Cars Movie

PIXAR'S John Lasseter was effusive in his thank-yous after "Cars" won the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.'s inaugural animated feature award on Monday night, but did he inadvertently sideswipe the company's Southland sibling? Lasseter, the new chief creative director of both Pixar and Burbank-based Walt Disney Feature Animation Studios, doled out thanks to the voters, his Pixar pals, his wife and five kids, voice actors Tony Shalhoub and Paul Newman, producer Darla K.

"Cars," from the Walt Disney Co. and Pixar Animation Studios, won the race for best animated feature Sunday at the 34th annual Annie Awards, honoring achievements in feature film and television animation. The Annies were handed out in Glendale by the International Animated Film Society. The winner has gone on to take the Oscar for animated feature every year since the Academy Award for animation was created in 2002.

IN the world of Pixar, toys face meaning-of-life dilemmas, monsters punch a time clock, fish learn parenting skills and superheroes retire. It seems only natural then that cars should be taught to appreciate the truly important things in life.

IF Mattel thought that its "Cars" Hot Wheels line was good enough, John Lasseter, the animated film's director, had a different message for the toy line's designers: At Pixar Animation Studios, good enough doesn't quite cut it.

JOHN LASSETER holds the keys to the kingdom. He really does. As part of the Disney-Pixar deal, the "Cars" director and Pixar executive vice president now has creative control not only over Disney's feature animation division but also its theme parks. Having worked on Disneyland's Jungle Cruise ride as a young man, the Magic Kingdom is familiar territory to Lasseter. Still, changes at the theme parks may take months to spot.

"CARS" is the "Da Vinci Code" for gear heads. Sure, you can enjoy Pixar's shiny new hotrod of a summer movie without a lot of expert car knowledge. Oh, but it helps. The movie, which lands in theaters Friday, is up to its wiper blades in esoteric racing references, inside jokes, lug nut lore and automotive minutiae, the sort of stuff that will go right over the heads of most people but will make your local ASE-certified mechanic pee his pants.

He's won Oscars, raced cars, helped found the famed Actors Studio and established a food company to fund charities. So what is 81-year-old Paul Newman doing playing a crusty old auto with blue eyes for headlights in the animated film "Cars"? "I wanted to be the first animated character on screen to demonstrate Method acting," the actor said with a playful shrug as he readied for the premiere of the latest film from the Disney/Pixar partnership, makers of "Toy Story."

"Cars" zoomed to an estimated gross of $62.8 million this weekend in the U.S. and Canada, blowing away the box-office competition. But it fell shy of the lofty standard set by its creator Pixar, the computer animation powerhouse. The family-oriented movie is the first of Pixar's seven releases to open with a box-office tally below the previous one. It averaged $15,759 at 3,985 theaters. The opening, although strong, fell short of many analysts' expectations.

Shares of Walt Disney Co. dipped slightly Monday, then rebounded, reflecting lower-than-expected ticket sales during the opening weekend of the Pixar animated film "Cars." Shares closed down 43 cents, or 1.5%, to $28.90, but had dropped as much as 85 cents, or 3%, earlier in the day. Shares of Disney have risen 21% this year. "Cars" was Pixar Animation Studios' first release since it was purchased by Burbank-based Disney for $7.4 billion. The film was estimated to have brought in $62.

Walt Disney Co.'s "Cars" had plenty of gas in its second weekend, leading the box office with an estimated $31.2 million in the U.S. and Canada despite tough new competition. Two movies aimed squarely at young males provided the strongest challenges, as the Jack Black wrestling comedy "Nacho Libre" outmuscled "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" for second place. Paramount Pictures' "Nacho Libre" took in an estimated $27.5 million, versus $24.