Today in History: Animated movie ‘Cars’ was released on 9 June
For Cars, which won the first-ever Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature, Pixar’s animators created an alternate America inhabited by vehicles instead of humans.
One of the all-time favourite animated children’s movies, Cars, was released into American theatres today in 2006, and would go on to become both a critical hit as well as a juggernaut at the box office.
The film’s hero is Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson), a Corvette-like race car enjoying a sensational debut on the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) circuit.
Arrogant and foolish, with talent to burn, McQueen thinks of himself as a one-man show.
After he refuses a tyre change during the prestigious Piston Cup race, McQueen blows a huge lead, setting up a three-way tie-breaking race with The King, a long-time champion, and Chick Hicks, an intimidating competitor with a chip on his shoulder.
On the way to the race site in California, however, McQueen goes off course (and off the interstate) and ends up in Radiator Springs, a forgotten town on the now-defunct Route 66.
At first desperate to escape, McQueen learns to appreciate Radiator Springs, especially after finding a best friend (the rusting tow-truck Mater, as in Tow-Mater), a love interest (Sally Carrera, a fetching Porsche) and a mentor (it turns out the town’s gruff doctor-mechanic, Doc Hudson, is actually the Hudson Hornet, a real-life NASCAR legend).
As director John Lasseter told The New York Times, he was inspired to make Cars by a cross-country road trip he took with his wife and five sons, fuelled by a general love of automobiles.
While researching the movie, the team of animators travelled along the historic Route 66, once the iconic route to the American West and now bypassed by interstate highways.
In addition to the painstaking depictions of both classic and modern cars and their distinctive personalities, Cars features the voices of some of the leading figures in auto racing, beginning with the late Paul Newman, the legendary actor-turned-race car driver, as Doc Hudson.
Racing legends Mario Andretti (as himself), Richard Petty (as The King) and Michael Schumacher (as a Ferrari) can also be heard, along with sports announcers Darrell Waltrip and Bob Costas.
The movie made an impressive $244 082 982 at the US domestic box office, putting it in an impressive second place on the all time box office list for movies in the car genre, behind Furious 7 ($353 007 020).
It generated a further $218 133 298 internationally, to earn itself a worldwide total of $462 216 280.
The movie won an astonishing 27 of the 57 awards it was nominated for around the world.
Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at roodepoortrecord@caxton.co.za (remember to include your contact details) or phone us on 011 955 1130.
For free daily local news on the West Rand, also visit our sister newspaper websites
Remember to visit our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages to let your voice be heard!
