Planes (film)

Planes is a 2013 American animated sports comedy film produced by Disneytoon Studios, directed by Klay Hall, and written by Jeffrey M. Howard. It is a spin-off of Pixar's Cars franchise. The film stars the voices of Dane Cook, Stacy Keach, Priyanka Chopra, Brad Garrett, Teri Hatcher, Danny Mann, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Roger Craig Smith, John Cleese, Carlos Alazraqui, Sinbad, Val Kilmer, and Anthony Edwards. In the film, Dusty Crophopper, a crop duster plane in the town of Propwash Junction, wants to complete the Wings Around the Globe racing challenge, despite his fear of heights, with the help of naval aviator Skipper Riley.

In developing a concept created by John Lasseter, the writers made a conscious effort to avoid remaking Cars in a new setting, while reusing Keach and Mann's characters from the Cars Toons short "Air Mater". The production team conducted research by interviewing several pilots of plane types that were included in the movie. Jon Cryer was initially announced as the voice of Dusty, before being replaced by Cook. Despite dropping out, Cryer received credit on the film for "additional story material". The musical score was composed by Mark Mancina, while Prana Studios provided work on visual effects, animation and compositing.

Planes premiered on August 2, 2013, at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, a gathering of aviation enthusiasts. It was initially intended to be released as a direct-to-video film, but was instead theatrically released on August 9, 2013. The film received mixed reviews from critics, and grossed $240 million on a $50 million budget. A sequel, Planes: Fire & Rescue, was released in 2014.