Details Surrounding the Upcoming Short 'Radiator Springs 500-and-a-Half'

Today thanks to Entertainment Weekly (and the keen eye of our reader, Rachel), we have more details from the Spring release of Pixar's newest short, Radiator Springs 500½. Along with the release, the EW article also points out that RS500½ will also kick off a new series of shorts called, "Tales From Radiator Springs". (The second film in the series will be called To Protect and Serve which we discussed a few weeks ago and appears to now be slated for a 2015 release instead of fall of 2014.)

The official synopsis from Disney Insider for the six minute short is -

A “leisurely drive” planned in honor of Radiator Springs’ town founder, Stanley, turns precarious as Baja pros descend on the town and challenge Lightning McQueen to an off-road race. Meanwhile, the townsfolk, led by a Stanley-costumed Mater, enjoy the planned “leisurely drive” to retrace Stanley’s original frontier route. Thinking they’re on the same course, a wrong turn sends McQueen and the Baja pros on a treacherously wild bid for survival. The misunderstanding leaves the racing professionals in awe of the “legend” of Stanley: the Original Off-Road Racer.

In the article, Gibbs also fills us in on some background and inspiration surrounding the vehicles that we'll see in the short.

Gibbs, (Scott) Morse, and the Pixar team had a lot of fun with the new characters, who were inspired by the racers who compete in Mexico’s famous Baja 1000 race. “They have all these different classes for that race, so we tried to pick the most interesting cars,” says Gibbs. “So there’s four of them: a Baja Bug, a Class-1 dune buggy, a Meyers Manx dune buggy, and a trophy truck, the big money ones, you know, with huge suspension and huge wheels.”

So, although an official release date has yet to be announced, we do know that the short will not premiere on the Disney Channel as was discussed at the 2013 D23 Expo, but will instead premiere as part of Disney's new app "Disney Movies Anywhere". The new app, as highlighted in the video embedded below was originally thought to only be a portal to stream digital copies of your Disney/Pixar/Marvel movies - but with the announcement that RS500½ will premiere in the app, it seems that Disney may have more ways to utilize the app in the future.


If you don't already have the Disney Movies Anywhere app yet, be sure to download it now and login (Free) before the short is released - we'll be sure to let our readers know what the official release date is once it's announced.



As a side note I seriously can't wait until this die cast series hits stores - and like I said before, I hope they have rubber tires!

Chat about your thoughts on the upcoming short in the comments below or on the Pixar Post Forum topic dedicated to RS500½.

Related Posts:
- Radiator Springs 500 ½ announced at the 2013 D23 Expo
- Three Cars Toons - Shorty Shorts aired in March of 2013
- Is Cars 3 in the works?

Pixar Post - T.J.