Cars 2

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Post by Ben » June 30th, 2011, 7:43 pm

Ho-ho, Eric!

You really think a Cars toon is going to "pay" for Brave's bills!? Bottom line (and that's all that counts with movie studios): short films like the Hawaiian TS cartoon don't make any money, they make for available forums for artistic and technical creativity and training grounds for future feature talent.

Disney is not going to make another $1b from even 10 TS shorts in the way they inevitably will do from another TS feature.

If Hanks wanted to deflect the question, he could have done that "other" actorly thing, and just pleaded ignorance: "I just don't know. I'd be in there in a heartbeat if they asked me back, but I haven't heard anything". But, y'know, he didn't. He stated what he knew: that something was in the works.

As for Pixar not wanting to make TS3? What utter tosh! Lasseter himself came up with the daycare finale, so that basically shows what you know (the recalled Buzz plot was the only other one they might have been "given", and that went straight out the window to go back to JL's original plan).

They might not want to make a TS4, but given the reasons I mentioned above (all involved would see the realistic sense, given the popularity of the films, of another one allowing for a couple of more experimental pictures), it's a no-brainer. Pixar will have seen the value, and they can even boast "by audience demand", while Disney will then allow Pixar to retain its autonomy (something that would vanish given two or three flops in a row that couldn't be justified).

And, last time I checked, Disney still owned Pixar Animation Studios.


Bill...in relation to your last line...Eric doesn't need TS4 to be made for that. Touche! ;)

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Post by Ben » June 30th, 2011, 8:06 pm

Ben wrote:I still don't get, however, how someone can come into a film around six-months to a year before release (after it's been going for two or three) and then claim a "directed by" credit and nudge the guy that's actually done all the ground-laying work to a "co-director" who isn't getting any recognition at all?
And...here we go. I wondered how long it would take the unmentioned co-director to jump ship. He's now over at Digital Domain, who are starting up an ILM-style features division:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/c ... wis-206886

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Post by Dusterian » July 3rd, 2011, 2:35 pm

So, he was a new director, his first film debut, Cars 2, was a big ol' critical flop so Lasseter put down him and himself as co-directors to save him from embarassment (we think) and now he's just going over to do a movie somewhere else? And that's supposed to help him? Is all this right?
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Re: Cars 2

Post by Dacey » July 3rd, 2011, 4:48 pm

No. Lasseter didn't jump into to "take the fall" and save the co-director from "embarassment." It's possible--very likely, even--that he might've been brought in because the production was having some problems, but really, "Cars" has always been his personal baby. It would make sense for him to want to stay involved.

And interviews indicate that Lasseter is quite happy with how the film turned out anyway.
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift--that is why it's called the present."

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Post by Ben » July 3rd, 2011, 4:55 pm

Lasseter was involved waaaay before Cars 2 was being anywhere near being a critical flop - that's just Eric supposing again.

It's likely that JL kept a watchful eye over Cars 2 from the outset and, if he believed it was heading in the wrong direction and needed a bit of fine tuning (indeed, it might have been too much for a first time director to take on on his own) then he had been around the franchise and was the best person to step in and turn it around. That scenario is more than likely.

My raise eyebrows really questioned how he could then demote Brad Lewis to "co-director" and give himself the director credit (what, not even joint "Directed By"?) and not have Brad feeling more than a little miffed at that. My question was answered when Brad was announced at taking a job somewhere else!

Are the two occurrences related? Hmmm...go figure! ;)

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Post by Dusterian » July 4th, 2011, 12:21 pm

Ooohhh. That makes sense. But it's a tough call, if I was Brad I don't know if I would be ****** because I got bumped down, or if I wouldn't be since Cars 2 was panned and I wouldn't want to be known as the main director of that. I guess he ended up getting ******. But none of us really knows all that went on...

[Edited by Moderator for language. Twice.]
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Post by Ben » July 5th, 2011, 2:54 pm

No, but we have educated guesses...and circumstantial evidence!

Anyway, with the kind of money Cars 2 is making, Brad needn't feel that the movie was panned...it was made for an audience and it has found that audience. He wouldn't have been poached so quickly if his movie was a total washout. He's basically capitalizing on his position as the co-director os a big studio animated film and making good his escape while he's currently hot.

Good on him...and I wish him luck. :)

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Re: Cars 2

Post by droosan » July 7th, 2011, 1:57 am

Finally just saw this, and I enjoyed it! .. but:
if Axlerod is "Mr. Big," how was he conducting this secret teleconference with the 'lemons' while at the same time he is being 'ambush-interviewed' in the wake of the explosions during the italian race..? :?

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Post by flyngryter711 » July 18th, 2011, 2:40 am

Didn't really like the first Cars movie. I'm not sure why. I love cars but cars with eyes that move and behave like humans just didn't appeal to me. None of the trailers for Cars 2 generated any excitement. I went and watched it on the Pixar name alone. I thought it was slightly better than the first. It seemed like a big advertisement for the cars 2 toys that are popping up just about everywhere.
I started collecting cars 2 toys from the cars 2 movie.

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Post by Ben » July 18th, 2011, 9:28 am

And...that's just what it is! :)

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Post by EricJ » July 19th, 2011, 7:49 pm

FINALLY got around to it (always wait a week or two for the bargain matinee, and even for midweek had to fight my way past Harry Potter crowds)--
And I'll agree with what's been said so far--It's not BAD-bad at all, more like the TS3 Hawaiian short: Exactly the same and/or no worse than the original, only without the Oscar-sniffle "Lasseter moment" critics think they're entitled to.

Only problem, if it has one, is that I'd also agree with those who called it a 90-minute Mater's Tall Tales: If Pixar is doing it mostly because of the marketing, unfortunately, it's a lot easier to market Mater than Lightning (due to Larry TCG being cheaper to call back than Owen Wilson)--
And if they are doing it because of marketing, somebody should break the sad news to Lasseter that "more" doesn't = "more popular": Consider if George Lucas had responded to the "marketing popularity" of Phantom Menace by making Jar-Jar the main plot focus of Episode 2. >_<

Which unfortunately took away the main "huggy moment" of this movie--If the emotional buddy-climax is Mater finally realizing people think he's an idiot, well, guess what John...SO DO WE!!
In fact, thinking back on that first Teaser From Hell for the original movie, it sort of comes off as sort of a "Well, duh, Sherlock!" moment, seeing he may have been the reason critics had been laying for this movie since before the original opened.
1 or 2, Cars is just doomed never to get a decent break. :(

(And have to admit I'd already figured out the "villain twist" the day the casting was announced:
If Axelrod was supposedly a "good" character, why go to the trouble of casting Eddie Izzard? It would break the Avengers rule of casting Izzard in spy movies.) ;)

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Post by Ben » August 11th, 2011, 3:02 pm

Good chat with John Lasseter that, reading between the lines, reveals quite a bit about Pixar and Cars 2's production:

http://www.empireonline.com/features/cars-2/p1

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Post by Randall » August 22nd, 2011, 7:46 pm

Cars 2 has now made a half-billion dollars worldwide.

That's why they made the movie, folks. It's the number one animated film this year in the US, though Kung Fu Panda 2 outdid it worldwide.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=cars2.htm

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Post by Ben » August 23rd, 2011, 3:45 pm

Wanna place bets on a Cars 3...?

That merchandising is still shifting out of the stores at full speed!

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Re: Cars 2

Post by ShyViolet » November 14th, 2011, 12:00 pm

Interesting article from Cartoon Brew/LA times:

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/pixar/la-tim ... -over.html

Many have placed their money on Rango for BAF this year, but personally I think KFP 2 has a shot as well. It got very good reviews even if it had a lackluster domestic gross, and the look was absolutely incredible.
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!

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