Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Cars 2 arrived in 2011 as Pixar's tenth feature, a sequel that pivoted the franchise from small town nostalgia toward globe trotting espionage. Released by Walt Disney Pictures, it sent Lightning McQueen and Mater abroad into a spy plot involving international racing circuits and a hunt for alternative fuel sabotage. The film split critics and fans, becoming the studio's most divisive entry, yet it remains a fixture of the Cars line and a key chapter in how Pixar expanded its world beyond the original film's quiet desert highway setting.
This cell is identified simply as Professor Z, the film's central antagonist and chief architect of the sabotage plot that pulls Mater into international intrigue. As a villain figure in a Pixar production, he draws interest from collectors who favor the darker, more mechanical side of the Cars universe over its heroes. A cell bearing his name likely comes from a sequence built around his scheming presence, whether in a story panel, a promotional frame, or a moment tied directly to the character's function in the plot. For archivists of Cars 2 material, Professor Z pieces mark the film's uncommon detour into genre territory.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Cars 2 (2011).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge, evenly spaced; punched holes appear clean and regularly shaped with no visible tearing.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible along one edge, and a band consistent with Dolby Digital data blocks appears in the inter-perforation gaps on the same edge; a cyan-coloured stripe consistent with a DTS timecode track is also visible.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to quote characters.
Base & colour
Base carries a light cyan tint consistent with a dye-transfer or colour-print stock; the dye image reads as neutral with no visible colour shift or fading.
Projection history
No scratches, splice marks or cue marks are visible in this capture.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot, and the subject matter is consistent with an animated feature matching the film on record.
Era check
The combination of variable-area optical track, Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks, DTS timecode stripe, and cyan-tinted base is consistent with a theatrical release print from the early 2010s, matching the 2011 release date on record.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000063488
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
