Cars 3 is a 2017 American animated sports comedy film directed by Brian Fee and written by Kiel Murray, Bob Peterson, and Mike Rich. Produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, it is the third film in the Cars franchise, and the sequel to Cars 2 (2011). Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, Bonnie Hunt, Tony Shalhoub, Guido Quaroni, Cheech Marin, Jenifer Lewis, Paul Dooley, Lloyd Sherr, Michael Wallis, Katherine Helmond and John Ratzenberger reprise their roles from previous films, with Cristela Alonzo, Chris Cooper, Armie Hammer, Nathan Fillion, Lea DeLaria and Kerry Washington joining the cast. In the film, Lightning McQueen (Wilson), now a veteran race car and racing legend, must prove that he is still competitive against the next generation of technologically advanced racers, with the help of young technician Cruz Ramirez (Alonzo), to prevent a forced retirement from the Piston Cup.
Development of a third Cars film began in late 2011 after the release of its predecessor, and entered production in 2014, with Pixar's then-CCO John Lasseter stating that it would be a "very emotional story", and go back to the first film's themes. The production team for the film conducted research on multiple NASCAR racers, particularly older ones, as well as a sports psychoanalyst, while also focusing on McQueen's relationship with Doc Hudson and its meaning. The production utilized a new rendering system, Rix Integration Subsystem (RIS), which was previously used in Finding Dory (2016). New cast members including Hammer and Alonzo were announced in January 2017, followed by Fillion, Washington and DeLaria two months later. Randy Newman, who had worked on the first film, composed the film's score with artists such as Andra Day, James Bay, Brad Paisley and Jorge Blanco contributing tracks for the film.
Cars 3 was first screened for the NASCAR industry in Kannapolis, North Carolina on May 23, 2017, before its theatrical release in the United States on June 16, accompanied by the animated short film Lou. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $383 million worldwide against its $175 million budget, becoming the lowest-grossing film of the franchise.
Plot
Lightning McQueen, now a seven-time Piston Cup champion, finds himself overshadowed by Jackson Storm, an arrogant rookie who is the first among a new generation of race cars with advanced technology to enhance performance. As Storm wins throughout the season, many racing veterans retire or are replaced by younger and faster rookies. In the final race at Los Angeles, Lightning briefly leads but falls behind after being overtaken by Storm and other rookies. He struggles to keep up, loses control, and has a massive rollover crash after hitting the wall and blowing over, prematurely ending his worst season on record as Storm wins the Piston Cup.
Four months later, Lightning, who has since recovered from his crash, decides that he will continue racing and calls his sponsors, Rusty and Dusty, who reveal they have sold Rust-eze to a wealthy business car named Sterling. Sterling assigns Lightning to train at the Rust-eze Racing Center under Cruz Ramirez, where he struggles to adapt to the modern training methods. After Lightning accidentally damages a simulator, Sterling tries to force him to retire. Adamant that he can still race, Lightning offers that if he wins the upcoming Florida 500, he can decide if he wants to keep racing; otherwise, he will retire immediately. Sterling reluctantly accepts the deal, but on the condition that he must train with Cruz.
Cruz's unconventional training methods and lack of real-world racing experience frustrate Lightning as they attempt to record his top speed at Fireball Beach. When Lightning decides to train at Thunder Hollow, they realize it is being used for a figure-8-style demolition derby called the "Crazy Eight" and are forced to participate in disguise, in which Cruz wins and accidentally reveals him to the public. Lightning angrily yells at Cruz after the demolition derby and accidentally breaks her trophy. Cruz reveals that she had always wanted to be a racer thanks to Lightning but was never confident enough to enter a race, so she resigns as Lightning's trainer and heads back to the racing center. Ashamed and without other options, Lightning calls his friend Mater for advice, who suggests that Lightning track down Doc Hudson's former mentor and crew chief Smokey in his hometown of Thomasville, Georgia.
Lightning catches up to Cruz and convinces her to rejoin him. In Thomasville, they meet up with Smokey, who reveals that, even though Doc never raced again, he found new happiness in training Lightning. After Lightning accepts that he will never be as fast as Storm, Smokey and Doc's old friends, Louise "Barnstormer" Nash, River Scott, and Junior "Midnight" Moon, help him learn new tricks to overcome his speed disadvantage, with Cruz serving as his sparring partner. After many attempts, Lightning finally manages to pass Cruz during the final practice race. However, Cruz suddenly overtakes Lightning, which causes him to remember being passed by Storm before his crash, shaking his confidence.
At the Florida 500, Lightning starts at the back but moves up the ranks with Smokey's help. Sterling doubts Lightning's capability and orders Cruz back to the training center, despite her desire to stay. Hearing them on his radio and recalling Cruz's racing dream, Lightning sidesteps a huge pile-up and has his crew prepare Cruz to race in his place, giving her a chance to succeed. Though initially hesitant, Cruz starts overtaking opponents with Lightning's coaching. She ends up behind Storm, who threatens her by ramming her against the wall on the final lap. Using an old move from Doc, Cruz flips over Storm, overtakes him, and wins the race.
As Cruz celebrates her victory, Sterling offers her a role on his team, but she instead takes a counteroffer from Dinoco's owner Tex Dinoco. Since Lightning and Cruz were both wearing #95, Lightning becomes the joint-winner of the race and effectively passes his deal with Sterling. Returning to Radiator Springs, Lightning reveals that Tex has bought Rust-eze from Sterling. Now wearing a livery inspired by Doc in his honor, Lightning decides to continue racing after further training Cruz.
Voice cast
Owen Wilson as Lightning McQueen Cristela Alonzo as Cruz Ramirez, McQueen's trainer at the Rust-Eze Racing Center with ambitions to become a racer herself. Chris Cooper as Smokey, Doc Hudson's old crew chief. Armie Hammer as Jackson Storm, a next-generation racecar and McQueen's new rival. Larry the Cable Guy as Tow Mater Bonnie Hunt as Sally Carrera Nathan Fillion as Sterling, the new owner of Rust-Eze. Lea DeLaria as Miss Fritter, an eccentric school bus who enjoys competing in the demolition derbies at Thunder Hollow. Kerry Washington as Natalie Certain, a statistical analyst who provides insight and data on the next-generation racers.
Also reprising their roles from previous Cars media are Tony Shalhoub as Luigi, Guido Quaroni as Guido, John Ratzenberger as Mack, Lloyd Sherr as Fillmore, Cheech Marin as Ramone, Paul Dooley as Sarge, Jenifer Lewis as Flo, Katherine Helmond as Lizzie (in her final franchise appearance before her death in 2019), and Michael Wallis as Sheriff; an uncredited Jerome Ranft, reprising his role from Cars Toons: Tales from Radiator Springs (2013), replaces his late brother Joe Ranft from the first film as Red; Ray Magliozzi reprises his role as Dusty Rust-eze, one of the former co-owners of Rust-Eze, while his brother Tom, who died in 2014, appears as Rusty Rust-eze through unused audio recordings from the first film as well as audio sourced from his and Ray's radio show, Car Talk. Paul Newman posthumously appears as Doc Hudson, through archived and unused audio recordings from the first film and its tie-in video game.
Margo Martindale, Isiah Whitlock Jr., and Junior Johnson respectively voice Louise "Barnstormer" Nash, River Scott, Junior "Midnight" Moon, Doc Hudson's old racing friends; Madeleine McGraw voices a car version of herself in the audience known as Maddy McGear; Andra Day voices Sweet Tea, a forklift from Thomasville who is a singer at the local pub; Bob Peterson replaces Michael Keaton from the first film as Chick Hicks, and also voices Dr. Damage, an ambulance who takes part in the demolition derby at Thunder Hollow.
Additionally, several NASCAR drivers and other related personalities make cameo appearances: Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, and Daniel Suárez respectively voice next-generation racer versions of themselves known as Chase Racelott, Ryan "Inside" Laney, Bubba Wheelhouse, and Danny Swervez; Shannon Spake voices Shannon Spokes, a reporter for the Piston Cup; Ray Evernham voices as Ray Reverham, Jackson Storm's crew chief; Mike Joy voices Mike Joyride, an unseen talk show host that McQueen listens to during his forced retirement; Richard Petty reprises his role of Strip "The King" Weathers from the first film, while his son Kyle Petty voices Strip's nephew Cal Weathers; Humpy Wheeler (in his final franchise appearance before his death in 2025), Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip, and Bob Costas respectively reprise their roles of Tex Dinoco, Jeff Gorvette, Darrell Cartrip, and Bob Cutlass; Lewis Hamilton, who provided the voice of a car version of himself in the second film, voices Hamilton, Cruz's computerized assistant; Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso voice the foreign language versions of Hamilton, with Vettel voicing 'Vettel' and 'Sebastian' in the Italian and German dubs respectively, and Alonso voicing 'Fernando' in the Spanish dub.
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, Pixar's then-chief creative officer 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, Lasseter, who had directed the previous Cars films, stated that the film would have 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.