Pixar movies have a history of being massive commercial success stories. They seem to mint money, and CARS 2 was no different. The sequel to CARS pulled in $551 million in global box office receipts and vast riches await thanks to a DVD release date that coincides with the beginning of the holiday shopping season. Oh, and did we mention that the CARS franchise has already produced $2 billion in merchandise?

Is all that monetary success cause for celebration? We're thinking yes, but at the same time, Pixar has received a great deal of flack for CARS 2. We thought it was a fun movie, but plenty of critics and naysayers feel otherwise.

The New York Times sat down with director John Lasseter, who is also a founding member of Pixar, to talk about some of the controversy surrounding the movie. Lasseter appears mostly unaffected by the criticism, and he denies that parent Disney forced Pixar to make CARS 2 to maximize profits. Lasseter goes on to call CARS 2 "a very, very special film to me," and adds that he makes movies for kids who love the characters so much that he wants to "pack his clothes in a Lightning McQueen suitcase."

Head over to NYT to read the entire interview for yourself.Pixar's John Lasseter defends CARS 2 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.


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