Planes

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
 * John Cleese: Bulldog
 * Roger Craig Smith: Ripslinger
 * Priyanka Chopra: Ishani
 * Cedric the Entertainer: Leadbottom
 * Teri Hatcher: Dottie
 * Gabriel Iglesias: Ned and Zed
 * TBA: LJH 86 Special
 * Sinbad: Roper
 * Colin Cowherd: Colin Cowling
 * Julia Louis-Dreyfus: Rochelle
 * Anthony Edwards: Echo
 * Val Kilmer: Bravo
 * Oliver Kalkofe : Franz
 * Brent Musburger : Brent Mustangburger
 * John Ratzenberger: A pitty
 * Emerson Hatcher: A reporter pitty
 * David Croft: Lofty Crofty
 * Grey DeLisle: TBA
 * Rob Paulsen: TBA

Dusty
(voice of Dane Cook) Dusty is a plane with high hopes—literally. Crop duster by trade, this single-prop plane sees himself soaring alongside his high-flying heroes in an international race. The fact that he’s not really built for competitive racing doesn’t deter him from pursuing his dream—but his fear of heights just might. With a little help from his friends—and a WWII vet with wisdom to spare—Dusty takes off on an adventure of a lifetime, going prop-to-prop with champions while daring to reach heights he never imagined possible.

Skipper Riley
(voice of Stacy Keach) A reclusive old Navy Corsair, Skipper was an ace flier and top instructor of the esteemed Jolly Wrenches squadron until an incident during a combat mission took him off the front lines and left him grounded for life. These days, Skipper keeps to himself, but his quiet existence is turned upside down when an ambitious and persistent Dusty solicits Skipper’s aerial expertise—and gets a few life lessons in the process. But Skipper—who’s never really come to terms with his past—finds that he has a few things to learn, too, and while coaching Dusty to fly faster and smarter, the teacher becomes the student.

Ripslinger
(voice of Roger Craig Smith) With more wins than he can count and an abundance of fans, Ripslinger is wings-down the biggest name in air racing—and he knows it. But despite sky’s-the-limit funding and state-of-the-art equipment, the world champion still doesn’t play fair—especially when it comes to a small-town plane with zero racing experience. Dusty doesn’t belong in Ripslinger’s sport and his mere presence makes the pro’s fuel boil. And if Dusty’s inexperience doesn’t take him out of the race, Ripslinger’s vast empire includes a couple of underhanded sidekicks to take care of business.

El Chupacabra
(voice of Carlos Alazraqui) The intensely charming El Chupacabra is a legend in Mexico (just ask him). Powered by his passion for racing (not to mention the elusive Rochelle), this caped Casanova is anything but low-key—his booming voice and charismatic presence are as big as his oversized engine. His cohorts aren’t really sure what is truth and what is delusion when it comes to El Chu, but one thing is beyond doubt: he races with a whole lot of heart and more dramatic flair than is recommended at high altitudes.

Rochelle
(voice of Julia Louis-Dreyfus) Rochelle is a tough racer and the pride of the Great White North. Always confident and capable, she got her start running mail to small towns in Quebec, picking up home remedies for mechanical maladies along the way. She also developed a knack for fast travel that ultimately inspired her to give air racing a try. Rochelle never looked back (this competitive contender doesn’t need to). She is relentlessly pursued by charmer El Chupacabra, but steadfast Rochelle is much too focused on winning the race to return his affections.

Bulldog
(voice of John Cleese) Bulldog has been racing longer than every other racer on the circuit. As the oldest and arguably wisest, he remembers a time before GPS, when real racers trusted their gyros and navigated by the stars. When it comes to racing, it boils down to two qualities, says Bulldog: good flying and sportsmanship. Period. While the competition secretly wonders if the aging plane is past his prime, he flies his way onto the leader board again and again, proving that this Bulldog has lost none of his bite.

Ishani
(voice of Priyanka Chopra) The reigning Pan-Asian champion from India, Ishani is easy on the eyes, but ruthless in the skies. Thanks to her high-speed competitiveness and notable talent, she has amassed more than a billion loyal fans—including one rookie racer who turns to her for guidance. Exotic and mysterious, Ishani is full of surprises, but always has her eye on the prize.

Ned & Zed
(voice of Gabriel Iglesias) Team Ripslinger’s bombastic racers Ned and Zed specialize in sabotage. Lacking the skills to actually outrace the competition, they simply eliminate it, propelling boss Ripslinger to victory every single time. Zed, a rowdy and reckless flier, and Ned, a strange bird himself, may not be the sharpest props in the hangar, but they have figured out how to draft off Ripslinger’s fame.

Leadbottom
(voice of Cedric the Entertainer) Leadbottom is a puttering old biplane and a grumbling taskmaster, a real “tank-half-empty” kind of guy. As the proprietor of Vitaminamulch, a special—albeit putrid—blend of vitamins, minerals, and mulch that works miracles when sprayed on crops, Leadbottom has no time for Dusty’s far-fetched flights of fancy. There are too many crops to spray and not enough hours in the day to spray them. For Leadbottom, it’s work first, then … well, more work.

Dottie
(voice of Teri Hatcher) Dottie is a forklift who co-owns and operates Chug and Dottie’s Fill ’n Fly service station. As Dusty’s practical and say-it-like-it-is friend—not to mention his ace mechanic—Dottie hopes to keep his high-flying hopes grounded in reality: Dusty isn’t built to race and chasing his dream is downright dangerous. No matter what he decides, however, Dottie will always have his back.

Chug
(voice of Brad Garrett) Fuel truck Chug is a guy’s guy. He works hard as co-owner of Chug and Dottie’s Fill ’n Fly service station—and plays hard indulging in his own fuel from time to time. He has a big personality and is a bold supporter of Dusty’s high-flying endeavors. Indeed, he’s not only Dusty’s buddy, he’s his coach and biggest fan. And if Chug can’t help Dusty reach new heights, he’ll find someone who can.

Bravo & Echo
(voices of Val Kilmer & Anthony Edwards) Armed with stellar instincts, incredible aerial abilities and outstanding service records, Bravo and Echo are two of the Jolly Wrenches’ top troops. These fighter jets happen to be avid air racing fans, too, with a special affinity for Dusty, who’s adopted their Jolly Wrenches insignia. And as far as the racers are concerned, it doesn’t hurt to have a couple soldiers nearby should any plane falter under the immense pressure of the world’s most rigorous rally.

Roper
(voice of Sinbad) This irascible race official pitty delivers the rules for the North American Wings Around the Globe time trials with a matter-a-fact personality and a wry sense of humor. In fact, Roper never misses an opportunity to offer his own take on the events that unfold. With sly remarks and colorful commentary, Roper is funny but firm in his dealings with the race and the racers.

Colin Cowling
(voice of Colin Cowherd) Affable blimp Colin Cowling attended the prestigious Zeppelin Broadcasting School and began his career as the play-by-play voice for the Pacific Coast Balloon Races. He got his big break—so to speak—when his Eye-In-The-Sky-In-Sports weekly recap show was noticed by producers of Racing Sports Network (RSN).

LJS 86 Special
(voice unknown) He is supposedly one of the planes competing at the Wings Around the Globe rally.

Brent Mustangberger
See here.

Unnamed Stealth Bomber
(voice unknown) Little is known about this stealth bomber (apparantly modelled after a Northrop-Grunman B-2), although he is supposed to appear during the scene where Dusty joins the Navy.

Yorkie
(voice unknown) An aircraft carrier who shows up during Dusty's time serving the Navy, where he is supposedly the home base for fighter jets like Echo and Bravo. (Note: a similar aircraft carrier, who may or may not be him, shows up near the end of Moon Mater, when Lightning McQueen splashes down into the Atlantic Ocean during reentry after Mater rescues Impala XIII from being trapped inside a crater on the Moon).

Unnamed Train
(voice unknown) Little is known about this train character aside from the fact that he supposedly works at the railway lines strewn across the Himalayas. He appears to be an old green British-based steam locomotive designed to run on Asian railways.

Unnamed Fire Truck
(voice unknown) Little is known about this fire truck aside from the fact that his job is to keep Propwash Junction safe in case of an emergency.

WWII Fighter Planes
Most likely Skipper's comrades back when he was still serving the navy.

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. A new promo video was released on May 16, 2013.

James Seymour Brett was originally set to write the film's score, but has been replaced by Mark Mancina.

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. Instead of publishing an Art of book for the first film, Chronicle Books will publish The Art of Planes 1 & 2 to coincide with the release of the sequel.

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. The film will have its premiere on August 2, 2013, at a special screening at the The Fly-In Theater at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, an annual gathering of aviation enthusiasts in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

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.

Video Game
It has been announced that there will be a Planes: The Video Game, which will be released on August 6th, 2013. It will only be released on the Wii, Wii U, DS and 3DS.

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".
 * Planes takes on some of Pixar's traditions. Like both of the installments of the Cars franchise, it features reporters of the Racing Sports Network covering its sportive event. It also includes a cameo of John Ratzenberger, who has had a voicing role in all of Pixar films.
 * It's currently unknown whether or not if any aircraft from Cars (Rotor Turbosky, Al Oft, Kathy Copter, Ron Hover, Barney Stormin, Marco, Stu Bop, unnamed third and fourth fighter jets, Everett, Siddeley, Samairai Jet, Orange G Jet, Falcon Hawks, Judge Davis, Props McGee, Propwash Junction Biplane, "birds", etc) and/or characters from Cars (Lightning McQueen, Mater, etc.) will make a cameo appearance in this film.
 * In the book "Cars Storytellers", the Statue of Liberty is a Ford Model T, but in this film, it's a forklift.