If you have been to your local Disney Store, Target, Wal-Mart or what have you... Surely you have seen that Disney and Pixar have flooded CARS 2 merchandise on every free shelf and empty corner. So, naturally a lot of people have met the impending release of CARS 2 with a hefty amount of cynicism. They argue that the film is obviously just a money grab. The original CARS was the least financially successful Pixar film to date, yet the shear amount of CARS merchandise sold to young boys was astronomical. So, yeah. When Disney greenlit CARS 2 it was most certainly with an eye towards the financial gains to be made from merchandise sales.
However, CARS 2 is a Pixar film, which instantly demands a certain amount of respect. Because one must consider that Pixar has never made a bad sequel, let alone a bad film. However, the new CARS spin off, PLANES, has little to defend itself with. It doesn't have the good fortune of being backed by the Pixar name, and the "direct to video" nature of the release immediately lumps PLANES with films like Cinderella 3 and Pocahontas 2. This IS an obvious cash grab and does look and feel like a direct to home video toy commercial.
Yet Disney has become a more savvy home video distributor of late. In fact Disney has proved that they can build a solid direct to video, spin off series with the Tinker Bell movies. So, a certain amount of apprehension with a project like PLANES is to be expected... But only time will tell if Disney can really get PLANES to take off.
PLANES is set for a Spring 2013 home video release.
-Admiral Duke
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