Cars 2

''Cars 2'' is a 2011 American animated spy comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the sequel to '' Cars'' (2006), the second film in the ''Cars'' franchise, and the 12th animated film from the studio. The film was directed by John Lasseter, co-directed by Brad Lewis, produced by Denise Ream, and written by Ben Queen, Lasseter, Lewis, and Dan Fogelman. In the film's ensemble voice cast, Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, Tony Shalhoub, Guido Quaroni, Bonnie Hunt, and John Ratzenberger reprise their roles from the first film. George Carlin, who previously voiced Fillmore, died in 2008, and his role was passed to Lloyd Sherr. They are joined by newcomers Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, John Turturro, Eddie Izzard, and Thomas Kretschmann. In the film, Lightning McQueen and Mater agree to compete in the World Grand Prix, an international racing event showcasing a new alternative fuel called Allinol, but Mater inadvertently becomes involved in a dangerous espionage mission that puts both his and McQueen's life in jeopardy.

''Cars 2'' was first announced in April 2008 with a tentative summer 2012 release date, which was later moved up to the summer of 2011. Lasseter was confirmed to be returning as director, while Lewis was designated as co-director in June 2010. The film's story was conceived by Lasseter while he was traveling around the world promoting the first film. Michael Giacchino composed the film's score, with artists such as Weezer, Robbie Williams, Brad Paisley and Bénabar contributing tracks for the film. This was the final Pixar film animated with their old software system, Marionette, before being officially replaced with Presto in 2012. With an estimated budget of $200 million, ''Cars 2'' is one of the most expensive films ever made.

''Cars 2'' premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on June 18, 2011, and was released in the United States on June 24, in Disney Digital 3D and IMAX 3D as well as traditional two-dimensional and IMAX formats. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, ''Cars 2'' continued Pixar's streak of box office success, grossing over $559 million worldwide, becoming the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2011 and the highest-grossing film of the ''Cars'' trilogy. The film was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the 69th Golden Globe Awards, but lost to ''The Adventures of Tintin''. A sequel, '' Cars 3'', was released on June 16, 2017.

Plot

British spy Finn McMissile infiltrates an oil rig in the Pacific Ocean owned by criminal lemon cars to rescue fellow spy Leland Turbo. He witnesses the lemons, seemingly led by German weapons designer Professor Zündapp, loading an electromagnetic pulse generator, disguised as a TV camera, onto a shipping crate. After discovering Turbo's death, Finn's presence gets exposed to the lemons, and he escapes by faking his death.

After winning his fourth Piston Cup, Lightning McQueen returns to Radiator Springs to spend his off-season with his friends. Italian formula race car Francesco Bernoulli challenges Lightning to participate in the World Grand Prix, an international three-race event created by former oil tycoon Sir Miles Axlerod, who intends to promote his new environmentally friendly fuel, Allinol. Lightning and his best friend Mater — along with Luigi, Guido, Fillmore, and Sarge — depart for Tokyo, where the first race takes place.

At a World Grand Prix promotional event, Mater makes a scene after eating wasabi (mistaking it for pistachio ice cream) and seemingly leaking on stage, embarrassing Lightning. While cleaning up, Mater interrupts a fight between American spy Rod "Torque" Redline (set to deliver some intel to Finn) and lemons Grem and Acer. Redline plants his tracking device on Mater, causing Finn and his associate Holley Shiftwell to mistake Mater for their contact. Meanwhile, Redline is captured and killed by Zündapp, who reveals that Allinol ignites when hit with an EMP. He informs his superior, an unknown mastermind, that Redline passed on his information. Holley finds and recruits Mater to stop Zündapp's plot, though he mistakes this as her asking him out on a date.

During the race, three racers are ignited by the camera. Lightning placed second in the race after Bernoulli, due to miscommunication with Mater, who was evading Zündapp's henchmen. Lightning confronts him at the pits, snapping at him and declaring that he doesn't want his help. A guilt-ridden Mater prepares to board a plane back to Radiator Springs, but is abducted by Finn, and they escape from the lemons in his jet, Siddeley. After traveling to Paris to gather intel from Finn's old friend Tomber, they head to Porto Corsa, Italy, where the second race takes place. Meanwhile, on the day before the race, Luigi and Guido's uncle, Topolino, convinces a guilt-ridden Lightning to make amends with Mater. During the race, Mater infiltrates the lemons' meeting, just as the camera ignites some more racers, causing a multi-car pile-up, while Lightning wins. Due to controversy over Allinol's safety, Axlerod lifts its requirement for use in the final race in London. When Lightning decides to continue using it, the lemons plan to kill him in the race. This spooks Mater, and he accidentally blows his cover, causing him, Finn, and Holley to be captured and tied up inside Big Bentley, where he admits to them that he is not the spy they think he is.

When the race starts, Lightning takes the lead before passing Big Bentley, but the camera inexplicably does not ignite him. The lemons tell Mater that they planted a time bomb in Lightning's pits as a backup plan, spurring him to escape. Finn and Holley escape but realize that the bomb was fitted on Mater's air filter instead, having made his escape too easy to allay suspicion. As Mater is informed of this, he flees down the track, and Lightning pursues him to apologize for his outburst, while Finn apprehends Zündapp. The other lemons arrive and outnumber Finn, Holley, Mater, and Lightning, but they are rescued by the other Radiator Springs residents and Sarge's colleagues in the British Army. Mater and Lightning go to Buckingham Palace, where Mater exposes Axlerod as the mastermind, proven when he is forced to disable the bomb. It is then revealed that the World Grand Prix was his cover-up to turn the world against alternative fuels, and use his ownership of the most untouched oil refineries in the world to gain profits. After Axlerod and the lemons are arrested by the London police, Mater receives an honorary knighthood from the Queen, and he and Lightning reconcile.

Back in Radiator Springs, as Mater tells everyone about his experience, Lightning asks everyone why the camera didn't work on him. Filmore reveals that he had swapped the Allinol with his organic biofuel prior to the World Grand Prix, due to him not trusting Axelrod. A "Radiator Springs Grand Prix" is held, featuring the World Grand Prix contenders. Finn and Holley invite Mater to go on another mission, but he decides to stay in Radiator Springs. While his weapons get confiscated, he keeps the rockets and speeds off with Lightning, just as Siddeley speeds into the distance.

Voice cast

* Larry the Cable Guy as Mater, a Southern-accented tow truck from Radiator Springs who becomes sidetracked with espionage
* Owen Wilson as Lightning McQueen, a Piston Cup racecar
* Michael Caine as Finn McMissile, a British spy car who, alongside Holley, helps Mater to foil the criminals
* Emily Mortimer as Holley Shiftwell, a young British desk agent and Finn's assistant
* John Turturro as Francesco Bernoulli, McQueen's main racing rival from Italy
* Eddie Izzard as Sir Miles Axlerod, a British "electric" car who created Allinol and the World Grand Prix, and the mastermind behind the lemons' plot
* Thomas Kretschmann as Professor Zündapp, a German car and Axlerod's assistant who plans to sabotage the World Grand Prix. Kretschmann reprises the role in the film's German dub.
* Joe Mantegna and Peter Jacobson as Grem and Acer, Professor Zündapp's henchmen
* Bruce Campbell as Rod "Torque" Redline, an American spy car
* Tony Shalhoub as Luigi
* Darrell Waltrip as Darrell Cartrip
* Guido Quaroni as Guido
* Brent Musburger as Brent Mustangburger
* Jason Isaacs as:
** Siddeley, an Gulfstream V spy jet
** Leland Turbo, a British agent car who sent the video message to Finn and is crushed into a cube by the lemons
* David Hobbs as David Hobbscap. Jacques Villeneuve voices the character in the film's French dub.
* Stanley Townsend as:
** Vladimir Trunkov
** Ivan
**Victor Hugo
* Lloyd Sherr as:
** Fillmore
** Tony Trihull, a combat ship
* Paul Dooley as Sarge
* Michel Michelis as Tomber
* Sig Hansen as Crabby the Boat
* Franco Nero as Uncle Topolino. Nero reprises the role in the film's Italian dub.Le voci italiane di Cars 2 - 01/06/2011

* Vanessa Redgrave as:
** Mama Topolino. In the film's Italian dub, Sophia Loren voices Mama Topolino.
** The Queen. Redgrave reprises the role in the film's Italian dub.
* Bonnie Hunt as Sally Carrera
* Cheech Marin as Ramone
* Jenifer Lewis as Flo
* Michael Wallis as Sheriff
* Katherine Helmond as Lizzie
* John Ratzenberger as Mack
* Jeff Garlin as Otis
* Patrick Walker as Mel Dorado
* Lewis Hamilton as himself
* Velibor Topic as Alexander Hugo
* John Mainier as J. Curby Gremlin
* Brad Lewis as Tubbs Pacer
* Richard Kind as Van
* Edie McClurg as Minny
* Teresa Gallagher as Mater's computer
* Jeff Gordon as Jeff Gorvette
* John Lasseter as John Lassetire

Three voice actors of the first ''Cars'' film had died since its release: Joe Ranft (who voiced Red) died in an automobile accident in 2005, ten months before ''Cars'' (which was dedicated to his memory) was released, and therefore Red played no vocal role in the film; George Carlin (who voiced Fillmore) died of heart failure in June 2008, so Fillmore was voiced by Lloyd Sherr (who also voices Tony Trihull); and Paul Newman (who voiced Doc Hudson) died of cancer in September 2008. After Newman's death, Lasseter said they would "see how the story goes with Doc Hudson." Doc was eventually dropped, and implied to have died a few years before the events of ''Cars 2''.

In international versions of the film, the character Jeff Gorvette is replaced with race car drivers known in their specific countries for his dialogue scenes: Mark Winterbottom as Frosty in the Australian release, Fernando Alonso in the Spanish release, Vitaly Petrov in the Russian release, Jan Nilsson as Flash in the Swedish release, Memo Rojas in the Latin American release, and Sebastian Vettel as Sebastian Schnell in the German release. Gorvette still appears as a competitor for most of the film. In Brazil, Gorvette is replaced by Carla Veloso in his dialogue scenes (Carla appears in all other versions of the film, but with no lines); Carla is voiced by Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte. Sportspeople still appear, with Lewis Hamilton voicing Formula One champion Emerson Fittipaldi, while Brent Mustangburger and David Hobbscap are voiced by sports announcers and Luciano do Valle.

Production

Development

'' Cars'' (2006) is the second Pixar film, after ''Toy Story'' (1995), to have a sequel as well as become a franchise. John Lasseter, the director of the film, explained that as with ''Toy Story 2'' (1999) and ''Toy Story 3'' (2010), Pixar would only commit to doing a sequel when they have come up with idea that is different from but also as good as or better than the original film. Lasseter stated that " ..the origins of ''Cars 2'' came from three places": the idea of having a spy movie with cars as characters inspired by an abandoned sequence from the first film, the desire to take the original film's characters around the world in an international World Grand Prix, and the heart of the film which would address " ..McQueen and Mater's friendship and how taking Mater out of Radiator Springs fractures their friendship €¦. While traveling around the world promoting the first film, Lasseter imagined the characters in different countries. He said:

Pre-production began as early as 2006, the same year the first ''Cars'' was released, with production designer Harley Jessup tasked with designing the film's many planned sets. Brad Lewis, the producer of '' Ratatouille'' (2007), was chosen to be the director. Lewis was delegated with conducting the early research of the international countries and Formula 1 racing, while Lasseter would become more involved as the film entered production. Producer Denise Ream revealed that the first storyboard for the film, which was that of the film's opening sequence, originated from a deleted scene from the first film, storyboarded by the late Joe Ranft in 2001. Ream, who came on to the film in 2008, added that the film's official production length was three-and-a-half years, quicker than the standard five years that most Pixar films take. Pixar selected Ben Queen, co-creator and executive producer of the Fox television series, '' Drive'' (2007), to write the film after discovering an original screenplay of his. Queen described the screenwriting process at Pixar as "Very collaborative, very fun", and found Pixar's strategy of shifting genres on sequels to be "gutsy" and showed a real confidence in vision. In April 2008, Pixar unveiled its latest animation slate, with ''Cars 2'' scheduled for a summer 2012 release. In September 2008, the film's release date was announced to have moved up to the summer of 2011. In 2009, Disney registered several domain names, hinting to audiences that the title and theme of the film would be in relation to a "World Grand Prix".

In February 2010, Blue Sky Disney reported that Lasseter had been spending less time at Disney and more time at Pixar to help solve story problems on ''Cars 2''. In an interview the following month, Lasseter revealed that he was not directing any films at that time. However, by June 2010, it was announced that Lasseter had been designated as co-director and was ultimately revealed to have replaced Lewis as the film's official main director during that time while Lewis became the co-director.

Lasseter, who had stayed busy directing the ''Cars Toons'' between the completion of ''Cars'' and his work on ''Cars 2'', was excited to return to directing films and described working with a team that included many new artists as " ..really a joy" after having focused most of his time in his chief creative officer role at Pixar and Disney since the first ''Cars''. For the last year-and-a-half of the making of ''Cars 2'', Lasseter spent nearly all of his time working on the film but occasionally checked in as executive producer on ''Toy Story 3'' (2010), '' Tangled'' (2010), and '' Winnie the Pooh'' (2011). The various teams behind ''Cars 2'' found creative solutions for accommodating Lasseter's busy schedule to allow him the time and resources to direct the film on a compressed schedule while also checking in as executive producer on the other films. One critical solution came from Lasseter's partner, Steve Jobs, with the release of the iPad. Supervising technical director Apurva Shah wrote a review tool app on the iPad for Lasseter that allowed him to complete reviews via recorded voice memos for all departments including lighting, animation, effects, set design, and layout when outside the office primarily during commutes to and from work. Lasseter still attended all story meetings in person. "One hour on the iPad equaled three hours in the studio," according to Lasseter, who added, "I kept in touch with everyone. I did reviews in the car."

Story

Lasseter expressed that ''Cars 2'' was an extremely personal film for him, saying " ..I set out to make a film that was really fun from beginning to end and really different from ''Cars'' in action and setting and characters. And yet it still had the emotion, which is the hallmark of a Pixar film." For the film's first research trip that included a Formula 1 race, the filmmaking team attended a party at the Milan Museum of Modern Art in Italy. Lasseter recounted feeling out of place at the party wearing jeans and a Hawaiian shirt while being surrounded by models and other high-profile attendants, saying he felt like Mater and would later incorporate this idea into the film. Lasseter took inspiration from the television series '' The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' (1964–68) as well as '' The Bourne Identity'' (2002), '' The Bourne Supremacy'' (2004), and '' The Bourne Ultimatum'' (2007) for incorporating the spy genre into the world of ''Cars''. He also cited Alfred Hitchcock's films '' The Man Who Knew Too Much'' (1956) and '' North by Northwest'' (1959) as inspiration for the main storyline as they both feature an innocent character who gets caught up in a conspiracy.

Originally, the World Grand Prix was going to feature five races, including a 24-hour Le Mans-style endurance race in Paris, France and a rally race in Black Forest, Germany in addition to the races in Tokyo, Japan, the fictional city of Porto Corsa, Italy and London, England that ended up in the final film. Lasseter said the race had gotten too big and the film too long, so they trimmed the event down to three races. The races in Black Forest and Paris were dropped completely, and the scene in Paris was restructured to instead have Mater, Finn and Holley stop by to consult with an informant. For Italy, Ream explained that the Pixar teams decided to create a fictional town instead of recreate an existing one due to Lasseter's love of many different real towns in Italy and the desire to create a brand new Italian city that people would want to visit.

Ream noted the challenge of finding the tone in a spy story for an audience that included families, saying, "That was a large part of what we ended up doing, trying to get the spy story correct and clear, so everyone could understand it. That was really tricky". Story supervisor Nathan Stanton commented that among the story's biggest challenges were the scope and the heart. The passing of Paul Newman's character from the first film, Doc Hudson, was one such challenge as the original intention was for the character to come back for the sequel. Pixar ultimately chose not to recast Doc Hudson and instead imply that he had died sometime before the events of ''Cars 2''. The story team also considered Doc's passing as an emotional plot point similar to the loss of a father figure that McQueen and Mater would deal with, but the team ultimately felt that angle didn't work and simply focused on Mater and McQueen's friendship as the emotional core. Stanton added that the complexity of the story was difficult to convey, and there was not much heart in the project for a long time. The team continued to rework the story with each screening to find the right balance of showing McQueen and Mater's friendship, the World Grand Prix, and the conspiracy involving Miles Axlerod.

''Cars 2'' was the first film Lasseter directed without the involvement of his close friend and collaborator, Joe Ranft, co-director and co-writer of the first ''Cars'' who died in 2005. Ranft was a story supervisor on each of Lasseter's first four directorial efforts: ''Toy Story'', ''A Bug's Life'', ''Toy Story 2'', and ''Cars''. In addition, he provided minor voice roles in each of Pixar's first seven films which included Lasseter's films as well as '' Monsters, Inc.'', ''Finding Nemo'', and ''The Incredibles''. Despite his absence, Ranft continued to serve as inspiration for Lasseter during the making of the film and in crafting Mater's arc. On working in Ranft's absence, Lasseter commented:

Animation

''Cars 2'' had 118 unique sets, double that of most Pixar films up to that point apart from the 80 to 90 sets used for ''The Incredibles''. The film called for many new techniques that the studio had not encountered before or to the level of this film. As such, Lasseter described the film as technologically ten times more complex than any previous Pixar film.

Sets supervisor John Halstead emphasized that the ''carification'' process necessary for this film was carefully handled so as to not be heavy-handed, saying "We try to add the car features in a way that sits quietly. If you’re looking for it, you will notice it, but we don’t want to detract from the characters." The driving system used on the first ''Cars'' was refined to allow the animators to have the cars perform sharper turns when racing. Because the film would feature different race tracks that were each unique to their respective countries, the layout artists and sets department collaborated to create appropriate blocking paths for the cars and then tackle the challenge of setting up interesting camera angle shots during the races. Each sequence typically took four to six weeks to complete. The international story called for the inclusion of numerous new kinds of cars and other vehicles. In creating the new vehicles, the automotive designers followed Lasseter's edict of "truth to materials". Upon studying the first film, the filmmakers greatly reduced the number of controls used on characters in the sequel after finding that a substantial amount of them were never used in the first film. The team developed new techniques for creating fully 3D cities using a software program called Procedural, Inc. and a new procedural approach for creating various types of vegetation. The team also implemented a new system developed by Jerry Tessendorf into their previous system that was used to create the water in ''Finding Nemo'' to now create more realistic water and ocean surfaces for the opening sequence. Additionally, the teams made low-level routine edits to the shader code used for Radiator Springs in the first film to make it compatible with the lighting in this film.

According to directing animator Victor Navone, roughly 50% of the film was animated in the span of ten weeks. Navone said that while the schedule was very challenging, the collaboration between all animators boosted morale and noted that Lasseter coming on to direct the film gave the show more focus and energy.

Casting

In November 2010, the film's synopsis was announced, revealing the espionage racing storyline, along with a first look image and official poster. The same month, Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Jason Isaacs, Joe Mantegna, Peter Jacobson, Bonnie Hunt, Tony Shalhoub, Cheech Marin, and Thomas Kretschmann were confirmed as the voice talent featured in the film. From November 2010 until May 2011, Disney released information about the other voice talent, including Jenifer Lewis, Katherine Helmond, Michael Wallis, Darrell Waltrip, Franco Nero, Vanessa Redgrave, Bruce Campbell, Sig Hansen, Michel Michelis, Jeff Gordon, Lewis Hamilton, Brent Musburger, David Hobbs, John Turturro, and Eddie Izzard.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for the film was released on both CD and digital download on June 14, 2011. ''Cars 2'' is the fourth Pixar film to be scored by Michael Giacchino, after ''The Incredibles'', '' Ratatouille'' and '' Up''. It was also the first and only Pixar film directed by John Lasseter not to be scored by Randy Newman, who scored the first and third films of the ''Cars'' franchise.

Release

During the summer of 2008, John Lasseter announced that ''Cars 2'' would be pushed forward and released in the summer of 2011, one year earlier than its original 2012 release date. The US release date was later confirmed to be June 24, 2011, with a UK release date set for July 22, 2011. The world premiere of the film took place at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on June 18, 2011. ''Cars 2'' was released in 4,115 theaters in the USA and Canada, setting a record-high for a G-rated film and for Pixar. The latter was surpassed by '' Brave'' (4,164 theaters). The film was presented in Disney Digital 3D and IMAX 3D, as well as traditional two-dimensional and IMAX formats.

Lawsuit

In March 2011, Jake Mandeville-Anthony, a U.K. screenwriter, sued Disney and Pixar alleging copyright infringement and breach of implied contract. In his complaint he alleged that ''Cars'' and ''Cars 2'' are based in part on work that he had submitted in the early 1990s and he sought an injunction to stop the release of ''Cars 2'' and requested actual or statutory damages. On May 13, 2011, Disney responded to the lawsuit, denying "each and every one of Plaintiff's legal claims concerning the purported copyright infringement and substantial similarity of the parties' respective works." On July 27, 2011, the lawsuit was dismissed by a district court judge who, in her ruling, wrote that the "Defendants have sufficiently shown that the Parties' respective works are not substantially similar in their protectable elements as a matter of law".

Short film

The film was preceded by a short film titled ''Hawaiian Vacation'', directed by Gary Rydstrom and starring the characters of the ''Toy Story'' franchise.

Home media

The film was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, and digital download on November 1, 2011. This release was produced in four different physical packages: a 1-disc DVD, a 2-disc combo pack (DVD and Blu-ray), a 5-disc combo pack (DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, and Digital Copy), and an 11-disc three movie collector's set, which features '' Cars'', ''Cars 2'', and '' Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales''. The film was also released as a Movie Download edition in both standard and high definition.

The Movie Download release includes four bonus features: ''Cars Toons'' "Air Mater", the ''Toy Story Toon'' "Hawaiian Vacation", "World Tour Interactive Feature", and "Bringing Cars 2 to the World". The 1-disc DVD and 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo pack releases include the shorts "Air Mater" and "Hawaiian Vacation", plus the ''Director John Lasseter Commentary''. The 5-disc combo pack includes all of the same bonus features as the 1-disc DVD and 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo pack versions, in addition to "World Tour Interactive Feature" and "Sneak Peek: The Nuts and Bolts of Cars Land." The 11-disc three movie collection comes packaged with ''Cars'' (DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital Copy), ''Cars 2'' (DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, and Digital Copy), and '' Mater's Tall Tales'' (DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital Copy).

''Cars 2'' sold a total of 1,983,374 DVD units during its opening week, generating $31.24 million and claiming first place. It also finished on the top spot on the Blu-ray chart during its first week, selling 1.76 million units and generating $44.57 million. Its Blu-ray share of home media was 47 percent, indicating an unexpectedly major shift of sales from DVD to Blu-ray. Blu-ray 3D contributed to this, accounting for 17% of total disc sales. On September 10, 2019, ''Cars 2'' was released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray.

Reception

Box office

''Cars 2'' grossed $191.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $370.7 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $562.1 million. Worldwide on its opening weekend it grossed $109 million, marking the largest opening weekend for a 2011 animated title. Overall, ''Cars 2'' became the seventh-biggest Pixar film in worldwide box office among the fourteen released, and was the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2011.

''Cars 2'' made $25.7 million on its debut Friday (June 24, 2011), marking the second-largest opening day for a Pixar film, at the time, after ''Toy Story 3s $41.1 million. During this time, though, it was the third least-attended opening day for a Pixar film, only ahead of '' Up'' and '' Ratatouille''. It also scored the sixth largest opening day for an animated feature. On its opening weekend as a whole, ''Cars 2'' debuted at No.1 ahead of ''Green Lantern'' and '' Bad Teacher'' with $66.1 million, marking the largest opening weekend for a 2011 animated feature, the seventh largest opening for Pixar, the eighth largest among films released in June, and the fourth largest for a G-rated film. In its second weekend, however, the film was overtaken by '' Transformers: Dark of the Moon'', dropping 60.3% and grossing $26.2 million.

Outside North America, it grossed $42.9 million during its first weekend from 3,129 theaters in 18 countries, topping the box office. It performed especially well in Russia where it grossed $9.42 million, marking the best opening weekend for a Disney or Pixar animated feature and surpassing the entire runs of ''Cars'' and ''Toy Story 3''. In Mexico, it made $8.24 million during its first weekend, while in Brazil, it topped the box office with $5.19 million ($7.08 million with previews). It also premiered at No.1 with $5.16 million in Australia, where it debuted simultaneously with '' Kung Fu Panda 2'' and out-grossed it. It is the highest-grossing film of 2011 in Lithuania ($477,117), Argentina ($12 million). It is the highest-grossing animated film of 2011 in Estonia ($442,707), Finland ($3.2 million), Norway ($5.8 million).

Critical response

It is the lowest-rated Pixar film on the site to date and the only one to earn a "rotten" certification. Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score to reviews from mainstream critics, gave the film an average score of 57 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

"The original ''Cars'' was not greeted with exceptional warmth," said ''The New York Times'', "but the sequel generated Pixar's first truly negative response."
Critics generally criticized the focus on Mater and felt the film lacked warmth and charm, while also feeling the film was made as an exercise in target marketing and was too violent to be given a G rating. Reviewing the film for ''The Wall Street Journal'', Joe Morgenstern wrote, "This frenzied sequel seldom gets beyond mediocrity." ''Entertainment Weekly'' critic Owen Gleiberman said, "''Cars 2'' is a movie so stuffed with "fun" that it went right off the rails. What on earth was the gifted director-mogul John Lasseter thinking – that he wanted kids to come out of this movie was icmore ADD?" Although Leonard Maltin on '' IndieWire'' claimed that he had "such high regard for Pixar and its creative team led by John Lasseter" he said he found the plot "confusing" and felt that Mater's voice was annoying, saying that he'd "rather listen to chalk on a blackboard than spend nearly two hours with Tow Mater."

Conversely, Peter Travers of ''Rolling Stone'' gave the film 3½ stars out of four, and said that "the sequel is a tire-burning burst of action and fun with a beating heart under its hood." He also praised its "fluid script" and called it a "winner". Roger Ebert was the most effusive of the more positive reviews, praising Lasseter's channeling of childhood playtime for the film's spirit and writing, "At a time when some 'grown-up' action films are relentlessly shallow and stupid, here is a movie with such complexity that even the cars sometimes have to pause and explain it to themselves." Justin Chang of '' Variety'' commented, "The rare sequel that not only improves on but retroactively justifies its predecessor." Ticket buyers also gave the film an A− in exit polls, on par with other Pixar titles.

A central vein of many negative reviews was the theory that the Walt Disney Company forced ''Cars 2'' into production at Pixar out of greed in order to drive merchandising sales. Lasseter vehemently denied these claims, which he attributed to "people who don't know the facts, rushing to judge." Some theorized that the vitriol was less about the film but more about Pixar's broadened focus to sequels. ''The New York Times'' reported that although one negatively reviewed film would not be enough to scratch the studio, "the commentary did dent morale at the studio, which until then had enjoyed an unbroken and perhaps unprecedented run of critical acclaim."

Accolades

''Cars 2'' marks the first Pixar film not to be nominated for an Oscar. It is also the first Pixar film not nominated for Best Animated Feature since its introduction in 2001.

Video games

A video game based on the film was developed by Avalanche Software and published by Disney Interactive Studios for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC and Nintendo DS on June 21, 2011. The PlayStation 3 version of the game was reported to be compatible with stereoscopic 3D gameplay. A Nintendo 3DS version was released on November 1, 2011, and a PSP version was released on November 8, 2011.

An app based on the film was released on iTunes for a dollar on June 23, 2011. The Lite version was released for free that same day. The object of the game was to complete each race, unlock new levels, and get a high score. As of June 28, 2011, the app had hit No. 1 on the App Store. The game was retired on August 29, 2014.
A V.Smile version was also released.

Sequel and spin-offs

A sequel, titled ''Cars 3'', was released on June 16, 2017. Directed by Brian Fee, the film focuses on Lightning McQueen, now a veteran racer, who after being overshadowed by a new wave of rookies, gets help from a younger car, Cruz Ramirez, to instruct him for the increasingly high-tech world and defeat new rival Jackson Storm.

An animated feature film spin-off titled ''Planes'', produced by DisneyToon Studios, was released on August 9, 2013. A sequel to ''Planes'', titled ''Planes: Fire & Rescue'', was released on July 18, 2014.

Notes

References

External links

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2011 films
2010s English-language films
2011 computer-animated films
2011 3D films
2011 American animated films
2011 action comedy films
2010s children's comedy films
American 3D films
American action comedy films
American children's animated comedy films
American sequel films
Cars (franchise)
Environmental films
Animated films set in California

Animated films set in Italy
Animated films set in London
Animated films set in Paris
Animated films set in Tokyo
2010s spy comedy films
Pixar animated films
Walt Disney Records soundtracks
Films scored by Michael Giacchino
Films directed by John Lasseter
Films with screenplays by John Lasseter
2010s children's animated films
3D animated films
Rating controversies in film
English-language action comedy films