rs is an American animated film series and media franchise set in a world populated
by anthropomorphic vehicles created by John Lasseter, Joe Ranft and Jorgen
Klubien. The franchise began with the 2006 film, Cars, produced by Pixar and
released by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was followed by the sequels Cars
2 (2011) and Cars 3 (2017). The now-defunct Disneytoon Studios produced the two
spin-off films Planes (2013) and Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014).
The first two Cars films were directed by Lasseter, then-chief creative officer of
Pixar, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Disneytoon Studios, while Cars 3 was
directed by Brian Fee, a storyboard artist on the previous installments. Lasseter
served as executive producer of Cars 3 and the Planes films. Together, all
three Cars films have accrued over $1.4 billion in box office revenue worldwide while
the franchise has amassed over $10 billion in merchandising sales within its first five
years.
History
The Cars franchise began with the original Cars. At the time, it was Pixar's least well
received film by reviewers.[1]