"Cars" Garaged Until 2006

Pixar fans eagerly anticipating Cars, the studio's next release, had better buckle up--it's going to be a long (and possibly bumpy) ride.

Disney and Pixar announced plans on Tuesday to delay the film's release from November 2005 until June 2006, citing a desire to release Cars at a time when kids are out of school and presumably have more time to go take in a movie.

The automotive-themed animated flick marks the final collaboration between the two studios. By all accounts, it's been a highly successful run, racking up six monster hits and $1.4 billion in box-office receipts.

However, insider gossips have revealed their fears that Cars is the movie that could blemish Pixar's previously flawless track record.

"It pains me to say it, but this is the weakest Pixar script ever," a Pixar source tells E! Online. "The animation, while brilliant, is simply at the service of a sub-par story, and it's too late to fix it. The flaws are rooted in the structure."

Fervent Internet discussions on the topic have raised the speculation that circling the block on the film's release date was simply a strategy designed to give Pixar the time to retool a potential stinker.

On the other hand, execs from both Disney and Pixar insisted that changing the release date made sense from a tactical perspective.

"The move from November 2005 to June 2006 makes perfect sense. Cars is the quintessential summer film for audiences of all ages," Dick Cook, chairman of The Walt Disney Group, said in a statement. "It has a fantastic story full of action, adventure, comedy, heartfelt emotion with cutting-edge animation and incredible voice talent."

But apparently, not everyone was convinced by the so-called "fantastic story" or "cutting-edge animation" supposedly put forth by the film.

Audiences were somewhat underwhelmed by the Cars trailer, which was released in theaters and online last month, further fueling fears of a Pixar bomb.

Participants in a Mac community discussion forum panned the trailer for "looking more like DreamWorks than Pixar."

"The first thing that bugged me was the bee disappearing from the truck's windshield when the gag was over...very un-Pixar-like," posited a user by the name of jettredmont.

"The second thing that bugged me was that I already saw this anthropocentric car styling...in a Chevron commercial. The third thing that bugged me was that there were no people in the teaser...even the pit crew was replaced by cars, albeit smaller ones...so, is this to be the first Pixar production which doesn't even have a minor finger-on-the-ledge hold to the 'real world'? That's more DreamWorks' style, IMHO."

Ouch.

Less nerdy amateur critics simply dissed the trailer for being boring and unimpressive compared to current Pixar release, The Incredibles, which has already netted $226 million after five weeks in theaters.

The pushed-back release date means an 18-month gap for Pixar without a film in theaters. The studio currently has an as yet untitled film in the works that will now not be released until 2007.

However, the move gives Pixar more time to negotiate a new distribution deal with another studio.

Likely contenders include Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox, while chances of a Disney-Pixar reconciliation seemed less likely after last month, when Disney announced its plans to go forward with Toy Story 3 without Pixar's cooperation.