Pixar's 'Cars 3' Gets A 'Dark Sequel' Teaser Trailer

Walt Disney just dropped the first teaser trailer for Cars 3 this morning. That makes sense since Walt Disney’s Moana will be the ideal place to show off this first look at next summer’s big Pixar sequel. There are two things to note about this very brief (50-second) teaser.

First, the animation for the cars is a lot more lifelike than we saw back in the original 2006 offering, and that was pretty darn good at the time. The level of realism on display is rather stunning, to the point where I wish that this film was showing in 120fps/3D/4k at a theater near me next summer.

Second, this is yet another case of a sequel to a relatively kid-friendly offering getting what amounts to a “serious” teaser trailer. As you recall, the first teaser for Planes: Fire and Rescue sold the film as a soaring drama about noble/heroic crop dusting planes using their skills to put out forest fires. The next trailer was a more conventional kid-friendly sell.

And this time out, the first Cars 3 teaser trailer amounts to a “dark sequel” tease, with Lightning McQueen apparently suffering a grim “everything will change” accident that sets the plot in motion. It’s an effective way to get our attention (and/or traumatize the kiddies) for a new installment of (all due respect) Pixar’s least respected series.

Say what you will about Pixar’s recent run of sequels, but they are big business for the animation studio. Finding Dory topped $1 billion worldwide and became the biggest animated film ever in North America with $483m domestic (just $2m below the “adjusted for inflation” total of Finding Nemo’s original 2003 $339m theatrical release). Toy Story 3 earned $415m domestic and over $1 billion back in 2010 while even Monsters University earned $744m worldwide in the summer of 2013 despite inspiring little more than a “Well, that was pretty good” response.