Cars - Box Office Analysis

Cars
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The latest movie to fall under our Summer movie spotlight is Cars, which is a Pixar movie. That means it's going to make a whole bunch of money.

What? You want to know more? Okay.

Pixar

As a Pixar film there's a lot of pressure on Cars to perform. It's the animation house's seventh movie, and they've never had a bomb. In fact, the biggest disappointment for the studio in the 10 years since Toy Story, its first movie, was the fact that The Incredibles broke the company's streak of constant growth in worldwide grosses.

Think of that for a second. A movie that made $632 million is considered a disappointment. That's how massive expectations for Pixar have grown since Toy Story started the digital animation phenomenon, a genre that they dominate to this day.

- Story continues below

Digital Animation

That's not to say other studios that have entered the Digitally Animated field have done poorly, but none have produced a constant stream of high quality, box office hits like Pixar has.

Top Grossing Digitally Animated Movies 1995 - 2006, Adjusted for Ticket Price Inflation

	Movie	Distributor	Release Date	Total Gross	Inflation-Adjusted Gross
1	Shrek 2	Dreamworks SKG	5/19/2004	$436,721,703	$450,062,074
2	Finding Nemo	Buena Vista	5/30/2003	$339,714,978	$361,123,221
3	Toy Story 2	Buena Vista	11/19/1999	$245,823,397	$308,541,164
4	Shrek	Dreamworks SKG	5/18/2001	$267,652,016	$303,654,764
5	Monsters, Inc.	Buena Vista	11/2/2001	$255,870,172	$289,958,555
6	Toy Story	Buena Vista	11/22/1995	$191,796,233	$281,900,531
7	The Incredibles	Buena Vista	11/5/2004	$261,437,578	$269,124,850
8	A Bug's Life	Buena Vista	11/20/1998	$162,798,565	$219,866,731
9	Ice Age	20th Century Fox	3/15/2002	$176,387,405	$194,938,497
10	Madagascar	Dreamworks SKG	5/27/2005	$193,166,575	$193,166,574
11	Ice Age: The Meltdown	20th Century Fox	3/31/2006	$189,708,822	$189,708,822
12	The Polar Express	Warner Bros.	11/10/2004	$172,796,043	$177,534,206
13	Shark Tale	Dreamworks SKG	10/1/2004	$161,412,000	$166,322,738
14	Dinosaur	Buena Vista	5/19/2000	$137,748,063	$163,815,415
15	Chicken Little	Buena Vista	11/4/2005	$135,386,665	$135,386,661
16	Robots	20th Century Fox	3/11/2005	$128,200,012	$128,200,013
17	Antz	Dreamworks SKG	10/2/1998	$90,757,863	$123,887,942
18	Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius	Paramount Pictures	12/21/2001	$80,920,948	$91,260,683
19	Over the Hedge	Dreamworks SKG	5/19/2006	$85,300,000	$85,299,998
20	Hoodwinked	Weinstein Co.	12/16/2005	$51,224,985	$51,224,983

One quick look at the chart makes it clear that Dreamworks is the only studio that is a constant challenge to Pixar's dominance, while Fox is starting to gain a foothold. The other studios are well behind both in terms of box office and quality.

When it comes to animated movies the stars are not really a factor. Well, let me elaborate, when it comes to animated movies, big named stars are not really a factor. Just because an actor is a big name, or even a big talent, doesn't mean they can do voice work well. Take Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas for example; it's loaded with big name talent, but more than one critic complained that Brad Pitt and the others don't have what it takes to do compelling voice work. Part for that reason, the movie bombed at the box office.

As for Cars, I don't see any stunt casting taking place, which is hardly surprising since Pixar is not known for that practice. On the other hand, I also don't see a lot of people here that are real veterans of voice work. Sure, George Carlin, Bonnie Hunt, and others have done voice work before, but all of the main cast are known for work other than voice acting. But at least they are sticking with their good luck charm and bringing John Ratzenberger back.

John Ratzenberger's Movie Appearances

Released	Movie Name	Role	1st weekend	US Gross	Worldwide Gross
6/9/2006	Cars	Mack		Confirmed
2/3/2006	Something New		$4,879,736	$11,425,894	$11,425,894
11/5/2004	The Incredibles	Underminer	$70,467,623	$261,437,578	$632,437,578
5/30/2003	Finding Nemo	Fish School	$70,251,710	$339,714,978	$864,614,978
11/2/2001	Monsters, Inc.	Yeti	$62,577,067	$255,870,172	$523,100,000
11/19/1999	Toy Story 2	Hamm the Piggy Bank	$300,163	$245,823,397	$485,800,000
11/20/1998	A Bug's Life	P.T. Flea	$291,121	$162,798,565	$358,000,000
11/14/1997	One Night Stand	Phil	$978,819	$2,642,718	$2,642,718
2/14/1997	That Darn Cat	Dusty, the mechanic at car factory	$6,424,617	$18,301,828	$18,301,828
11/22/1995	Toy Story	Hamm the Piggy Bank	$29,140,617	$191,796,233	$356,800,000
2/5/1988	She's Having a Baby	Cameo appearance	$3,827,520	$16,031,707	$16,031,707
8/28/1987	House II: The Second Story	Bill	$2,573,934	$7,800,000	$7,800,000
12/21/1984	Protocol	Security Guard on TV	$3,427,840	$26,300,000	$26,300,000
12/8/1982	Gandhi	American Lieutenant	$131,153	$52,767,889	$52,767,889
6/18/1982	Firefox	Chief Peck	$8,152,948	$45,785,720	$45,785,720
11/20/1981	Ragtime	Fireman	$151,351	$17,468,158	$17,468,158
6/19/1981	Superman II	Controller	$14,100,523	$108,185,706	$108,185,706
5/22/1981	Outland	Tarlow	$3,059,638	$20,000,000	$20,000,000
5/21/1980	The Empire Strikes Back	Major Bren Derlin	$4,910,483	$290,271,960	$534,200,000
1/1/1979	Hanover Street	Sergeant John Lucas		$3,000,000	$3,000,000
12/15/1978	Superman	1st Controller	$7,465,343	$134,218,018	$300,200,000
6/15/1977	A Bridge Too Far	U.S. Lieutenant		$50,800,000	$50,800,000
		Total Grosses		$2,262,440,521	$4,435,662,176
		Average Gross		$107,735,263
	Average Opening Weekend		$15,426,958

Ratzenberger is best known for playing Cliff Clavin on the long-running sitcom Cheers. However, even before that show first aired, he played small parts in some of the biggest movies in the 1970s and 1980s. For instance, he was Major Bren Derlin in The Empire Strikes Back and played a controller in both Superman and Superman II. His live action work has been limited since Cheers, as he is simply too well known for casting directors to consider him for most parts. (His short role in House II: The Second Story, while very funny, was basically the same character as Cliff Clavin.) His career was reinvigorated thanks to Pixar and key roles in Toy Story and A Bug's Life. He has since become the unofficial good luck charm for Pixar and has made guest appearances in every movie they've made. This has lifted his total career box office to amazing heights, with a total of $2.26 billion so far, placing him 17th on the All Time Chart. And to think, the character of Cliff wasn't even supposed to be in Cheers: he made him up on the spot after he failed to get the part of Norm.