Cars 3 (Dreamworks Version)

Cars 3 is a 2017 American computer-animated comedy-adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Directed by Brian Fee in his directorial debut and written by Kiel Murray, Bob Peterson, and Mike Rich, it is the third installment of the Cars film series and the stand-alone sequel to Cars 2 (2011). It was executive-produced by John Lasseter, who directed the first two Cars films. The returning voices of Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt and Larry the Cable Guy are joined by Cristela Alonzo, Chris Cooper, Armie Hammer, Nathan Fillion, Kerry Washington, and Lea DeLaria, in addition to a dozen NASCAR personalities. In the film, Lightning McQueen sets out to prove to a new generation of high tech race cars that he is still the best racing car in the world.

Released worldwide in movie theaters on June 16, 2017, along with its theatrical animated short film Lou, the film grossed $383 million worldwide and received mainly positive reviews from critics.

Plot
Lightning McQueen, and the other racers of the Piston Cup racing series, suddenly find themselves struggling to win against next-generation rookies like Jackson Storm, who utilize advanced technology and training methods. As Storm's success attracts other rookies, many older racers retire or are pushed out. In the final race of the season, McQueen suffers a violent crash while trying to overtake Storm, leaving him badly injured.

After recovering, McQueen decides to return to racing and calls his sponsors who reveal they have sold the team to a new owner named Sterling. Sterling assigns McQueen to train under Cruz Ramirez, where McQueen fails to adapt to the modern training methods. Because of this Sterling tries to force him to retire. Adamant that he can still compete, McQueen instead offers that if he wins the first race of the season, he can decide when to retire, otherwise he would retire immediately. McQueen tries to train on nearby Fireball Beach, but ends up spending most of his time teaching Cruz how to drive on the sandy terrain. McQueen then attempts to join a race incognito at a famous dirt track called Thunder Hollow, but inadvertently enters a figure-8-style demolition derby with Cruz, which she wins. McQueen's identity is also discovered, adding to his humiliation.

Distraught at the apparent waste of training time, McQueen rages at Cruz and in the process accidentally breaks her trophy. Cruz reveals that she had wanted to be a racer just like McQueen all her life, but never started a race due to her feeling intimidated and outclassed by the other racers. She resigns as McQueen's trainer and heads back to the training center.

Guilty and with no other options, McQueen calls his friend Mater for advice. He suggests that McQueen track down Doc's mentor Smokey, in Doc's hometown of Thomasville, Georgia, so McQueen catches up to Cruz and convinces her to rejoin him.

In Thomasville, McQueen meets up with Smokey, who reveals that despite the fact Doc never raced again, he found new happiness in training McQueen. After McQueen accepts that he will never be as fast as Storm, Smokey and his friends help McQueen learn new tricks to overcome his speed disadvantage, using Cruz as his sparring partner. However, during the final practice race, Cruz suddenly overtakes him and he suffers a flashback to his crash, shaking his confidence.

At the race in Florida, McQueen starts at the back, but with assistance from Smokey in the pits, manages to gradually push up the ranks. Sterling, who still believes McQueen can't win, orders Cruz back to the training center to prepare a new racer for the following race, despite her wanting to stay and watch the race. Overhearing the exchange and remembering Cruz's dream of racing, McQueen instead has his crew outfit her to take his place in the race, believing she is the key to defeating Storm. While shaky at first, Cruz is able to push up the ranks thanks to McQueen coaching her from the pits, and eventually ends up right behind Storm. Storm, feeling threatened, tries to intimidate Cruz, even to the point of ramming her against the wall in the final lap. Cruz, using one of Doc's old moves, flips over Storm, overtaking him, and winning the race.

As Cruz celebrates her victory, Sterling offers her a role on his team, but she instead takes a counteroffer from the legendary owner Tex Dinoco. Sterling reminds McQueen about his bet, but as McQueen started the race that Cruz finished using the same number, he gets a share of the win, thus winning the bet. Tex then talks with Sterling

Sometime later, McQueen and Cruz return to Radiator Springs, where McQueen reveals that Tex has bought Rust-eze from Sterling. McQueen, now decked in Doc's old racing colors, decides to continue racing and become Cruz's trainer.

Voice cast
Owen Wilson served as the grand marshal for the 2017 Daytona 500.

See also: List of Cars characters


 * Owen Wilson as Lightning McQueen, a legendary Piston Cup veteran and Sally Carrera's boyfriend.
 * Cristela Alonzo as Cruz Ramirez, Lightning McQueen's trainer.
 * Chris Cooper as Smokey, Doc Hudson's former mechanic and crew chief who helps out Lightning and Cruz.
 * Nathan Fillion as Sterling, a rich business car and the new Rust-eze team owner.
 * Larry the Cable Guy as Mater, a jolly tow truck and Lightning McQueen's best friend.
 * Armie Hammer as Jackson Storm, McQueen's new racing rival.
 * Tom and Ray Magliozzi as Rusty and Dusty Rust-eze, respectively, the owners of Rust-eze. Following Tom's death in 2014, unused archive recordings from the first film were used for Rusty's lines.
 * Tony Shalhoub as Luigi, a Fiat 500.
 * Guido Quaroni as Guido, a forklift who is Luigi's best friend and assistant.
 * Bonnie Hunt as Sally Carrera, a Porsche 996, and Lightning McQueen's girlfriend.
 * Lea DeLaria as Miss Fritter, an intimidating monster school bus at the Thunder Hollow demolition derby.
 * Kerry Washington as Natalie Certain, a statistical analyst.
 * Bob Costas as Bob Cutlass, a race commentator.
 * Margo Martindale as Louise "Barnstormer" Nash, 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 Smokey.
 * Isiah Whitlock Jr. as River Scott, a grey and black 1938 Dirt Track Racer and retired Piston Cup racer who is one of Smokey'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 previously 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.
 * John Ratzenberger as Mack, a 1985 Mack Super-Liner.
 * Lewis Hamilton as Hamilton, Cruz' personal voice command assistant.
 * Lloyd Sherr as Fillmore, a Volkswagen Type 2 microbus.
 * Junior Johnson as Junior "Midnight" Moon, a black 1940 Ford Standard Coupe and a retired Piston Cup racer who is one of Smokey's friends.
 * 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 the last installment of the Cars franchise where Katherine Helmond voiced Lizzie before her death in 2019.
 * Paul Dooley as Sarge, a 1941 Willys Jeep.
 * Jenifer Lewis as Flo, the owner of "Flo's V-8 Café" and Ramone's wife.
 * Madeleine McGraw as Maddy McGear, a young car who is Lightning McQueen's biggest fan.
 * Michael Wallis as Sheriff, a 1949 Mercury Eight Police Cruiser police car.
 * Jerome Ranft as Red, a 1960s closed-cab Whitney Seagrave fire engine. He was voiced by Joe Ranft in the first film.
 * Angel Oquendo as Bobby Swift, a Piston Cup racer and one of Lightning's best friends.
 * Diedrich Bader as Brick Yardley, a Piston Cup racer and is one of Lightning's best friends.
 * Andra Day as Sweet Tea, a forklift and Louise Nash's former pitty who is now a singer at the Cotter Pin bar.

Additionally, several drivers and other racing-related personalities from NASCAR have cameos, including Chase Elliott as Chase Racelott, Ryan Blaney as Ryan "Inside" Laney, Bubba Wallace as Bubba Wheelhouse, Shannon Spake as Shannon Spokes, Daniel Suárez as Danny Swervez, Ray Evernham as Ray Reverham, and Mike Joy as Mike Joyride. Richard Petty returns in the role of Strip "The King" Weathers, while his son Kyle Petty voices Cal Weathers. Humpy Wheeler, Jeff Gordon, and Darrell Waltrip all return from their previous Cars appearances as Tex Dinoco, Jeff Gorvette, and Darrell Cartrip, respectively.

Doc Hudson appears in flashbacks with unused audio recordings of the late Paul Newman from the first film.

Production
Development on Cars 3 began in late 2011 after the release of Cars 2 and by March 2014, pre-production on the film was underway. In October 2014, director of the previous Cars films, John Lasseter, revealed at the Tokyo International Film Festival that the film would feature a tribute to Hayao Miyazaki's film The Castle of Cagliostro, in a form of an old Citroën 2CV.

Prior to the film's release, John Lasseter, director of the previous Cars films, stated that the film had a "very emotional story", similar in tone to the first film. 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."

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".

On January 5, 2017, it was announced that Armie Hammer and Cristela Alonzo would voice Jackson Storm and Cruz Ramirez, respectively. Two months later, Nathan Fillion, Kerry Washington and Lea DeLaria joined the cast.

Music
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.

Soundtrack
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".Auerbach said that the filmmakers showed him the story and some dialogue, from which he pieced together a story for the song. 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.

Score
The film's score was composed by Randy Newman, who previously composed the first film's score. Tom MacDougall,

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." Newman quoted tracks from the first film in moments where Fee "wanted to evoke an earlier time".

Theatrical
Cars 3 was released in theaters on Friday, June 16, 2017, in the United States, in 3D, Dolby Cinema and selected IMAX theaters, accompanied by the short film Lou. The film had a special screening for the NASCAR industry in Kannapolis, North Carolina on May 23, 2017. The world premiere was held in Anaheim, California on June 10, 2017.

Video game
Main article: Cars 3: Driven to Win

A tie-in video game has been announced to accompany the film's release. It was developed by Avalanche Software. It was released on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on June 13, 2017, in North America, in Europe and Australia on July 14, 2017, and in Japan on July 20, 2017.

Home media
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 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Short film
BBC, fox, and LEGO released a short film via YouTube, on April 13, 2018, that is inspired by both the Cars animated series 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.

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.

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. 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. In its second weekend, the film grossed $24.1 million, dropping to third place, behind Transformers: The Last Knight and Wonder Woman. In its third weekend the film made $9.7 million ($14.1 million over the five-day 4 July holiday weekend), dropping to 5th.

Possible sequel
Regarding a possible Cars 4, Cars 3 producers Kevin Reher and Andrea Warren stated speaking to Cinema Blend 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 ''How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World to trolls World Tour, 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." 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". 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. 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.''