If nothing else, the first Cars 3 teaser promised a bold, drastic change in tone for the upcoming Pixar sequel. Whether or not it’ll live up to those expectations remains to be seen, but Disney is certainly taking some risks with this third installment. And we’ll see if they take some more next week, when they release the second trailer on January 9 at 8pm EST during the 2017 college football playoff national championship on ESPN, which — of course — is also owned by Disney.
To celebrate and announce its impending release, a recording of a recent promo confirming the new trailer has now begun racing around the Internet, if in grainy quality. It doesn’t reveal much other than the date, but if you’re as curious as I am to see where this new movie goes, be sure to stay tuned for more.
Cars 3 is directed by Brian Fee, a storyboard artist for Cars 1 and 2, and follows Lighting McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) as he struggles to get back into racing after a mid-race crash (as seen in the dramatic first trailer) reminds him that he’s not the same hot-shot racer he once was.
We’ll have to wait and see if Mater (voiced by Larry the Cable Guy) will continue playing an active role in the series or if he’ll finally be put to the side after his contested spinoff, which arrived in the form of Cars 2, the first Pixar movie to earn a rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s hard to tell how this upcoming threequel will fare, but it’s already looking a lot more refreshing and exciting and we hope that our thoughts remain the same after the new Cars 3 trailer races online next week.
