Cars 3

"From this moment, everything will change."

- Tagline

Cars 3 is the third film in the Cars series, which was released in theaters on June 16, 2017.

Synopsis
"Blindsided by a new generation of blazing-fast racers, the legendary Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) is suddenly pushed out of the sport he loves. To get back in the game, he will need the help of an eager young race technician with her own plan to win, inspiration from the late Fabulous Hudson Hornet, and a few unexpected turns. Proving that #95 isn't through yet will test the heart of a champion on Piston Cup Racing's biggest stage!"

Plot
As the Piston Cup season progresses, Lightning McQueen, now a seven-time Piston Cup racing legend, finds himself overshadowed by Jackson Storm, an arrogant rookie who belongs to a new generation of racers that use the latest technology to improve their performance. Lightning's fellow veterans either retire or are fired by their sponsors, to be replaced by new-generation racers. He falls behind the pack in the final race of the season; while trying to catch up, he loses control and suffers a violent rollover crash. Four months later, while recovering in Radiator Springs after the violent crash, a primer-coated Lightning watches footage of the crash that ended the career of his late mentor, Doc Hudson. He tells his girlfriend, Sally Carrera, that he does not want to be forced into retirement as Doc was and decides to start training again, looking for new ways to regain his edge. Rusty and Dusty, the owners of Lightning's Rust-eze racing team, send him to a newly opened racing center, much to his surprise. When he arrives, he learns that they have sold Rust-eze to new owner Sterling, who assigns him to work with trainer Cruz Ramirez. Lightning eventually becomes impatient and annoyed with Cruz's methods and attempts to use a high-tech racing simulator, only to cause severe damage to the equipment.

Convinced that Lightning is no longer capable of winning, Sterling is ready to take him off the racing circuit and use him for product endorsements. Lightning offers a deal instead: if he wins the first race of the new upcoming season in Florida, he can keep racing at his discretion; otherwise, he will retire immediately. Sterling accepts the deal and sends Cruz to work with him one-on-one at a nearby beach.

Instead of improving his own top speed to beat Storm's speed, Lightning spends most of the day helping Cruz get used to racing on sandy coastline outside the training center. For inspiration, they travel to a dirt track on which Doc raced but inadvertently end up competing in a demolition derby, which Cruz ultimately wins, leading to Lightning being humiliated on national television. When he rages at her for wasting his time and accidentally breaks her trophy, she gets upset and reveals that she had wanted to race professionally when she was younger, but never started a race because she felt outclassed by the other cars. She leaves to make the trip back to the racing center on her own.

After seeing a report on Storm's new speed record, Lightning calls his best friend, Mater, for advice. Mater suggests that he track down Doc's mentor Smokey. Lightning picks up Cruz, but she refuses to go with him, after what he said to her before. Lightning tries to make it up to her, by fixing her trophy, and dancing to help her get on Mack. Cruz, getting impatient by Lightning's dancing and singing, agrees and the two travel to Doc's hometown of Thomasville, where they meet Smokey and several of Doc's old friends. Accepting the fact that he is not the racer he once was, he allows them to coach him in methods to outsmart Storm instead of trying to beat him with sheer speed. Smokey reveals that even though Doc never raced again after his crash, he found a new happiness in training Lightning. During a final practice race, Lightning has a flashback to his crash and loses to Cruz, who has been taking some of Smokey's lessons to heart.

At the race in Florida, Lightning is surprised to find Smokey and Doc's old friends cheering him on, despite him falling behind to the next-generation racers. Several laps into the race, Sterling spots Cruz among them and orders her to return to the racing center. Lightning calls her back to the speedway, has his pit crew outfit her for racing, and gives her his number so she can take his place. Using both Smokey's advice and her own, Lightning coaches her through the pack until she is in second place behind Storm. On the last lap, Storm rams Cruz into the wall, but she flips away using one of Doc's old techniques and lands ahead of him to win the race, much to the amazement of McQueen. She and Lightning are both credited with the victory, and she quits her job with Sterling to accept an offer to race for Dinoco.

Later, in Radiator Springs, Lightning and Cruz put on an exhibition race for their friends. They have adopted Doc's old racing colors and number, respectively, to honor his memory. Dinoco has bought Rust-eze from Sterling, and Lightning decides to continue racing and train Cruz as well.

In a post-credits scene, Mater is singing a funny song and is cleaning in his lot, and when his iPad rings, he gets startled and jumps in fright then inadvertently knocks over his reception antenna along with tires falling down from his shack's roof, and the FaceTime on his iPad goes dead, much to his dismay.

Cast

 * Larry the Cable Guy as Mater
 * Owen Wilson as Lightning McQueen
 * Cristela Alonzo as Cruz Ramirez
 * Armie Hammer as Jackson Storm
 * Bonnie Hunt as Sally Carrera
 * Chris Cooper as Smokey
 * Nathan Fillion as Sterling
 * Tony Shalhoub as Luigi
 * Lea DeLaria as Miss Fritter
 * Kerry Washington as Natalie Certain
 * Cheech Marin as Ramone
 * Jenifer Lewis as Flo
 * Michael Wallis as Sheriff
 * Paul Dooley as Sarge
 * Lloyd Sherr as Fillmore
 * Guido Quaroni as Guido
 * Katherine Helmond as Lizzie
 * John Ratzenberger as Mack
 * Bob Peterson as Chick Hicks (Replacing Michael Keaton)
 * Richard Petty as Strip Weathers
 * Jeff Gordon as Jeff Gorvette
 * Darrell Waltrip as Darrell Cartrip
 * Chase Elliott as Chase Racelott
 * Daniel Suárez as Danny Swervez
 * Ryan Blaney as Ryan "Inside" Laney
 * Darrell Wallace Jr. as Bubba Wheelhouse
 * Kyle Petty as Cal Weathers
 * Shannon Spake as Shannon Spokes
 * Humpy Wheeler as Tex Dinoco
 * Ray Evernham as Ray Reverham
 * Mike Joy as Mike Joyride
 * Lewis Hamilton as Hamilton
 * Bob Costas as Bob Cutlass
 * Ray Magliozzi as Dusty Rust-eze
 * Tom Magliozzi as Rusty Rust-eze
 * Isiah Whitlock Jr. as River Scott
 * Junior Johnson as Junior "Midnight" Moon
 * Margo Martindale as Louise "Barnstormer" Nash
 * Angel Oquendo as Bobby Swift
 * Jerome Ranft as Red
 * Paul Newman as Doc Hudson/Fabulous Hudson Hornet (archive audio)

Production
At the Disney stockholder meeting on March 18, 2014, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that Pixar had begun pre-production on Cars 3.

Michael Wallis said on August 17, 2013 that the film would include Route 99 in California, while John Lasseter said during the Tokyo International Film Festival that a Citroën 2CV will appear in the film as a reference to Hayao Miyazaki's movie Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro in a form of an old.

According to the 2015 São Paulo Disney Expo, the film's release was to be in 2018. On July 20, 2015, while being interviewed by Autoweek, Lasseter stated that the film's release should be summer 2018 or 2019. On October 8, 2015, it was confirmed to be June 16, 2017.

The first concept images were released by USA Today on May 30, 2016. Director Brian Fee also gave some info on the characters and plot.

"Cruz Ramirez is trying to figure out how this old dog can learn some new tricks," says Fee.

"Think of where he'd be in his career now in real time," says Fee. "(McQueen) is not an old man, but he's one of the older cars on the circuit with new rookies coming in. People start to wonder and ask when he might retire."

On June 8, 2016, Lasseter revealed that the film will include a different tone as well as a tribute to the first film's character Doc Hudson.

On November 21, the first teaser trailer for the film was released and it showed McQueen about to have a horrific crash, like the one that forced the end of Doc Hudson's career.

On January 5, it was announced that Armie Hammer and Cristela Alonzo would voice Jackson Storm and Cruz Ramirez, respectively.

On January 9, Disney released the first trailer during the College Football Playoffs.

On February 1, 2017, it was announced that the Pixar short to be shown with the film is Lou.

On February 26, another trailer was released during the Daytona 500.

On April 25, a teaser was released saying that a full trailer was set to be released, which it was the following day.

On April 30, a one-minute trailer was shown at the 2017 Radio Disney Music Awards.

On May 7, a Japanese trailer was released, showing new footage.

On May 10, a new trailer was released, showing new footage.

On May 25, Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton revealed on his social media an exclusive clip featuring his character in the film.

On June 6, a clip of McQueen and Storm was released on various movie clip YouTube channels, although it was not then uploaded on Pixar's official YouTube channel. However, on June 14, it did get uploaded on Disney's official YouTube channel made for United Kingdom viewers, and was uploaded on Pixar's YouTube channel a day later.

On June 9, a one-minute trailer was released (eleven years after the first Cars film).

On June 14, a "My Senior Project" clip was released on the Disney UK YouTube channel.

A 12-minute exclusive 4D sneak peek was shown at the "Bugs Life Theater" at Disney's California Adventure starting May 12, 2017 with short clips from the movie and a long demolition derby clip that featured McQueen and Cruz taking on Miss Fritter.

A one-minute "Legacy of 95" featurette was released on the Disney UK YouTube channel on June 22.

Release
Cars 3 was released in theaters on June 16, 2017 in the United States in 3D, and in selected IMAX theaters with the accompanied by the Pixar short film Lou.

To promote the UK release, which was July 14, life-size models of McQueen and Storm were shown at the 2017 Formula 1 British Grand Prix, with Wilson, Fee and Reher attending.

Home media
Cars 3 was released on Digital HD on October 24, 2017 and was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on November 7, 2017, by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.

Box Office
Cars 3 grossed around $172 million in USA and Canada and $310 milion in other territories for a worldwilde total of $482 milion, agaisnt a production budget of $150 milion.

Critical Response
Cars 3 received mostly positive reviews, the film received an approval rating of 68% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 118 reviews. With the site's critical 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."

Owen Gleiberman of Variety magazine gave the film positive review stating, "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.

Soundtrack
There are eight songs in the Motion Picture Soundtrack while the Score Soundtrack is composed by Randy Newman. For the film, there are two soundtracks: one containing songs, and the other consisting of the film's score. Both were released on the same day as the film.

Video game
Avalanche Software and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment developed a game adapted from the film, with release dates of June 13, 2017 in North America, June 14 in Australia, and July 14 in Europe.

International premieres

 * June 15, 2017 (Colombia)
 * June 16, 2017 (Mexico)
 * June 25, 2017 (United Kingdom)
 * July 13, 2017 (Brazil)
 * July 20, 2017 (Portugal)

Cameos

 * Todd the Pizza Planet Delivery Truck is seen participating in the Crazy 8 Demolition Derby race in Thunder Hollow but is knocked out, losing his rocket topper in the process.
 * Jeff Gorvette from Cars 2 returns as a retired racer, appearing in the Florida 500 race in Florida.
 * The pumpkin coach from Cinderella (as an antique trophy), a picture of Miles Axlerod and a bonsai tree resembling Ant Island from A Bug's Life is seen in Sterling's office in the Rust-eze Racing Center.
 * Miss Fritter's exhaust pipes are designed as a homage to Maleficent.
 * Car number 86 of Thunder Hollow's Crazy 8 Demolition Derby race is a reference to Luxo, Jr., due to his number 86 (when it was released), and he has the Pixar Ball on his hood.
 * Buy n Large from WALL-E and Triple Dent Gum from Inside Out appear as sponsors for Dinoco Races.
 * Due to Coco being in development at that time, two elements appear in the film itself.
 * The town of Santa Cecilia appears on one of the treadmill screens during Cruz Ramirez's training regime.
 * Héctor's Guitar appears as a decoration in Thomasville's Cotton Pin Bar & Grill.
 * A113 appears once again as Mater's license plate number, on the door of Sterling's main office in Rusteze Research Center and on Shannon Spokes' press sticker as well as one of Miss Fritter's victims' plate numbers.
 * A billboard advertises Sleep Well Motel from Toy Story of Terror on the bridge in which Mack sleeps under. It also says "Lux Co."
 * The Cars 3 (Original Score Soundtrack) reuses a lot of music from Cars.
 * In one of the flashback scenes, Doc is balancing a stack of objects on his hood while telling Lightning, "You might wanna take notes on this one." This is the same voice clip Doc says in Cars: The Video Game sometimes when passing another car in a race.

Other Trivia

 * This is the first Cars film not to be directed by John Lasseter.
 * This is the shortest Cars film in the franchise, having a run time of 103 minutes.
 * This is the first Pixar film to be directed by Brian Fee.
 * This is the first Pixar sequel that isn't from the Toy Story series to focus more on it's original protagonist because of the majority of other Pixar sequels have whoever was the deuteragonist or supporting character in the original film - Mater in Cars 2, Mike Wazowski in Monsters University, Dory in Finding Dory, and Elastigirl in Incredibles 2.
 * This is the final film written by Daniel Gerson, as he died in 2016 and the film was dedicated to his memory.
 * In the teaser trailer, the viewer can actually see a cloudy glimpse of the front of one of the race cars, when the announcer says "McQueen is fading, fading fast!"
 * This is the first and only Cars film not to have a main antagonist with a green color outline.
 * This is the first feature-length Pixar film (and also Disney's first animated theatrical feature-length film) to have been designated a G rating from the MPAA since 2013's Monsters University. This compares to the PG-rated Planes films, which are part of the Cars franchise.
 * Thus, it is also the first major theatrical animated film to have been designated that rating from the MPAA since Blue Sky Studios' The Peanuts Movie from 2015.
 * Out of all the original actors that reprise their roles from the previous sequels, this marks the first and only time where Michael Keaton, Chick Hick's original voice actor from the first film, does not reprise his role as Chick due to him being busy on Spider-Man: Homecoming.
 * The sixth Pixar film to have different than usual music accompanying the Disney and Pixar logos, after A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Toy Story 3, and Finding Dory.
 * The fourth Pixar film that had no humans following A Bug's Life, Cars, and Cars 2.
 * Although the film is a threequel, the events of Cars 2 are not directly mentioned, but there are several visuals from the second film proving it still exists within the timeline.
 * This is Pixar's second film to feature the full 2011 Disney opening logo as a closing logo after Finding Dory.
 * This is Pixar's sixth film to have a post-credits scene after Finding Nemo, Cars, Brave, Monsters University, and Finding Dory.
 * This is the first Pixar film to have a 4K Ultra HD release.
 * This is the sixth Pixar film with the closing music of Disney and Pixar logos, with the first five being A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Toy Story 3, and Finding Dory.
 * This is the second time that Chris Cooper does a role for a Disney film, after playing Tex Richman in The Muppets.
 * This is the first Pixar film to receive a simple "Fresh" approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, instead of a "Certified Fresh" unlike all previous Pixar films had, the only exception being Cars 2 which got a "Rotten" rating.
 * In some iternational cuts of the movie, McQueen's final painting as the "Fabulous Lightning McQueen" has the word "Lightning" replaced by a lightning ray. This is very likely due to McQueen's first name being translated in most foreign countries.