Disney Pixar Cars 2 Movie

Cars is the second Pixar film (Toy Story was the first) to have a theatrical direct sequel. Cars 2 was originally scheduled for 2012, but was brought forward a year, and is now scheduled for release June 24, 2011. The movie is the first of two Pixar films to be released in 2011, marking the first time that the studio has released more than one film in the same year. The second film, The Bear and the Bow, will be released at Christmas and is Pixar's first fairy tale.

In Cars 2, Lightning McQueen and Mater will travel around the world, but it's unclear whether all the other characters from the first movie will return. The character of Doc Hudson was played by Paul Newman, who died of lung cancer in 2008. Cars Director John Lasseter was originally adamant Newman would return, but recently told MTVLasseter said they would "see how the story goes with Doc Hudson....It'll be hard to replace Paul Newman, but we don't know yet."

George Carlin, who was the voice of Fillmore, has also died, so it's unclear whether he will be replaced or if Fillmore will be written out of the sequel.

The sequel will have to work hard to live up to the standard created by the original Cars movie. Cars was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2006 (but lost the Oscar to "Happy Feet"). It was also named the Best Animated Feature Film of 2006 by film critic associations such as the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the National Board of Review. In addition, Randy Newman and James Taylor received a Grammy Award for the song "Our Town," which was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Cars was also selected as the Favorite Family Movie at the 33rd People's Choice Awards. Perhaps the most prestigious award that Cars received was the inaugural Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film. Cars also won the highest award for animation in 2006, the Best Animated Feature Annie Award.

You'll find some fun Cars Lightning McQueen Trivia in my HubPages article.