Disney officially announces 'Cars' spinoff 'Planes'
Posted Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 4:28 PM Central
Last updated Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 4:32 PM Central
by John Couture
In what was arguably one of Hollywood's worst kept secrets, DisneyToon Studios confirmed today that they are readying a direct-to-DVD spinoff of Pixar's Cars. The computer-generated animated movie titled Planes will naturally take to the blue skies and follow exploits of anthropomorphic airplanes.
The existence of Planes was rumored last Summer around the time of the release of Toy Story 3 as a way at the time for Pixar to leverage the Cars franchise in the lucrative direct-to-DVD market. A few things have changed since that leak, namely that DisneyToon Studios is taking the lead in developing Planes as opposed to Pixar.
But really, that's just semantics as John Lasseter oversees both animation studios. My guess is that Lasseter didn't want to "tarnish" the Pixar in case the move backfires.
Cars 2 is the next offering from Pixar and hits theaters this June 24. Planes is tentatively planned for a 2013 release on DVD and Blu-ray and whatever other format exists by then.
Here's an excerpt from the DisneyToon Studios press release:
“We had such a great time exploring the world of ‘Cars’ over the course of two films, so it seemed only natural for us to see where our imaginations would take us in a film where planes were the main characters. By expanding the Cars world, ‘Planes’ gave us a whole new set of fun-filled situations and a great opportunity to introduce some fantastic new characters.” commented John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer, Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios. “The team at DisneyToon Studios has done such an amazing job creating a heartfelt story filled with great comedy, adventure, and emotion. I know audiences are going to love taking off into the wild blue yonder with these daredevil characters, as they experience a whole new kind of animated adventure.”PLANES takes off with an international cast of the fastest air racers around, in a comedy packed with action and adventure starring Dusty, a small town dreamer who longs to enter the most epic around-the-world air race … despite his fear of heights. With the help and support of a fleet of new and hilarious characters, Dusty wings his way into the biggest challenge of his life.
So, a plane with a fear of heights? What's next? "Boats" about a tugboat who can't swim? Of course, they could complete the holy trifecta and develop "Trains" about a caboose afraid of coal.