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REVIEW: 'Cars' is a bumper crop of fun, charm

WEBCAST: From the red carpet to your computer

PHOTOS: Paul Newman

VIDEO: Raw interview with Paul Newman

VIDEO: Time lapse of premiere set-up

VIDEO: Watch the trailer

BLOG: NASCAR, Newman, Humpy and Hollywood

The World Premiere of Disney/Pixar's "CARS" kicks off the legendary Memorial Day weekend-long Coca Cola 600 and will welcome over 30,000 guests including NASCAR drivers and their families, filmmakers, voice talent, celebrities, VIP guests and racing fans.

The "CARS" Premiere is a sold-out event. Proceeds from the event, which is sponsored by Kodak, will benefit Speedway Children's Charities, and Association of Hole in the Wall Camps.

The red carpet is 500 feet long and will spotlight character cars from the film - Lightning McQueen, Sally and Mater - as well as a real Hudson Hornet race car.

There will also be two CARS themed NASCAR racecars on the red carpet. One sponsored by DLP and one sponsored by Valvoline.

The premiere screening will be preceded by the CARS World Premiere Shootout - a 15 lap race which will include NASCAR legend (and the voice of "Darrell Cartip" in CARS) Darrell Waltrip.

This is the first-ever synchronized multi-screen outdoor digital projection. State-of-the-art DLP CinemaŽ projectors from Barco, Christie, and NEC are being used. Three 2K digital cinema projectors are being used per screen. Over 60,000 ANSI (American National Standards Institute) lumens of brightness will be projected on each screen.

Altogether, the twelve digital projectors (using Texas Instruments DLP CinemaŽ technology) will deliver an incredible 240,000 combined lumens and 35 trillion colors to light up the four screens. This represents the largest square footage delivery of a movie ever.

Four giant screens - each measuring 130' x 75' - are being constructed for the premiere. That's enough screen material to make more than 38 standard movie theatre screens. The amount of truss needed to build the screens exceeded all domestic supplies, and additional materials had to be shipped in from as far away as Belgium.

The Premiere will offer full digital sound and a 300,000 watt surround sound.

Preparation for the Premiere required nine days to install over 4,000 feet of steel rigging for the screens and staging, over six miles of audio-visual cable, and 11 miles of fiber optics.

More than 50 trucks were used to transport equipment to Charlotte for the "CARS" Premiere.

Media crews from around the world will cover the event from the red carpet.

The Goodyear Blimp will provide aerial coverage at the Premiere featuring the temporary "LIGHTYEAR" decal, as it appears in the movie.

Disney and Pixar are dedicated to using their unique magic to brightening the lives of children. That's why this week Disney and Pixar characters, Disney VoluntEARS and Radio Disney are throwing parties for hospitalized children across the state and greeted the more than 1,000 guests at the annual Victory Celebration at the Victory Junction Gang Camp on Monday. Victory Junction was founded by Kyle and Pattie Petty in memory of their son Adam (Richard Petty is Adam's grandfather). Children and camp counselors from the Victory Junction Gang Camp will be our special guests for the CARS premiere. Disney and Pixar's week of making a difference in North Carolina will culminate with The Walt Disney Company Foundation's donation of $500,000 to Paul Newman's "Association of Hole in the Wall Camps" and $500,000 to Bruton Smith for "Speedway Children's Charities." This million dollars will help each charity continue to fulfill its mission and bring smiles to children when they need it most.