Early Warning Signs For PIXAR's Cars 2

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Originally Posted by BlueSkyDriveBy

According to a Pixar exec I talked to about three years ago, Cars 2 was made for one reason and one reason only: billions and billions of dollars in merch sales. The Cars franchise is a platinum mine on steroids. It's unbelievably profitable. And because of those merch sales, there was no way this sequel wasn't getting made.

Even if the reviews for Cars 2 remain mostly bad and the ticket receipts are only half of TS3's take, I would still expect to see yet another Cars sequel in the future. Produce a new film with new characters and voila! Instant profits from die cast toy cars. Which, of course, helps to fund original films and keep Pixar employees, well, employed.

So who cares if the film sucks? As long as it makes money either in the theater or in the aftermarket, so Pixar can continue to exist.

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It will take in a larger global cume. The originl, fared only okay overseas, as the NASCAR and Americana theme didn't go over too well in most international markets. But the franchise itself has been a global hit, not to mention sequels almost universally do much better internationally, especially in Russia and Brazil. While in the U.S. box office sequels tend to underperform the original, in foreign markets they tend to over perform.

And there will be a Cars 3, make no mistake about that. And people can complain all they want about Pixar "selling out," but if didn't have a franchise like Cars, it couldn't afford to be a risk taker with films like Up and Brave, which offer little revenue value outside of the box office and home video sales, both of which are dying revenue sources.

I think the "who cares if it sucks, it'll make money" kind of thinking is dangerous for Pixar. In a lot of ways, that's what Disney started doing in the late nineties after their string of critical and box office hits. Now the Disney animation studio has spent the better part of the last decade struggling to overcome this perception. Pixar should think twice before wandering down that path.

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Originally Posted by MAH4546

It will take in a larger global cume. The originl, fared only okay overseas, as the NASCAR and Americana theme didn't go over too well in most international markets. But the franchise itself has been a global hit, not to mention sequels almost universally do much better internationally, especially in Russia and Brazil.

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A global marketing consideration which, I'm sure, had absolutely no influence on the round-the-world plot of the Cars2 story... right? ;)

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Originally Posted by Mr Wiggins

A global marketing consideration which, I'm sure, had absolutely no influence on the round-the-world plot of the Cars2 story... right? ;)

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No doubt it influenced the film. There are actually multiple versions of the movie. In Sweden, Spain, Australia/NZ, Latin America (except Brazil) and Russia/CIS markets, the Jeff Gorvette character from the U.S./ROW version is replaced and voiced by local famous race car drivers from each region. In Germany/Austria, the Max Schnell character is replaced by Sebastian Schenll, voiced by famous German race car driver Sebastian Vettel. Pixar actually did this in the original, too. When voicing Chick Hicks, Pixar sought out local famous racecar drivers for the role, although the character was identical in appearance.

Having seen the movie last weekend, I thought it was excellent. I'm actually going again to the midnight showing tonight. It is definitely worth rewatching for the amazing detail put into it.

It has been a long time coming.... I am by no means elated by this news but was it not Lasseter himself who put the breaks on the Disney sequel machine based on dwindling quality and general tackiness? Sure, Toy Story had its' sequels but many can, and have, argued that they "grew" up with the audience so they had deeper meaning. I can buy that one, but after years of not so subtle prodding and preaching from Pixar scribes about the environment, globalization, and other messages du jour I find it strange that they further milked a franchise that is very contrary to their message. Sure, they're a business owned by an even larger business and every business is in it for money (BUSINESS!). I get that too, but Lasseter's big mouth has done a bit of preaching and now Pixar and the consumer is paying for it. To be honest, I started worrying around UP. What a bleak movie.

Cars was the first Pixar film I walked out of the theater not completely in love with. I mean, it was cute and entertaining, but I didn't really connect with the characters (the only one I cared for less was Ratatouille). It's grown on me over the years and I really do like it, but this was a sequel based on one of the weaker movies. I'm not surprised the reviews aren't great. I'm sure I'll still take my kids to see it, and I still have faith in Pixar.

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Originally Posted by shipsahoy

I agree. I think a film like this is great-- A nice, big summer action flick full of fun and thrills, and works also as a nice breather between the emotional rollercoaster that is Toy Story 3 (also my favourite) and what is sure to be a dark fantasy piece with Brave.

In short, Pixar has yet to dissapoint me, and I don't think they will this time, either.

and after all, like ALIASd said

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agreed..Also, although Rotten Tomatoes has poor numbers, a review on MSN was very positive as were other reviews quoted..in the high '80s on average. I think Cars is much more of a merchandising blockbuster rather than just a movie to stand alone..it is almost made (even though very well) to support the merchandise and CarsLand. I'm looking forward to it!

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Originally Posted by red barchetta

So you must have hated every Pixar movie but Cars, right? Also, critics didn't "hate" Cars--they were just lukewarm about it, hence the 74% on RT, which isn't bad.

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Nope--don't know how you get that. Pixar is an instance where I line up with the critics in some cases. In fact, I have been shocked that critics have liked so many Pixar movies. I just find that critics often give great ratings to movies filled with pornography, violence and profanity--none of these things contribute any "good" to the world and certainly do not uplift or inspire people to be better. Hollywood, in terms of generalized statements (which aren't really fair) is so out of touch with what is important to me. It is rare for me to have any desire to see any movie nominated for best picture lately (there are, of course, some exceptions).

So, back to Pixar and to answer your question. Cars is tied for 1st place in Pixar films for me (along with Toy Story 2), but I also loved most of the others and have watched them numerous times. My least favorite is Wall-E--it was a one-time shot for me. Otherwise, I could sit down and watch any of them again and be happy.

I'm planning on seeing Cars 2 on Monday. I'm hoping I like it. I'm trying to stay away from plot spoilers, but I've caught bits and pieces here and there. I'm afraid it won't have "heart" and that there's political statements trying to be made. We'll see. In any case, I assume it will be entertaining. I lived in France for a couple years and have spent some time in England, Germany, Italy, etc. and am very excited to see how they represent those places :)

---------- Post added 06-24-2011 at 09:50 AM ----------

Sorry to post twice in a row--but not sorry enough not to :)

It looks like there have been 98 critic reviews at RT--36 fresh and 62 rotten. So not a very large sample size.

However, there have been 39,238 audience reviews and it's at 77%--not super, but not bad either. So, this is what I was trying to explain about critics versus my thoughts. Critics and audiences don't always agree. I'm encouraged by the 39,238 sample size much more than 98 professional opinioMaters (no extra charge for the lame Mater reference) ;)

Just got some early box office numbers in my inbox, and, while it's only Friday, Cars 2 is overperforming the early $60M predictions.

Close to $10M on Friday afternoon showings alone.

its looking like 65 million weekend according to deadline.com

just a quick update from deadline.com looks it will over perform to 75 million which is second only to toy story 3. reviews dont matter

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Originally Posted by MAH4546

Just got some early box office numbers in my inbox, and, while it's only Friday, Cars 2 is overperforming the early $60M predictions.

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So much for those early warning signs.

We contributed to the weekend opening $$haul, had to pay to see it to confirm critics are on it.... it sucked. Wish I'd waited for the DvD.

Just as I predicted, its on track to be the second biggest opening ever for Pixar, after Toy Story 3.

Also, the Cinemascore rating (which polls audience members leaving theaters) is a sold A-.

Yup, Cars2 is going to rake in the megabucks. Which will of course encourage Disney, Pixar and John to crank out more of the same.

Bon appetit.