"Cars" Turns Twenty

It’s hard to believe that “Cars,” the first movie of the film franchise of the same name, premiered 20 years ago on June 9, 2006.

“Cars” follows an arrogant rookie racecar named Lightning McQueen. McQueen ended a race in a three-way tie with rivals Chick Hicks and Strip “the King” Weathers at the Piston Cup Championship. On his way to a tiebreaker race in California, McQueen accidentally becomes separated from his crew and ends up getting lost in a small town called Radiator Springs. During this, McQueen unknowingly damages the small town.

To pay for his blunder, the mayor of Radiator Springs, Doc Hudson, sentences McQueen to community service and orders the racer to repave the main road that was destroyed. After serving his community service, McQueen is found by the press and rushed off to the California race. At the end of the race, McQueen gives up his chance of winning the Piston cup to help an injured Strip Weathers finish his last race before he retires. Throughout the movie, Lightning McQueen goes from being an arrogant racecar to an empathetic, caring and wholehearted racer.

After “Cars” was released, it opened as number one at the domestic box office with approximately $60.1 million in earnings on its opening weekend. After its premiere, the film grossed about $244 million domestically and $462 million worldwide, making the movie the sixth highest grossing film of 2006. It was released for home media on Nov. 7, 2006. Throughout the first five years after it premiered, “Cars” received two Academy Award nominations for Best Animated Feature. The movie won the Golden Globe award for Best Animated Feature Film. The film also made over $10 billion in retail merchandise sales. 

Over the past 20 years, “Cars” has popularized a lot of core lifestyle lessons, such as valuing true friendships over fame and learning how to slow down and enjoy the time that we have with one another. The film also shows the value of mentoring others through hard times and good times. These lessons were shown through Lightning McQueen’s journey of being an arrogant racecar in the beginning of the movie to becoming a heartfelt and caring community member of Radiator Springs.