Pixar may have changed the face of film-making in the 1990s and ushered in a brave new world of CGI animation, but it could do with a top-up of critical goodwill. The rumours that Cars 3 might be entering production soon are more likely to have fans – or at least anyone over the age of nine – spluttering in dismay.
Michael Wallis, an expert on America's iconic Route 66 and the voice of Sheriff in the previous two Cars movies, told WGBZ radio in Illinois that the next film in the series will return to Lightning McQueen's adopted hometown of Radiator Springs. That means a return to Route 66, which runs through the small isolated town, and a visit to another famous real-life road, Highway 99.
"Cars 3, we're coming back to the road," said Wallis. "And we're coming back to 66 into 99. That's the road that runs right through central California."
The news, which has not been confirmed by Pixar, might please filmgoers who were underwhelmed by Cars 2's jaunt into espionage territory, if only the original movie's homespun themes had revved up viewer's motors. The Cars series is a huge favourite of the self-proclaimed "petrolhead" John Lasseter, who heads both Pixar and Disney's animation studios and reputedly made millions of dollars from merchandising. But both films are an irritating blot on the studio's relatively unblemished CV.
A spin-off movie, Planes, was released in August by the Disney unit DisneyToon Studios, presumably to save Pixar's good name from further denigration. With luck, Cars 3 might be hived off in a similar fashion. If not, we may be tempted to think the wheels are slowly coming off the studio that gave us Oscar-winning films such as Toy Story, Ratatouille, The Incredibles and Wall-E.
