Last summer’s Cars 2 marked a notable footnote in the history of Pixar Animation, just not a good one; despite opening to the studio’s sixth-highest worldwide take to date, the sequel to 2006’s Cars earned middling reviews, prompted critics to deem it a commercial cash-grab, and eventually – maybe most shockingly, given the studio's track record – became the first Pixar film not to nab an Oscar nod for Best Animated Feature since the category was inaugurated. Could it be, as Pixar producer Lindsey Collins suggests, that Cars 2 was Oscar-snubbed because of anti-Pixar backlash?
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"Move, b****, get out the way!" said Cars 2 to Green Lantern as the Pixar sequel burned rubber over all over the competition this weekend. Hey, if Mater and Lightning McQueen can eat sushi and have car doors and live in a world with sidewalks but no humans with no discernable method of procreation in place, Cars 2 can speak in the parlance of Ludacris in my head. Especially when it defies everyone - skeptics, haters, that 34 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating -- to rake in $68M in its opening weekend. Let's review the weekend receipts!
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And now, a safe prediction about Cars 2: Its best part will be the short that precedes the movie. In the mini adventure, both Woody and Buzz (still voiced by Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, respectively) and the rest of the toys stage a Hawaiian getaway for Ken (Michael Keaton), whose botched travel plans with Barbie (Jodi Benson) force him to remain in Bonnie's bedroom. A just-released still from the short is enough to bring back my tears from Toy Story 3. I could live in these damn movies.
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Awards season isn't completely over for some of your favorite films from last year: The 12th annual Golden Trailer Awards pit the best marketing campaigns, trailer, and posters from films in 2010 and 2011 against one another, which means the Tree of Life trailer is up against that of The Social Network, the vampire remake Let Me In competes with the spooky remake Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, and Cars 2 battles Rango. Never mind that half of these films haven't come out yet!
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Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino (Alias, LOST, Star Trek, Up, Super 8) has created some of the most memorable aural film and television moments in the last decade, notably working time and time again with a chosen few close collaborators including J.J. Abrams and the folks at Pixar. So on the eve of his latest film, the globe-trotting sequel Cars 2 (his fourth Pixar score since 2004's The Incredibles), Movieline asked Giacchino to share his pro tips for mastering the film-scoring game.
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Along with the likes of Sir Michael Caine and Eddie Izzard, actress Emily Mortimer gives voice to one of the new additions to the Cars universe across the pond: British intelligence agent Holley Shiftwell, a smart and confident paper-pushing analyst who gets thrust into the field (and into the life and heart of Radiator Springs tow truck Mater) in John Lasseter's globe-trotting Cars 2. For Mortimer, a self-avowed Pixar nut, it was an offer she couldn't refuse. And she's definitely now drinking the Pixar Kool-Aid.
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It seems we're all about LEGO everything these days; we've already got LEGO versions of half of this summer's tent pole slate. But there's something special in the latest installment of LEGOmania, a gem of a re-envisioning commissioned by Disney Pixar that recreates the first Cars 2 trailer entirely in LEGO.
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Disney-Pixar has released five new character images from this summer's Cars 2, in which Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) meet new international friends and foes. Like in England, where they'll bump into none other than The Queen herself (Vanessa Redgrave), along with her son, Prince Wheeliam. Yes, you read that right! Wheel-iam. Question is, will royal daughter-in-law-to-be Kate Middleton get her animated due?
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