It's official: "Cars" kicks bumper

I was going to crab about the Democrats' spineless (lack of) support for Senator Feingold's censure movement -- "Never mind that a majority of Americans support censuring the President, we're too chickensh*t to take a stand!" -- but that would just get me depressed.

So, instead, I'll go to my Happy Pixar Place™ and note that a packed audience of theater owners at the ShoWest trade show have declared "Cars" the summer blockbuster movie that everyone else will have to beat:

"I thought it was a great movie," said Kevin MacLeod, executive vice president of Empire Co Ltd's Empire Theatres, a Nova Scotia-based chain with 380 screens. MacLeod said he believed the film would have the same broad appeal as Pixar's biggest hit "Finding Nemo".

Theater owners have a vested interest in the success of the movie, since their business is selling movie tickets, but Sanders Morris Harris financial analyst David Miller was in the audience and called it "outstanding."

"If there is any film you know is going to be a hit, it's this one," he said on Wednesday.

Another attendee, who asked not to be named, described the film's race-car-themed story line and folksy soundtrack, featuring songs by Sheryl Crow and Brad Paisley, as "the perfect antidote to (gay cowboy movie) 'Brokeback Mountain'" for more conservative red-state audiences.

Mark Walukevich, vice president of international films for National Amusements, which operates 1,425 screens in the United States, Britain, Latin America and Russia, said "Cars" was "fantastic."

"On a scale of one to 10, it was an 11," he said. "The digital presentation was excellent, the sound track was great. I think internationally it will be a huge hit."

...not that I'm surprised or anything -- as I've long maintained, expecting John Lasseter and the folks at Pixar to produce a dud is right up there with the likelyhood of Paris Hilton joining a nunnery.

And for extra eye candy, Ain't It Cool News has the "Cars" one-sheet movie poster. Time to play "name that character," kids!