Planes

thumb|right|300px|Planes Trailer Planes is an upcoming spin-off of Cars, and the first film in the Planes trilogy. Pixar Animation Studios, however, will not be producing the film. Instead, it will be produced by DisneyToon Studios. It will be theatrically released on August 9, 2013.

Plot
From the Cars Official Website: "From high above the world of "Cars," flies "Planes," Disney's upcoming animated action-packed comedic adventure starring Dusty, a big-hearted, fast-flying crop duster who dreams of competing in the most exhilarating around-the-world air race in history. There's only a couple of not-so-small problems - Dusty is not exactly built for racing and he also happens to be afraid of heights.

Despite his fear and with encouragement from his mentor, a naval aviator named Skipper, Dusty narrowly qualifies for the big competition. Dusty's sportsmanship and speed begin to rattle the defending champ of the race circuit, Ripslinger, who will stop at nothing to see Dusty fail.

When disaster strikes during the climax of the final race, Dusty's courage is put to the ultimate test. With the support of friends old and new, Dusty reaches heights he never dreamed possible and in the process, gives a spellbound world the inspiration to soar."

Voice cast

 * Dane Cook: Dusty Crophopper. Jon Cryer was originally cast, but dropped out.
 * Stacy Keach: Skipper
 * Brad Garrett: Chug
 * Carlos Alazraqui: El Chupacabra
 * Roger Craig Smith: TBA
 * Grey DeLisle: TBA
 * Rob Paulsen: TBA
 * TBA: Ripslinger

Production
Although Pixar isn't producing the film, John Lasseter will be one of the producers.

Lasseter had this to say about the film: "We had such a great time exploring the world of Cars over the course of two films, so it seemed only natural for us to see where our imaginations would take us in a film where planes were the main characters. By expanding the Cars world, Planes gave us a whole new set of fun-filled situations and a great opportunity to introduce some fantastic new characters. The team at DisneyToon Studios has done such an amazing job creating a heartfelt story filled with great comedy, adventure, and emotion.  I know audiences are going to love taking off into the wild blue yonder with these daredevil characters, as they experience a whole new kind of animated adventure."

On August 20, 2011 at the D23 Expo it was announced that Jon Cryer will be the voice of the main protagonist Dusty. However, Cryer dropped out of production and was replaced by Dane Cook. On February 27, 2013, the teaser trailer was re-released with dialogue from Cook instead of Cryer.

James Seymour Brett is set to write the film's score.

DisneyToon is also working on a sequel, called Planes 2: Fire and Rescue. It has been confirmed by Carlos Alazraqui the Planes series will be a trilogy.

Besides the Planes series, DisneyToon is considering to make more spin-offs that would feature other vehicles like boats and trains, and which may go into production if Planes is well received. John Lasseter said: "I kept thinking about—I’m a big train fanatic. I love trains. And I started thinking about trains, and boats and airplanes. And I kept wanting to have more and more of those type of characters. [...] It’s one of the ideas, that there will be an ongoing series. It almost starts getting into this thing where we fall in love with these plane characters, we want to see more and more stories with them. And then you start doing other vehicles and stuff like that. Yeah. So it kind of is a bigger idea that can keep expanding."

Release
The film was first announced to be released in direct-to-video on DVD and Blu-ray in the Spring of 2013. Disney subsequently pushed it back to Fall 2013, while it was confirmed it would have a theatrical release in Europe. It was finally set to be released theatrically on August 9, 2013. It will be released in the United Kingdom on August 16, 2013.

Marketing
To create a transition between Cars and Planes, Disney launched a product collection called "Cars Take Flight", which focuses on releasing merchandise for Cars Toons episodes Moon Mater and Air Mater. The line features die-cast, race tracks, games and books. A "Cars Take Flight" event was held on September 14th, 2012 at the Chicagoland Speedway. A "Cars Take Flight" official website launched a contest whose prize was a vacation to Cars Land.

Trivia

 * The Cars Toons episode Air Mater introduced elements of Planes, including Propwash Junction, Dusty's hometown, and Skipper, his mentor. Mater drops an allusion to Planes at the end of the short as he says that "They oughta make a whole movie about planes".