62] Owen Wilson stated at a Cars 3 press event that possible stories have been discussed for a Cars 4, though he would personally like for a fourth Cars film to delve into aspects of the thriller genre, akin to Cars 2.[63] In an interview with Screen Rant, Lea DeLaria expressed interest in reprising her role as Miss Fritter while promoting the release of the short film, Miss Fritter's Racing Skoool with the Cars 3DVD and Blu-ray release.[64]
In December 2023, during an interview at the 2023 Porsche Rennsport Reunion Event, the creative director of the saga, Jay Ward, revealed that Pixar is developing new projects related to the franchise: "There are more Cars things brewing, I can't say much more yet. Cars has got a life that will keep going. I am working on some real fun projects right now that you will see in a couple of years. It takes us a while to make them."[65][66][67]
^McKittrick, Christopher (June 16, 2017). "Cars 3: The Third Act". Creative Screenwriting. Archived from the original on August 7, 2017. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
^Amidi, Amid (December 12, 2017). "Annual StLFCA Awards". Sf. Louis Film Association. Archived from the original on December 15, 2015. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
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