Cars (2006)

Cars is a 2006 American computer-animated comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed and co-written by John Lasseter from a screenplay by Dan Fogelman, it is Pixar's final independently-produced film before its purchase by Disney in May 2006. Set in a world populated entirely by anthropomorphic cars and other vehicles, the film stars the voices of Owen Wilson, Paul Newman (in his final acting role), Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy, Tony Shalhoub, Cheech Marin, Michael Wallis, George Carlin, Paul Dooley, Jenifer Lewis, Guido Quaroni, Michael Keaton, Katherine Helmond, John Ratzenberger and Richard Petty. Race car drivers Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Mario Andretti, Michael Schumacher and car enthusiast Jay Leno (as "Jay Limo") voice themselves.

Cars premiered on May 26, 2006 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina and was theatrically released in the United States on June 9, 2006 to critical and commercial success, grossing $462.2 million worldwide against a budget of $120 million. It was nominated for two Academy Awards including Best Animated Feature and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film. The film was released on DVD on November 7, 2006 and on Blu-ray in 2007. The film was accompanied by the short One Man Band for its theatrical and home media releases. Merchandise based on the film (including scale models of several of the cars) broke records for retail sales of merchandise based on a Disney/Pixar film,[2] bringing an estimated $10 billion for 5 years after the film's release.[3] The film was dedicated to Joe Ranft, the film's co-director and co-writer, who died in a car accident during the film's production.

A sequel titled Cars 2 was released on June 24, 2011[4] and a spin-off film titled Planes produced by Disneytoon Studios was released on August 9, 2013,[5] which was followed by its own sequel, Planes: Fire & Rescue, released on July 18, 2014. A series of short animated films titled Cars Toons debuted in 2008 on Disney Channel and Disney XD.[6] A second sequel, Cars 3, was released on June 16, 2017.[7]

Plot
In a world populated by anthropomorphic talking vehicles, the last race of the Piston Cup championship ends in a three-way tie between retiring veteran Strip "The King" Weathers, infamous runner-up Chick Hicks and rookie Lightning McQueen. The tiebreaker race is scheduled for one week later at the Los Angeles International Speedway in California. McQueen is desperate to win the race, since it would not only make him the first rookie to win a championship, but also allow him to leave the unglamorous sponsorship of Rust-Eze, a bumper ointment company, and allow him to take The King's place as the sponsored car of the lucrative Dinoco team. Eager to start practice in California as soon as possible, he pushes his big rig, Mack to travel all night long. While McQueen is sleeping, Mack drifts off, and is startled by a gang of four reckless street racers, causing McQueen to fall out the back of the trailer and onto the road. McQueen wakes in the middle of traffic and speeds off the highway to find Mack, but instead ends up lost in the run-down desert town of Radiator Springs, where he inadvertently ruins the pavement of its main road by accident.

After being arrested, impounded overnight and guarded by a rusty yet friendly tow truck named Mater, McQueen is ordered by the town judge Doc Hudson to leave town immediately. However, the local lawyer Sally Carrera, requests that McQueen should instead be given community service to repave the road to which Doc reluctantly agrees. McQueen tries to repave the road in a single day but it turns out shoddy, forcing him to repave the road again. During this time, he befriends several of the cars and learns that 40 years ago, Radiator Springs used to be a popular stopover along the old U.S. Route 66 but with the construction of Interstate 40 bypassing it just to save 10 minutes of driving, the town literally vanished from the map. McQueen also discovers that Doc is the "Fabulous Hudson Hornet", a three-time Piston Cup winner whose racing career ended after an accident in 1954 after which he was quickly forgotten by the sport. McQueen finishes repaving the road which has invigorated the cars to improve their town and spends an extra day in Radiator Springs with his new friends, before Mack and the media descend on the town led by a tip to McQueen's location. McQueen reluctantly leaves with the media to get to California in time for the race while Sally chastises Doc upon discovering that he had tipped off the media to McQueen's whereabouts, not wanting to be discovered by them instead.

At the Los Angeles International Speedway, McQueen's mind is not fully set on the race due to him missing Sally and his other new friends and he soon falls into last place. He is surprised to discover that Doc, who is decked out in his old racing colors, has taken over as his crew chief along with several other cars from Radiator Springs to help in the pit. Inspired and recalling tricks he learned from Doc and his friends, McQueen quickly emerges to lead the race into the final laps. But at the last minute Hicks (refusing to come behind Weathers again) side swipes Weathers and sends him into a dangerous spin, causing him to crash. Seeing this and recalling Doc's fate, McQueen stops just short of the finish line which allows Hicks to win and drives back to push Weathers over the finish line. The crowd and media condemn Hicks' victory but are nonetheless impressed with McQueen's good sportsmanship. Though offered the Dinoco sponsorship deal, McQueen declines by insisting on staying with Rust-eze as an appreciation of their past support. Back at Radiator Springs, McQueen returns to reunite with Sally and announces that he will be setting up his racing headquarters, thereby putting Radiator Springs back on the map.