Owen Wilson
Lightning McQueen
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- Contributing Editor
- Lightning McQueen. Voiced by Rushmore co-writer and Zoolander co-star Owen Wilson, the McQueen of Cars 3 is older and wearier, staring down the end of his professional racing career.
- Cruz Ramirez. An overly spunky trainer who works for Sterling’s squad, Cruz is tasked with getting McQueen back into shape; the friction and eventual mutual understanding between the characters provides the film’s emotional centerpiece.
- Jackson Storm. Like Lightning in the first film, Jackson Storm is quick, cocky, and friendless. He also lacks McQueen’s goofy charm. Younger, fitter, and faster than the aging vet, the Armie Hammer–voiced Storm stands as McQueen’s archrival on the track.
- Strip “The King” Weathers. The Petty Blue Plymouth Superbird, voiced by King Richard himself, returns for an appearance, this time as crew chief for his nephew, Cal Weathers.
Category page. Characters from Cars 3 . Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
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thumb This is a gallery of images and videos pertaining to the film Cars 3 . Previous: Cars 2/Gallery. Contents. 1 Posters. 2 Artwork. 2.1 Concept art. 2.2 Character artwork. 3 Promotional images. 4 Trailers. 5 Interviews. 6 Screenshots. Posters. Teaser Poster. Poster depicting Lightning McQueen 's crash. Poster depicting McQueen racing.
- Overview
- Synopsis
- Plot
- Cast
- Production
- Release
- Reception
- Soundtrack
- Video game
"Blindsided by a new generation of blazing-fast racers, the legendary Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) 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 with her own plan to win, inspiration from the late Fabulous Hudson Hornet, and a few unexpected turns. Proving ...
As the Piston Cup season progresses, Lightning McQueen, now a seven-time Piston Cup racing legend, finds himself overshadowed by Jackson Storm, an arrogant rookie who belongs to a new generation of racers that use the latest technology to improve their performance. Lightning's fellow veterans either retire or are fired by their sponsors, to be replaced by new-generation racers. He falls behind the pack in the final race of the season; while trying to catch up, he loses control and suffers a violent rollover crash. Four months later, while recovering in Radiator Springs after the violent crash, a primer-coated Lightning watches footage of the crash that ended the career of his late mentor, Doc Hudson. He tells his girlfriend, Sally Carrera, that he does not want to be forced into retirement as Doc was and decides to start training again, looking for new ways to regain his edge. Rusty and Dusty, the owners of Lightning's Rust-eze racing team, send him to a newly opened racing center, much to his surprise. When he arrives, he learns that they have sold Rust-eze to new owner Sterling, who assigns him to work with trainer Cruz Ramirez. Lightning eventually becomes impatient and annoyed with Cruz's methods and attempts to use a high-tech racing simulator, only to cause severe damage to the equipment.
Convinced that Lightning is no longer capable of winning, Sterling is ready to take him off the racing circuit and use him for product endorsements. Lightning offers a deal instead: if he wins the first race of the new upcoming season in Florida, he can keep racing at his discretion; otherwise, he will retire immediately. Sterling accepts the deal and sends Cruz to work with him one-on-one at a nearby beach.
Instead of improving his own top speed to beat Storm's speed, Lightning spends most of the day helping Cruz get used to racing on the sandy coastline outside the training center. Then, for inspiration, they travel to a dirt track on which Doc raced but inadvertently ended up competing in a demolition derby, which Cruz ultimately wins, leading to Lightning being humiliated on national television. When he angrily lashes out at her for wasting his time and breaks her trophy, she gets angry, tells Mack to pull over instantly to let her out and reveals that she had wanted to race professionally when she was younger but never started a race because she felt outclassed by the other cars. Finally, she leaves to make the trip back to the racing center on her own.
After seeing a report on Storm's new speed record, Lightning calls his best friend, Mater, for advice. Mater suggests that he track down Doc's mentor Smokey. Lightning picks up Cruz, but she refuses to go with him after what he said to her before. Lightning tries to make it up to her by fixing her trophy and dancing to help her get on Mack. Cruz, getting impatient by Lightning's dancing and singing, agrees, and the two travel to Doc's hometown of Thomasville, where they meet Smokey and several of Doc's old friends. Accepting that he is not the racer he once was, he allows them to coach him in methods to outsmart Storm instead of beating him with sheer speed. Smokey reveals that even though Doc never raced again after his crash, he found new happiness in training Lightning. During a final practice race, Lightning has a flashback to his crash and loses to Cruz, who has been taking some of Smokey's lessons to heart.
Lightning is surprised to find Smokey and Doc's old friends cheering him on, despite him falling behind to the next-generation racers at the race in Florida. Sterling spots Cruz among them several laps into the race and orders her to return to the racing center. Lightning calls her back to the speedway, has his pit crew outfit her for racing, and gives her his number so she can take his place. Using both Smokey's advice and her own, Lightning coaches her through the pack until she is in second place behind Storm. On the last lap, Storm rams Cruz into the wall, but she flips away using one of Doc's old techniques and lands ahead of him to win the race, much to the amazement of McQueen. She and Lightning are both credited with the victory, and she quits her job with Sterling to accept an offer to race for Dinoco.
Later, in Radiator Springs, Lightning and Cruz put on an exhibition race for their friends. They have adopted Doc's old racing colors and number, respectively, to honor his memory. Dinoco has bought Rust-eze from Sterling, and Lightning decides to continue racing and train Cruz as well.
Principal/Secondary Cast
•Owen Wilson as Lightning McQueen •Cristela Alonzo as Cruz Ramirez •Chris Cooper as Smokey •Nathan Fillion as Sterling •Larry the Cable Guy as Mater •Armie Hammer as Jackson Storm •Bonnie Hunt as Sally Carrera •Tony Shalhoub as Luigi •Lea DeLaria as Miss Fritter •Kerry Washington as Natalie Certain •Cheech Marin as Ramone •Jenifer Lewis as Flo •Michael Wallis as Sheriff •Paul Dooley as Sarge •Lloyd Sherr as Fillmore •Guido Quaroni as Guido •Katherine Helmond as Lizzie •John Ratzenberger as Mack •Bob Peterson as Chick Hicks (Replacing Michael Keaton) •Richard Petty as Strip Weathers •Jeff Gordon as Jeff Gorvette •Darrell Waltrip as Darrell Cartrip •Chase Elliott as Chase Racelott •Daniel Suárez as Danny Swervez •Ryan Blaney as Ryan "Inside" Laney •Darrell Wallace Jr. as Bubba Wheelhouse •Kyle Petty as Cal Weathers •Shannon Spake as Shannon Spokes •Humpy Wheeler as Tex Dinoco •Ray Evernham as Ray Reverham •Mike Joy as Mike Joyride •Lewis Hamilton as Hamilton •Bob Costas as Bob Cutlass •Ray Magliozzi as Dusty Rust-eze •Tom Magliozzi as Rusty Rust-eze (archive audio) •Isiah Whitlock Jr. as River Scott •Junior Johnson as Junior "Midnight" Moon •Margo Martindale as Louise "Barnstormer" Nash •Angel Oquendo as Bobby Swift •Paul Newman as Doc Hudson/Fabulous Hudson Hornet (archive audio)
Additional voices
•Andrea Taylor Baker •Doug Burch •Catherine Cavadini •Lanai Chapman •Will Collyer - Brick Yardley •Abby Craden - Simulator Voice •Django Craig - Kurt, Superfly •James G. Dashe •Andra Day - Sweet Tea •E. Ambriz DeColosio •John DeMita - Thunder Hollow Announcer •Rod Gnapp •Willow Geer •Isa Hall •Aaron Hendry •John Hoffman - Thunder Hollow RV •Barney Jones •Mikey Kelley •Carlyle King •Daamen Krall •David H. Lawrence XVII •Malana •Jeremy Maxwell - Arvy •Madeleine McGraw - Maddy McGear •Levi Nuñez - Gabriel •Angel Oquendo •Jason Pace •Bob Peterson - Dr. Damage •James Pace - Faregame •Alex Puccinelli •Steve Purcell - Tractors •David Randolph •Jerome Ranft - Red •Noreen Reardon •A.J. Riebli III - Albert Hinkey •Peter Sohn - Mr. Drippy •Galyn Susman •Regina Taufen •Nancy Truman •Cheryl Tyre •Andrew Vernon •Jay Ward - Jeff Gorvette’s Interviewer
At the Disney stockholder meeting on March 18, 2014, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that Pixar had begun pre-production on Cars 3.
Michael Wallis said on August 17, 2013 that the film would include Route 99 in California, while John Lasseter said during the Tokyo International Film Festival that a Citroën 2CV will appear in the film as a reference to Hayao Miyazaki's movie Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro.
According to the 2015 São Paulo Disney Expo, the film's release was to be in 2018. On July 20, 2015, while being interviewed by Autoweek, Lasseter stated that the film's release should be summer 2018 or 2019. On October 8, 2015, it was confirmed to be June 16, 2017.
The first concept images were released by USA Today on May 30, 2016. Director Brian Fee also gave some info on the characters and plot.
"Cruz Ramirez is trying to figure out how this old dog can learn some new tricks," says Fee.
"Think of where he'd be in his career now in real time," says Fee. "(McQueen) is not an old man, but he's one of the older cars on the circuit with new rookies coming in. People start to wonder and ask when he might retire."
was released in theaters on June 16, 2017 in the United States in 3D, and in selected IMAX 3D theaters and was accompanied by the Pixar short film Lou.
To promote the UK release, which was July 14, life-size models of McQueen and Storm were shown at the 2017 Formula 1 British Grand Prix, with Wilson, Fee and Reher attending.
Box Office
grossed around $172 million in USA and Canada and $310 millions in other territories for a worldwide total of $482 million, against a production budget of $150 million.
Critical Response
received mostly positive reviews, the film received an approval rating of 69% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 228 reviews. With the site's critical consensus reads, "Cars 3 has an unexpectedly poignant story to go with its dazzling animation, suggesting Pixar's most middle-of-the-road franchise may have a surprising amount of tread left." Owen Gleiberman of Variety magazine gave the film positive review stating, "Cars 3 is a friendly, rollicking movie made with warmth and dash, and to the extent that it taps our primal affection for this series, it more than gets the job done. Yet in many ways it’s the tasteful version of a straight-to-DVD (or streaming) sequel.
There are eight songs in the Motion Picture Soundtrack while the Score Soundtrack is composed by Randy Newman. For the film, there are two soundtracks: one containing songs, and the other consisting of the film's score. Both were released on the same day as the film.
Avalanche Software and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment developed a game adapted from the film, with release dates of June 13, 2017 in North America, June 14 in Australia, and July 14 in Europe.
“Cars 3” also welcomes back Lightning McQueen’s gang of friends from Radiator Springs, including Lightning’s best buddy Mater, and #95’s No. 1 fan Sally. Friends supporting their hometown hero include Fillmore, Sarge, Lizzie, Ramon, Sheriff and Flo.
People also ask
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Cars 3 is a 2017 American animated sports comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures.
