Cars 3

This article is about the movie. For other uses, see Cars 3 (disambiguation).

Dummy

Cars 3
Director(s)	Brian Fee
Composer(s)	Bruno Coon
Theatrical Release	June 16th, 2017
Producer(s)	Kevin Reher John Lasseter (executive producer)
Story	Brian Fee Ben Queen Eyal Podell Jonathon E. Stewart
Screenplay	Kiel Murray Bob Peterson Mike Rich
Editor(s)	Jason Hudak
Company	The Walt Disney Company Pixar Animation Studios
Previous	Cars 2 (2011) Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014)
Next	Cars on the Road

"From this moment, everything will change. It's not over until lightning strikes."

—Tagline , Cars 3

Cars 3 is a computer-animated feature film by Pixar Animation Studios, released on June 16, 2017. It is the third film in the Cars series, and it is a direct sequel to the 2006 and 2011 films Cars and Cars 2, respectively. The film is directed by Brian Fee and produced by Kevin Reher, with screenplay by Kiel Murray, Bob Peterson, and Mike Rich, and music by Bruno Coon. The film's story takes place during the 2016-2017 Piston Cup seasons. Long-time champion Lightning McQueen is beginning to struggle with new next-generation competitors, including the cocky Jackson Storm. Following a large crash, McQueen turns to racing trainer and technician Cruz Ramirez for help with recovery.

Story

Official synopsis

"Blindsided by a new generation of blazing-fast racers, the legendary Lightning McQueen (voice of Keith Ferguson) 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, Cruz Ramirez, with her own plan to win, plus 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!"

Additional details

Storm wins the Dinoco 400.

During the 2016 Piston Cup season, several new rookies have made their debut. Among them is Jackson Storm, a next-generation custom-built race car who has received advanced simulation training, and possesses incredible racing abilities. The rookie develops a rivalry with racing veteran Lightning McQueen, who struggles to beat Storm. Storm receives at least three victories throughout the season, including at the Dinoco 400 at the Copper Canyon Speedway.

McQueen and Ramirez visit the Thomasville Speedway.

At one point during the racing season, McQueen suffers a serious accident, receiving immense damage and injuries. During his recovery, McQueen turns to Rust-eze Racing Center technician Cruz Ramirez, who assists her idol in training to beat Storm at the upcoming Florida 500 event of 2017. Their efforts include visiting the Thomasville Speedway, an abandoned Piston Cup race track, and practicing at Willy's Butte. The film also involves Route 99, a road that runs through central California. According to John Lasseter, the film would feature an old Citroën 2CV that pays tribute to Hayao Miyazaki's film The Castle of Cagliostro.

Plot

McQueen, Bobby and Cal watching Storm celebrating his victory.

Now a seven-time Piston Cup champion, Lightning McQueen is racing with his longtime friends, Bobby Swift and Cal Weathers. The three have mutual respect to each other as they trade victories throughout the racing season. Whoever wins can count on getting pranked by the other two, all in good fun. During one race, Bobby and Lightning are fighting for the lead, when a mysterious rookie competitor named Jackson Storm whizzes past them both, taking the lead and winning the race. Lightning watches the replay on the jumbotron, seeing Storm seemingly come from nowhere to beat him. Chick Hicks, Lightning's old racing rival and now the host of the TV show Chick's Picks with Chick Hicks, introduces to his audience the show's new co-host, Natalie Certain, a statistical analyst who explains that Storm is part of a next-generation of race cars who use the latest racing technology in order to achieve their maximum top speed on the track and, successfully, beat the previous generation of race cars. During the next race, at the Motor Speedway of the South, six more next-generation race cars appear on the racetrack along with Storm, and they all race with extreme precision, cutting off Lightning at each turn. A montage shows Storm winning seven more races in a row with more and more next-generation race cars appearing on the track and replacing their veteran counterparts. The last race of the season takes place at the Los Angeles International Speedway, there, Lightning realizes most of the veteran race cars (including his friends) have been either fired or retired and replaced with next-generation race cars and he's one of the only veteran race cars to still be racing.

During the 461st lap, Lightning and Storm both take a pit stop, however, Lightning is the first one to get out of the pits and takes the lead for a brief moment before Storm manages to catch up and overtake him. Lightning falls into fourth place, as Danny Swervez and Chase Racelott overtake him, and, unsuccessfully, tries to regain his lead by exceeding his engine's limit. Unfortunately for him, he loses control, is sent airborne and into a violent, near-fatal, rollover crash. Sally, Mater, Luigi, Guido, and multiple emergency vehicles rush to his aid.

Four months later, Lightning is recovering from his accident, in Radiator Springs, where he is now wearing a gray paint job and is isolated inside of Doc's old garage, fearing he might end up having the same destiny as him (being forgotten by the racing world after suffering a terrible accident). Sally visits Lightning inside of Doc's garage and tells him that he should try something new once he gets back to racing and that he should not fear failure, but not having the chance to ever race again, to which he still does. Mater shows up and asks the couple if Lightning is ready to start training for the upcoming Piston Cup season, to which Lightning assures him that he is, but wants to talk with Rusty and Dusty (his longtime sponsors) in order for them to help him with his training.

At Flo's V8 Cafe, the residents of Radiator Springs have already called the two brothers via phone, who are waiting to speak with Lightning as he explains to everybody that he still wants to race and that, if he wants to be faster than Jackson Storm, he needs to train like him. Dusty and Rusty say that they've already had that idea in mind as they both bought the Rust-eze Racing Center and hope Lightning and Mack are on their way to the racing center the following morning. After receiving a new paint job from Ramone, in the next day, Lightning, Luigi, Guido, and Mack all start their journey to the Rust-eze Racing Center. Two days later, Lightning and his friends arrive at the Rust-eze Racing Center, as Lightning is exploring the racing center's main lobby, Rusty and Dusty show up and explain to him that they both had to sell Rust-eze to a car named Sterling in order to buy the racing center itself. As the two brothers leave the building and bid Lightning farewell, Sterling greets the race car and shows him the racing center around, before giving him an electronic suit that is able to track his speed and vital signs. As Sterling is giving Lightning a tour around the racing center, they encounter a racing simulator, which impresses Lightning due to its futuristic technology. On the simulator is a car named Cruz Ramirez, who is coaching three next-generation trainees as they race on treadmills. Sterling asks Cruz to train Lightning for the Florida 500, the first race of the upcoming Piston Cup season, to which she accepts by calling him her "senior project".

Over the next few days, Cruz trains Lightning with aerobic exercises. Lightning follows along, but he just wants to try the racing simulator. Reluctantly, she starts it up, and Lightning drives on it, but soon finds himself repeatedly hitting the virtual speedway's walls. Freeing himself from the treadmill, he is launched towards the racing simulator's screen and ends up breaking it in the process, along with causing a blackout on the entire building. After having a word with Cruz inside of his office, Sterling calls Lightning in. He shows him an array of products with his face on them, saying this will be his legacy. Lightning asks what he means by that, and he reveals that he's not going to race him anymore. Seeing that his new sponsor wants him to quit racing, Lightning begs for one last chance on the condition that if he wins the Florida 500, he'll decide when he's done racing; otherwise, he'll retire immediately and sell all the merchandise he can. Sterling agrees, and allows him to train at Fireball Beach, but only if he takes Cruz with him.

The next day, at Fireball Beach, Cruz explains that his electronic suit will track his speed and transmit it to her electronic personal assistant, Hamilton, but she has to stay close to him, because it has a short range. Lightning tries to race in a straight line with Cruz behind him tracking his speed, however, he notices that Cruz is very inexperienced with racing on surfaces that aren't asphalt. This causes Lightning to waste an entire day just teaching Cruz on how to properly race on sandy surfaces, only to realize that, once Cruz finally manages to race properly on sand, his top speed is only 198 mph, meaning he is still slower than Storm. After leaving the beach and looking at a road sign, Lightning has the idea to race at Thunder Hollow as that town has a dirt track with cars that compete in it, however, he must race incognito, otherwise he will be constantly bugged by the press. Mack has an idea on how Lightning can blend in with the other competitors without anybody noticing him.

At the speedway, Mack disguises himself as a truck that transports birthday party supplies while Luigi manages to cover Lightning entirely in mud and Guido writes the number #15 on his sides. As Lightning, under the identity of "Chester Whipplefilter", goes to ask the gatekeeper Roscoe about the whereabouts of the other competitors, Cruz suddenly joins the race under the identity of "Frances Beltline" as he explains that newcomers are traditionally the first ones to enter the track in Thunder Hollow. As a fleet of rusty and dented cars violently enter the track, Lightning and Cruz soon realize they have accidentally signed up to participate in a demolition derby and are unable to leave the track as the gate behind them closes. They're soon introduced to Miss Fritter, the undefeated Crazy Eight champion, which threatens to cause numerous dents on the duo. The demolition derby starts as Lightning and Cruz barely avoid getting hit, while all of the other competitors are crashing into each other. After eliminating one of the last cars standing on the track, Miss Fritter is about to ram into Cruz, who is stuck on the mud, and plans on adding her license plate to her collection. However, just as she's about to do so, Lightning quickly moves Cruz out of the way, causing Miss Fritter to flip on her side. Lightning tries to get away from her, but soon realizes her stop sign managed to get stuck on his rear left tire. As Miss Fritter manages to upright herself, she charges into Lightning, but, at the last second, he manages to free the stop sign from his rear left tire, move out of the way, and cause Miss Fritter to lose control and end up crashing into a billboard of herself. Mr. Drippy rushes to Miss Fritter's aid, however, Cruz accidentally makes him flip on his side and release all the water that was inside of his tank, directly into Lightning, washing off his mud and revealing his identity to the crowd, who simply cheer and take pictures of him.

A while later, Mack has left. Cruz and Lightning are back in Mack's trailer, with Cruz next to a large trophy, trying to hide the fact that she's giddy about having won a race. A not amused Lightning yells at her that he had wasted his time training to be faster than Storm, since he had to spend the whole week taking care of her. He says that the next race is his last chance, something she wouldn't understand because she isn't a racer and, in a fit of anger, slams his wheel against the trailer wall, knocking over Cruz's trophy and breaking it. She angrily tells Mack to pull over, and then gets out of the trailer. It is then revealed that she wanted to become a racer her whole life because of him. But when she got to her first race, she saw all the other cars looking bigger, stronger, and more confident than she was, making her actually believe she wasn't meant to be a racer in the first place, and so she left. She asks him how he felt at his first race, and he says that he never thought that he couldn't do it. She says she wished she knew how that felt, and she drives off back to the center.

Mack spends the night sleeping under an overpass, with Lightning watching TV in the trailer. Footage from the demolition derby gets played. Natalie reports that Storm set a new record for the fastest lap in a race. Sterling says that Lightning will race as planned. Natalie says that Storm is the heavy favorite to win and that his probability of winning is 95.2%, while Lightning's is only 1.2%. With no other options, Lightning calls up Mater and tells him that his training wasn't helping. Mater tries to help his friend but is unable to. Lightning wishes he could talk to Doc. Mater replies that nobody knew more about racing than Doc, except the one who taught him, who Lightning knows is a pick-up truck named Smokey, having been shown in Doc's last race footage. This gives Lightning an idea.

The next morning, Mack catches up to Cruz, and Lightning comes out. She tells him that she's resigning as his trainer, and he asks her to join him as he looks for Smokey. Arriving at Doc's hometown of Thomasville, they find Thomasville Speedway where Doc first started racing, and they take a lap. Smokey sees them and introduces himself, and leads them to the local bar, the Cotter Pin. Racing legends River Scott, Junior "Midnight" Moon, and Louise "Barnstormer" Nash tell them about Doc's racing days, and Lightning says he wished he could've seen Doc so happy. Smokey and Lightning head outside, and Lightning says if he doesn't win, he'll never race again, and he doesn't want what happened to Doc to happen to him. Smokey leads Lighting down the road to his service garage, telling him that after Doc's big wreck, he holed himself up in Radiator Springs, cutting off all contact. But 50 years later, Smokey started getting letters from Doc, all about the young rookie that he started coaching. Rolling into Smokey's garage, Lightning finds a whole wall of pictures of himself and Doc together, mostly from newspaper clippings. Smokey tells him that Doc loved racing, but it wasn't the best part of his life, coaching Lightning was. Smokey says that Doc saw something in Lightning that he himself never saw. He asks if Lightning's ready to find it, and he says yes.

Smokey says that Lightning will never be faster than Storm; he's older now and has to accept that, but he can be smarter than him. He notes he heard that Lightning was in a demolition derby but doesn't have a scratch on him. He says that's what Lightning can do when he's not overthinking. Cruz is put on a lift and given a new spoiler and racing tires and has "Storm 2.0" duct taped on her sides. Since Lightning had missed qualifying sessions, he would be starting at the back, with Storm on the pole. Cruz and Lightning take their positions at the starting line, and Smokey tells him he has three laps to catch up to her. The first time they try, Cruz beats him easily. Trying a different approach, he has Lightning drive down an old country road, Guido tossing hay bales at him from a trailer to hone his reflexes. One bale smacks Lightning in the face. At another session, Smokey has Cruz and Lightning in a field full of sleeping tractors. He orders them to 'sneak through the window' and then revs his engine, startling the tractors into a stampede. Lightning and Cruz try to weave and dodge the best they can to break free from the herd. Repeating the racing exercise, Lightning still can't catch up to Cruz.

On the wall of his garage, Smokey shows Lightning, Cruz, Luigi, and Guido some old racing footage of Doc drafting behind another car, and then pulling ahead. Smokey tells Lightning he'll have to look for such opportunities. When a car tries to run Doc into the wall, he drives up the wall and flips over the top of the other car, landing on the other side and taking the lead. They do the tractor drill again, and this time Lightning smoothly sails through the gaps between the tractors, telling Cruz he's realized they're supposed to take windows of opportunity when they present themselves. Doing the hay bale drill, Lightning effortlessly dodges the bales. Smokey and the other legends introduce them to the last drill, doing the kind of driving they did when they were running moonshine in their youth. They have to drive through a forest at night with no lights on. At first, Lightning and Cruz are tentative, slowly making their way past the trees. They gain confidence and start to speed up, weaving between the trees. Brushing up against them, Lightning's body suit gets ripped off. Soon they start passing Smokey and the rest of the legends.

Repeating the racing exercise one last time before the race, Lightning starts drafting behind Cruz, and then he pulls out in front of her. She takes back the lead, and he pulls ahead again. Neck and neck down the final stretch, Lightning gives it one last burst of speed and pulls in front, but then she takes the lead for good at the last second. She celebrates wildly, forgetting what it means for him. Mack then says sheepishly they'd better head for the race in Florida.

At the race, Lightning lines up in the last position, and then he hears Smokey's voice on his headset. The race starts, and Lightning starts passing the other racers. Cruz is also in the pits, and she reminds Lightning about the three-lap rule. Sterling rolls up to Cruz and tells her to leave and take off the spoiler and racing tires she still had on. After avoiding a massive pileup, Lightning pulls into the pits, telling Smokey that he needs Cruz back. She pulls in, and he tells the crew to get her set up, since he's going to have her finish the race for him.

Nervously, Cruz pulls out of the pits and joins the rest of the cars, still under caution. When the green flag comes out, Cruz isn't accelerating, but Lightning has Smokey pass on her derby alias and that the school bus of death is after her. Smokey continues to pass on that she's a fluffy cloud to get her to loosen up, but refuses to say, "all the crabbies have gone night-night" and instead has Lighting take the headset instead, who reminds her of the beach, and of teaching her to pick a line and sticking to it. Getting more confident, Cruz pulls into the pack of racers. Reminded of the tractor exercise, she imagines the other races as tractors and picks her way between them, quickly moving up. In the announcers' booth, Natalie says that she has just lost any stats on Lightning's replacement, except that she recently won at Thunder Hollow.

Lightning continues to coach Cruz with his experience and along with her gaining confidence, Cruz moves into the top ten. Drafting behind another car, she swerves out and pulls in front, taking third place. Storm lets the second-place car pass him, and then pulls alongside her. He begins to manipulate her by saying she can play dress-up all she wants, but she'll never be a racer. He puts on speed, quickly retaking the lead. Lightning tells her to believe in herself, she is a racer; he explains that Storm fears her potential, and he wouldn't have tried to get into her head if he didn't think she was a serious threat. With determination, she goes past the second car, pulling right behind Storm. The white flag comes out, signaling the last lap.

Storm tries to throw Cruz off by swerving, but she matches his every move and throws him off his game, which causes him to become angry. Approaching the finish line, she ends up pulling to the outside to try to pass him, but he rams her into the wall. Remembering what she saw Doc do, she drives up the wall and flips over Storm, pulling ahead and taking the checkered flag. Several of the top ten racers congratulate Cruz with one even pulling the "your blinker's on" joke on her, demonstrating that they accept her as one of them. With Lightning's encouragement she does doughnuts on the track as the crowd loudly chants her name.

Pulling into the pits, she meets back up with Lightning. Sterling pulls up to her and tells her that she would make a great racer on his team, but she replies with apologies that she'd never race for him and quits as an employee. Tex Dinoco asks her if she'd like to race for him instead. Both Sterling and Lightning assume that Lightning lost on their agreement, but Smokey points out that the Jumbotron states that both Lightning and Cruz are listed as joint winners of the race, because they had the same number. When Sterling protests, Tex leads him away for an impromptu business meeting. Sally asks Lightning if that means he's going to keep racing, and he says he will, but there's something he needs to do first.

Back at Radiator Springs, Cruz and Lightning show off their new looks. She has #51 painted on her roof, back, and sides, Doc's old number, and he has "Fabulous Lightning McQueen" painted on his sides along with his red replaced with Doc's base color. Tex Dinoco pulls up and tells them that he just bought Rust-eze, and now they'll both be racing for him. Driving up to Willy's Butte, they take their places at the starting line. At the drop of the flag, they take off racing, just as Lightning and Doc used to. Lightning feels that Doc is close by, and he knows he's exactly where he belongs.

Cast

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• Keith Ferguson as Lightning McQueen
• Larry the Cable Guy as Mater
• Corey Burton as Doc Hudson
• Cheech Marin as Ramone
• Michael Wallis as Sheriff
• Tony Shalhoub as Luigi
• Guido Quaroni as Guido
• Bob Peterson as Chick Hicks
• Cristela Alonzo as Cruz Ramirez
• Armie Hammer as Jackson Storm
• Chris Cooper as Smokey
• Isiah Whitlock Jr. as River Scott
• Junior Johnson as Junior "Midnight" Moon
• Margo Martindale as Louise "Barnstormer" Nash
• Nathan Fillion as Sterling
• Bonnie Hunt as Sally
• John Ratzenberger as Mack
• Richard Petty as The King
• Kyle Petty as Cal Weathers
• Angel Oquendo as Bobby Swift
• H. A. Wheeler as Tex Dinoco
• Tom Magliozzi (archival recordings) as Rusty Rust-eze
• Ray Magliozzi as Dusty Rust-eze
• Jenifer Lewis as Flo
• Paul Dooley as Sarge
• Scott Wood as Fillmore
• Jerome Ranft as Red
• Katherine Helmond as Lizzie
• Steve Blum as Dr. Damage
• Chase Elliott as Chase Racelott
• Darrell Waltrip as Darrell Cartrip
• Bob Costas as Bob Cutlass
• Kerry Washington as Natalie Certain
• Lea DeLaria as Miss Fritter
• Daniel Suárez as Danny Swervez
• Ryan Blaney as Ryan "Inside" Laney
• Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr. as Bubba Wheelhouse
• Shannon Spake as Shannon Spokes
• Ray Evernham as Ray Reverham
• Mike Joy as Mike Joyride
• Jeff Gordon as Jeff Gorvette
• Lewis Hamilton as Himself
• Will Collyer as Brick Yardley
• Abby Craden as Simulator Voice
• Jeremy Maxwell as Arvy
• Angel Oquendo as Bobby Swift
• Jason Pace as Faregame
• A.J. Riebli III as Albert Hinkey
• Peter Sohn as Mr. Drippy

Additional Voices

• Andrea Taylor Baker
• Doug Burch
• Cathy Cavadini
• Lanai Chapman
• Eric Bauza
• Troy Baker
• Will Collyer - Brick Yardley
• Abby Craden - Simulator Voice
• Django Craig
• James G. Dashe
• Grant George
• Andra Day - Sweet Tea
• E. Ambriz DeColosio
• John DeMita
• Scott Menville
• Fred Tatasciore
• Kari Wahlgren
• Rod Gnapp
• Willow Geer
• Trevor Devall
• Isa Hall
• Aaron Hendry - Kurt
• John Hoffman - Ronald
• Barney Jones
• Mikey Kelley
• Colleen O'Shaughnessey
• Carlyle King
• Daamen Krall
• David H. Lawrence XVII
• Erin Fitzgerald
• Malana
• Roger Craig Smith
• Jeremy Maxwell - Arvy
• Madeleine McGraw - Maddy McGear
• Levi Nuñez - Gabriel
• Angel Oquendo
• Fred Stoller
• Keith Ferguson
• Jason Pace
• Bob Peterson - Dr. Damage
• Carlos Alazraqui
• James Pace - Faregame
• Alex Puccinelli
• Steve Purcell - Tractors
• Tara Strong
• David Randolph
• Jerome Ranft - Red
• Noreen Reardon
• A.J. Riebli III - Albert Hinkey
• Peter Sohn - Mr. Drippy
• Sean Schemmel
• Galyn Susman
• Regina Taufen
• Nancy Truman
• Cheryl Tyre
• Veronica Taylor
• Andrew Vernon
• Jay Ward
• John DiMaggio

Characters

Aiden Albert Hinkey APB Arvy Acer (portrait cameo) Barry DePedal (cameo) Bill Blind Spot Bobby Roadtesta (cameo) Bobby Swift Brian Spark (cameo) Brick Yardley Broadside Bruce Miller (cameo) Bubba Wheelhouse Buck Bearingly (cameo) Bud (cameo) Cal Weathers Cam Spinner (cameo) Carl Clutchen (cameo) Chase Racelott Chick Hicks Chip Gearings (cameo) Cigalert (cameo) Conrad Camber (cameo) Craig Fäster (name only) Cruz Ramirez Dan Carcia (cameo) Dana Crankoff (cameo) Danny Swervez Darrell Cartrip Darren Leadfoot (cameo) Dewey Conerod (video cameo) Dirkson D'Agostino (cameo) Doc Hudson (flashbacks) Dr. Damage Ducky Fauntleroy (video cameo) Dud Throttleman (cameo) Duke Coulters (flashback cameo) Dusty Rust-eze Ed Truncan (cameo) Eric Braker (cameo) Ernie Gearson Faregame Fillmore Fishtail (cameo) Flip Dover (cameo) Floyd Mulvihill (cameo) Gabriel Gale Beaufort (cameo) Gray (cameo) Guido H.J. Hollis (cameo) Hamilton Herb Curbler (racer; cameo) Herb Curbler (truck; cameo) High Impact (cameo) Hit & Run J.D. McPillar (cameo) J.P. Drive (cameo) Jack DePost (cameo) Jackson Storm Jambalaya Chimichanga (cameo) Jeff Gorvette Jimbo Jimmy Cables (cameo) Junior Moon Kris Revstopski (cameo) Kurt Lane Locke (cameo) Lightning McQueen Louise Nash Luigi M Fast Fong (cameo) Mack Maddy McGear Mater Michael Rotor (cameo) Mike Joyride (not seen) Miles Axlerod (portrait cameo) Millie Miss Fritter Morgan Martins (cameo) Mr. Drippy Murray Clutchburn (cameo) Natalie Certain Noah Gocek (cameo) Parker Brakeston (cameo) Pat Traxson (cameo) Patty Paul Conrev (cameo) Phil Tankson (cameo) Pileup Ponchy Wipeout (cameo) Pushover Ralph Carlow (cameo) Ramone Ray Reverham Reb Meeker (cameo) Red Rex Revler (cameo) Rich Mixon (cameo) Richie Gunzit (cameo) River Scott Roger (portrait cameo) Ronald Roscoe Rusty Dipstick (video cameo) Rusty Rust-eze Ryan "Inside" Laney Sally Sarge Scott Tiller (cameo) Shannon Spokes Sheldon Shifter (cameo) Sheriff Smokey Speedy Comet (cameo) Spikey Fillups (cameo) Sterling Steve "Slick" LaPage (cameo) Stu Scattershields (TV cameo) Sweet Tea T-Bone T.G. Castlenut (cameo) Taco Tailgate (cameo) Terry Kargas (cameo) Tex Dinoco The King Tim Treadless (cameo) Tiny Lugsworth (cameo) Todd Marcus Todd (cameo) Tom W. (cameo) Tommy Highbanks (cameo) Tractors

Staff

Daniel Gerson was reported to be one of the screenwriters when he died on February 6, 2016. During an interview with The Advertiser, Randy Newman (who composed the score from the first film) confirmed he would be the composer. According to USA Today, Brian Fee would be the director. Kevin Reher was also revealed to be the producer, according to Disney's Twitter account for Latin America.

Announcement

Cars 3 was officially announced to be in the works on October 17, 2013, when Michael Wallis confirmed some details about the film, including that the film would take place on California's Route 99. In March 2014, Disney officially confirmed that Pixar is in pre-production of the third Cars film along with Incredibles 2. In October 2014, John Lasseter revealed at the Tokyo International Film Festival that the film will feature a tribute to Hayao Miyazaki's film The Castle of Cagliostro in a form of an old Citroën 2CV. The film was implied at the 2015 São Paulo Disney Expo to be released in 2018, before Lasseter later said in an interview with Autoweek that it would either be released in summer 2018 or 2019. On October 8, 2015, Disney confirmed the release date to be June 16, 2017, pushing Toy Story 4 back by a year.

Marketing

Cars 3 Official US Teaser Trailer

Cars 3 Official US Teaser Trailer.

The first teaser trailer for Cars 3 was released on Pixar Animation Studios' official YouTube channel on November 21, 2016 and was shown before theatrical showings of Disney's animated film Moana, beginning on November 22, 2016. The teaser depicts a race at the Los Angeles International Speedway, with various shots of Piston Cup racers, including Lightning McQueen and Jackson Storm. McQueen is leading the race when his tire blows out, and he suffers a career-jeopardizing crash. The teaser sparked outrage and concern among parents who feared that the film would be too dark for their kids.

Cars 3 Extended Sneak Peek – In Theatres in 3D June 16

Cars 3 "Lightning Strikes" Extended Look.

Beginning December 31, 2016, American sports channels began airing commercials advertising a new exclusive look at the film, which would be aired at 8:00 PM EST on January 9, 2017, during the college football playoff national championship on ESPN. The extended look included all of the footage from the first teaser trailer, with an additional fifty seconds of film footage.

On January 5, 2017, Pixar's social media pages released three teaser videos giving a detailed look at the models of McQueen, Storm, and Ramirez, in addition to revealing Armie Hammer and Cristela Alonzo as Storm and Ramirez's voice actors, respectively.

On January 24, 2017, Avalanche Software, the company that produced the Disney Infinity games, announced they were working on a video game for the film alongside Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, on the same day that Avalanche announced their reopening. It was confirmed on April 5 to be titled Cars 3: Driven to Win, and to be released on June 13 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, and Nintendo Switch. Its European release was announced as July 14, with the United Kingdom selling the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One versions exclusively in Argos stores, and according to the EB Games website for Australia, the game will be released in Australia on June 14.

Chick Hicks in the Ukrainian trailer.

On January 31, 2017, Disney Ukraine released a video on Twitter. The video is identical to the "Lightning Strikes" teaser trailer, with the only notable difference being what Lightning McQueen is watching on Mack's television. In the Ukrainian trailer, Lightning is watching a video of one of Chick Hicks' reports, but in all other versions, there is only a still image of a large rock foundation. This version of the trailer was later released in the United States, and it is shown before theatrical showings of The Lego Batman Movie, as well as being released in the United Kingdom and shown before theatrical showings of certain children's films such as Beauty and the Beast (another Disney movie).

On February 1, 2017, Pixar announced a short called Lou to be shown in theatres with Cars 3. On February 23, 2017, Pixar and NASCAR announced a Cars 3 tour to occur throughout the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and Keith Ferguson to be grand marshal for the Daytona 500, along with Richard Petty, Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip, and H. A. Wheeler reprising their roles in the film, and eight more new characters to be voiced by Kyle Petty, Shannon Spake, Ray Evernham, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, Daniel Suárez, and Mike Joy.

Cars 3 “Next Generation” Extended Look - In Theatres June 16

On February 26, 2017, Pixar released another extended look, which includes many new shots from the film.

Kerry Washington, Nathan Fillion, and Lea DeLaria were announced as cast members on March 8, 2017, playing the roles of Natalie Certain, Sterling, and Miss Fritter, respectively. Lewis Hamilton, who previously voiced the race car named after himself in Cars 2, was revealed one day later to voice Hamilton, Ramirez's assistant.

On March 29, 2017, Chris Cooper, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Junior Johnson, and Margo Martindale were confirmed as part of the cast.

On April 14, ZZ Ward and Gary Clark Jr.'s original song for the film, "Ride", was released on the DisneyMusicVEVO YouTube channel, iTunes and Amazon, while a mix of rock and pop songs was also confirmed for the soundtrack. On May 18, it was revealed that the film will have two soundtracks focusing on songs and score, both set to be released coincidentally.

Cars 3 - Official US Trailer

Cars 3 Official US Trailer.

On April 25, 2017, a teaser for the film revealed that a full trailer would be uploaded the next day. It was released on that day on Pixar's YouTube channel, showing Sterling telling McQueen that his career is going to come to an end, and Cruz joining in to train McQueen.

On April 30, the Radio Disney Music Awards showed a trailer lasting one minute, described as a sneak peek by Disney Channel.

On May 7, an international trailer was released in Japan, showing some extra shots not shown in the US trailers, such as Sally's reaction to McQueen's crash, the appearance of Rusty and Dusty Rust-eze, and McQueen looking at pictures and newspapers of his and Doc's histories.

Cars 3 "Rivalry" Official Trailer

Cars 3 "Rivalry" Official Trailer.

On May 10, Pixar released a "Rivalry" trailer online, which shows more of Storm's rivalry with McQueen, McQueen being shown around the Rust-eze Racing Center and struggling on the simulator, and Luigi and Guido dealing with the paparazzi asking McQueen questions about a possible retirement.

On May 25, Lewis Hamilton revealed a clip of the film on his Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, showing Cruz introducing her voice command assistant, Hamilton, to McQueen while they are training at the beach.

Several TV spots were also uploaded on Pixar's official YouTube channel, with one showing scenes from the Thomasville Speedway uploaded on May 20, and one showing scenes of races uploaded on June 1.

On June 2, a "Next Gens" clip showing Natalie Certain talking about next generation racers was released on the Disney UK YouTube channel.

On June 6, a "Meet Jackson Storm" clip, showing McQueen meeting Storm, was released on the Movieclips Trailers YouTube channel, then on the Disney UK YouTube channel on June 14.

Cars 3 "The Limit" Official Trailer

On June 9, Pixar released a "The Limit" trailer that featured additional scenes of Sally, a shot of other race cars overtaking McQueen, and the Eagles song, Take It to the Limit playing. A compilation video of trailers and clips was also uploaded on Disney's official YouTube channel.

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

On June 22, a short "Legacy of 95" featurette was released on the Disney UK YouTube channel.

As part of promoting the UK release of the film, life-size models of McQueen and Storm have been presented at the 2017 Formula 1 British Grand Prix, with Owen Wilson (McQueen), Brian Fee (director), and Kevin Reher (producer) set to attend the event.

On June 16, the movie released to mostly positive reviews from critics and fans alike.

Gallery

For this subject's image gallery, see Cars 3/Gallery.

Title in other languages

Languages	Names	Meaning
Polish and Czech	Auta 3	Cars 3
Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal)	Carros 3	Cars 3
Russian and Ukrainian	Тачки 3	Cars 3
Serbian	Аутомобили 3	Cars 3
Bulgaria	колите 3	Cars 3
Greek	Αυτοκίνητα 3	Cars 3
Bosnian	Automobili 3	Cars 3
Swedish	Bilar 3	Cars 3
Hungarian	Verdák 3	Cars 3
Turkish	Arabalar 3	Cars 3
Croatian	Auti 3	Cars 3
Danish	Biler 3	Cars 3
Lithuanian	Ratai 3	Cars 3
Estonian	Autod 3	Cars 3
Canadian French	Les Bagnoles 3	Cars 3
Romanian	Mașini 3	Cars 3
Persian	ماشین‌ها ۳	Cars 3
Hebrew	מכוניות 3	Cars 3
Vietnamese	Vương quốc xe hơi 3	Cars 3
Malayalam	കാർസ് 3	Cars 3
Georgian	მანქანები 3	Cars 3
Thai	สี่ล้อซิ่ง ชิงบัลลังก์แชมป์	Cars 3
Hindi	कार्स ३	Cars 3
Arabic	سيارات 3	Cars 3
Chinese (Mainland China)	赛车总动员3	Cars 3
German	Cars 3: Evolution	Cars 3: Evolution
Korean	카3: 새로운 도전’	Cars 3: New Challenge
Japanese	カーズ／クロスロード	Cars: Crossroads
Chinese (Taiwan)	Cars 3：閃電再起	Cars 3: Renewed Lightning
Chinese (Hong Kong)	反斗車王3	Crazy Car King 3

Trivia

Below is a list of cameos, in-jokes, re-used animation and other trivia from Cars 3.

References to Cars

• The opening scene of the movie mirrors the opening of the first movie. Lightning is saying his "Speed, I am speed!" routine from the original movie, accompanied with the same kind of cuts from back to racing cars.
• Lightning McQueen‘s paint job is a unique mix between his original rookie paint job and his World Grand Prix paint job.
• Much of the soundtrack in the film is recreated from the first film's soundtrack.
• Both films open with a race set at the Motor Speedway of the South.
• The Los Angeles International Speedway also makes a reappearance, this time as the track where Lightning has his notorious and fateful crash.
• The Dinoco 400 reappears in Cars 3, except that it was in Copper Canyon Speedway and not Motor Speedway of the South.
• Lightning's crash mirrors the crash of The King (and by extension the crash of Doc Hudson) in the way he tumbles sideways on a considerable distance, the only difference is that Lightning tumbled sideways on hard concrete, while The King and Doc tumbled sideways on grass and sand respectively.
• The scene of Doc explaining the aftermath of his crash to Lightning is replayed in a flashback.
• The film includes early on a musical montage of Mack riding on the highway through various landscapes, when he takes Lightning, Luigi, and Guido to the Rust-eze Racing Center in Florida.
• While in Thunder Hollow, Lightning says, "Turn right to go left!" twice, referencing his take on Doc's advice to Lightning about drifting. Also, just like Lightning in the original film, Cruz Ramirez doesn't understand what he means by this at first.
• When Mr. Drippy, the water truck at the Thunder Hollow demolition derby, falls on his side, he makes the same "fart-type" of sound as the tractors when they tip over.
• When Mater does FaceTime with Lightning on his iPad, he shows one eye similar to how he showed one eye while Sheriff said to keep an eye on Lightning in the first film.
• The flashback's sequence ends with Doc saying, "You've got a lot of stuff, kid," which is a reused piece of dialogue from the first film after the race in Los Angeles.
• Near the end of the movie when several next-generation race cars are being interviewed about the disappearance of Lightning, one of the racers, Ryan "Inside" Laney, says, "Didn't he pull this when he was a rookie?" referencing the events of the first movie where Lightning got lost in Radiator Springs on his way to the Los Angeles International Speedway.
• Before the last race in both films, Lightning does his pre-race routine only to lose his focus over external thoughts. This time, it is over thoughts of if he will win, while it was over thoughts of Radiator Springs in the first film.
• The final race at the Florida International Speedway has many parallels to the tie-breaker race in Cars. Some of the most notable are Cruz Ramirez having to race past the pace car named Pat Traxson to enter the track, the surprise arrival of a crew chief (Doc Hudson in Cars, Lightning in Cars 3), and Cruz having to use a technique showcased by Doc earlier in the film to pass her rival racer.
• The crash caused by Cam Spinner in at the Florida 500 is similar to the crash caused by Chick at the Dinoco 400 in the first film.
• Some of the newspapers in Smokey's Garage have screenshots from the first Cars film.
• After the final race, Lightning says about Cruz that "she's got a lot of stuff" mirroring what Doc told Lightning following the tie-breaker race in Cars.
• At the end of the film, Cruz Ramirez jokingly calls Lightning an old man, like what Lightning did with Doc Hudson at the epilogue of the first film.

References to Cars 2

• At the beginning of the film, Mater says, "Go, McQueen! Woo-hoo!" the same line he used at the end of the second film during the Radiator Springs Grand Prix.
• Lightning McQueen's paint job contains elements from his World Grand Prix design, most notably the lightning bolts on his sides fading into flames.
• In Cars 2, Lightning promised Mater at the end of the movie that he can go to all his races from now on, and in Cars 3, Mater is at every single race that Lightning enters.
• Lightning has an argument with the protagonist/deuteragonist in both films. In Cars 2 it was Mater. In Cars 3 it was Cruz. The positions are the exact same and the arguments cause the characters to leave. However, Cruz leaves briefly.
• While on the simulator, Lightning makes the same yell sound from when Mater's parachute is deployed while they are traveling to Buckingham Palace.
• Sterling has what appears to be a small picture of Miles Axlerod in his office. Interestingly, both characters are business-cars.
• When Lightning McQueen is watching TV inside of the sleeping Mack, John, and Nancy, the couple in France, can be seen kissing on the bridge in the commercial he is watching.
• Jeff Gorvette, a character from Cars 2, is seen at the Florida International Speedway in Cars 3. He is also the only character who debuted in Cars 2 to return in Cars 3 with a speaking role and a bigger cameo. In Cars 3, before the Florida 500, Jeff tells Lightning to "win one for us old guys!"
• Lightning McQueen retains his real headlights, which were installed for the World Grand Prix in the previous film.
• The traveling montage to the racing center is similar to the montage of Cars 2 where they travel to Tokyo for the first race of the World Grand Prix.

Cameos

• Mater's license plate, like in every Cars film and piece of merchandise, is A113. It is also used other times in the film:
  • On promotional images for the film, Shannon Spokes' press number is shown to be A113.
  • A113 is prominently featured as Sterling's office number.
• Terry Kargas and Cam Spinner are both sponsored by TripleDent Gum, the gum company from Inside Out.
• During a montage showing Jackson Storm's victories, a track sponsored by BnL (Buy n Large) from WALL•E is briefly shown in the film. The logo is also seen during the credits.
• The image Cruz Ramirez displays for Gabriel, a homesick trainee, is Miguel's hometown from Coco.
• The tree from A Bug's Life makes an appearance in Sterling's office.
• A miniature of Cinderella's carriage from the 1950 Disney movie of the same name appears on a shelf in Sterling's office.
• A few allusions to Apple can be seen:
  • Cruz's training machine that she brings to the beach has the Macintosh start up sound, which can also be heard in WALL•E as the titular character's start up sound.
  • The Apple veteran and J.P. Drive are both sponsored by Apple and bears the number 84.
  • The devices Mater and Lightning use to chat have Apple design cues. Mater's device says iPad on it.
• Todd the Pizza Planet Truck can be seen in the Demolition Derby race as a competitor. His roof rocket is briefly seen when it flies off into the crowd after he ends up in a crash.
  • Also in the Demolition Derby, Bill has the pattern of the Luxo Ball on its hood, left and right sides.
• The billboard on the bridge under which Mack sleeps is advertising the Sleep Well Motel, the motel that Bonnie Anderson and her toys stayed at in Toy Story of Terror!.
• The Shiny Guitar from Coco can be seen hung on the wall behind the band playing at the Cotter Pin Bar in Thomasville.
• In the flashback scene where Doc balances a stack of items on his hood, he tells Lightning, "You might want to take notes on this one." This is a reused line of dialogue from Cars: The Videogame of Doc overtaking another car in a race.
• When Smokey and McQueen are in Smokey's garage, there is a newspaper with an image of Acer falling into a sewer truck.
• A billboard from Insuricare appear in the Thunder Hollow Speedway, the company that Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible worked by Gilbert Huph in The Incredibles.
• The Spain flag appears in an unknown Caravan at the Motor Speedway of the South race. Likewise it could be related to Miguel Camino the spanish WGP racer.

Cameos Gallery

Bill has the Luxo Ball painted on his hood.

A billboard from Sleep Well

Miles Axlerod on Sterling's sleves

An Insuricare billboard from the Thunder Hollow Speedway

Other trivia

• This is the first time that John Lasseter has not directed a film in the Cars franchise (excluding the Planes series), but rather produced it.
• The Polish version of this movie was dedicated to Witold Pyrkosz, an actor who plays Mater in the Polish versions of the Cars movies. He passed away on April 22, 2017.
• Paul Newman was replaced by Corey Burton got used in this movie, for a series of flashbacks of Doc Hudson talking and racing with Lightning McQueen. Some quotes are taken from Cars: The Videogame. Tom Magliozzi, the voice of Rusty Rust-eze, also passed away in 2014. However, despite his death, Rusty still has the same actor unchanged, so it is likely that archive records were used for him as well.
• This is the shortest Cars film in the franchise, having a runtime of 103 minutes (not counting shorts).
• This was 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!"
• Mia, Tia, Van, and Mini are the only characters who appeared in the first two films that did not make an appearance in this film.
  • As well, Mattel maded Mini and Van's 1:55 die-casts models for the 2017 Cars 3 Collection.
• This marks the only time in the Cars franchise in which Lightning McQueen does not say his famous catchphrase of "Ka-chow!", although the catchphrase was actually mentioned by his former rival Chick Hicks when he interviews Jackson Storm as well as making insulting comments on McQueen, calling him "Caboose" due to falling behind the next-gen racers. However, a couple of Lightning McQueen merchandise for this film do have him saying, "Ka-chow!"
• This is the first full-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 2015's Blue Sky Studios film The Peanuts Movie (now owned by Disney as of March 20, 2019).
• While the King appears in the film alongside his nephew Cal, Lynda Weathers is absent, likely due to the death of Lynda Petty.
• Even though 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.
  • Although Jeff Gorvette does return in the third film.
• This is the first Pixar film to have a 4K Ultra HD release.
• Due to scheduling conflicts with Spider-Man: Homecoming, this is the second time where Michael Keaton, Chick Hicks' original voice actor from the first film, does not reprise his role as Chick, with the first being Cars 2: The Video Game.
• Cars 3 is the fourth Pixar film with no human characters following A Bug's Life, Cars, and Cars 2.
• This is the first Pixar film to receive a simple "Fresh" approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, instead of a "Certified Fresh" unlike all the previous Pixar films had, the only exception being Cars 2 which got a "Rotten" rating.
• Cars 3 marks the second time a Pixar franchise has become a trilogy after Toy Story 3.
• While critics and fans reception towards Cars 3 was more positive, it received less money than Cars 2. This is possibly due to the negative reception of the previous films; Cars 3 also became Pixar's first and to this date their only sequel film to make fewer money at the Box Office than its pre-sequel did.
• The film has more then 65 different individual racers, which is more then previous films combined. Cars has 36 racers, and Cars 2 had 11.