Racing superstar Lightning McQueen and his bumbling pick-up truck pal Mater are back on the road in "Cars 2," zooming into theaters on June 24. The Pixar sequel sees your favorite automobiles speeding overseas to compete in the World Grand Prix race, but things get complicated when Mater finds himself mistakenly caught up in a game of international espionage.

But you know Mater — for all his upsides, the guy's parts aren't fine-tuned enough to make him an even halfway decent spy. Heck, the poor truck can't even tell Wasabi apart from ice cream. Watch his latest hilarious mistake in our exclusive "Cars" clip below!

"Cars 2" opens on June 24, 2011.

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ThorThe summer blockbuster season is rapidly approaching and the tweets are alive with excitement. Arguably, the first big film opens May 6th and comes in the form of a hammer-wielding warrior named "Thor." Leave it to Seth MacFarlane to point out the most exciting thing about the Norse God.

For us, summer blockbuster season usually means obnoxiously-excited-for-new-Pixar-movies season. We're counting down the days until "Cars 2," but one "Finding Nemo" star is upset that a sequel is not in her future.

Meanwhile, "Rio" slayed "Scream 4" at the box office this weekend and star Tracy Morgan finally gets his promotional groove on. And another comedian is celebrating Passover this year, albeit under a new name.

I'm @TravisHelwig and this is Twitter-Wood for April 19th, 2011.

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If there's a franchise in the Pixar family that's spawned more characters -- and, subsequently, more collectors items -- than "Cars," we'd be hard-pressed to find one.

But when MTV News caught up with Pixar's John Lasseter on the red carpet of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards on Sunday (February 27), the director of this summer's long-awaited "Cars 2" revealed fans can expect even more from the sequel, as well as a future spin-off.

Lasseter, who served as executive producer on the Oscar-winning "Toy Story 3" and director of the original "Cars," said of the upcoming sequel, "I love the world we've created. It's so big and every vehicle you could possibly see is a character."

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You may recall the news from last summer's Comic-Con that Disney planned to re-release "Beauty and the Beast" enhanced in digital 3-D on February 12, 2010. Obviously, the Oscar-nominated classic did not make it to theaters last Friday. Instead it is reportedly due out sometime next year for the film's 20th anniversary.

But when exactly? And will there be more films retro-fitted, as was done recently with "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2?" Over the weekend, MTV had a chance to talk with Disney Animation and Pixar head John Lasseter about the upcoming project and the very good chance of someday re-releasing Disney's other films in 3-D. Read More...

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UPDATE: Like a twisted game of telephone, one bit of misreported info has snowballed into what must be an annoying fact-check for Disney's PR folk. The studio tells us that Iger's statement during the conference call was actually: "The second installment of Cars, another strong franchise for the company, will hit theaters in the summer of 2011." In other words, the "Cars" sequel is still on track, no delays. In other other words... move along, there's nothing to see here.

Unfortunate news this morning, Pixar fans. While "Toy Story 3" may be imminent, the wait until the next surefire winner from the CG-enhanced Mouse House just got longer. Half a year longer, to be precise.

During yesterday's first quarter earnings call, Disney top dog Bob Iger revealed that "Cars 2" will be delayed from its planned June 24, 2011 release to December of that same year. This conflicts with another planned Disney release, fairy tale "The Bear and the Bow," leading some to speculate that another delay announcement is imminent. Either that, or "Bear" will claim the summer spot now vacated by "Cars 2," assuming it's ready by then. Read More...

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"Cars" is without a doubt my least favorite Pixar movie, and I'm certainly not alone in that statement. Still, I'm willing to give the animation studio the benefit of the doubt with their upcoming sequel, "Cars 2." After all, "Toy Story 2" was an improvement on the already terrific first "Toy Story," so who's to say they can't make a bigger leap here?

Many at Pixar acknowledge that "Cars" is not their best, even if it was one of their more kid-targeted and merchandise-friendly efforts, and it's likely they're looking to redeem themselves with the follow-up. Read More...

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'Cars'John Lasseter just announced to a crowd of journalists assembled at the Kodak Theatre that "Cars 2” has been bumped up to summer 2011, a year ahead of what Disney/Pixar has previously announced in April. He said that animators are currently working around the clock, and that the plot will feature Mater getting his passport as he and Lightning McQueen travel around the world. Suspiciously absent from the description was the character voiced by Paul Newman, who is reportedly in poor health.

Suspiciously absent from the description was the character voiced by Paul Newman, who is reportedly in poor health - odd, perhaps, given that Lassetter told MTV News in June that fans could expect to see much more of Doc Hudson in the sequel. Read More...

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Paul NewmanFifty plus years as an actor, 10 Academy Award nominations, one Oscar win, and a slew of indisputably iconic performances, and forgive me, my first thought upon hearing the recent news of Paul Newman's rumored ill health was "Is 'Cars' really going to be his last acting role?"

Not if John Lasseter and the good folks over at Pixar have anything to do with it, who are hoping that Newman will continue the role of Doc Hudson in "Cars 2," scheduled for release in 2012.

"Well, you know, his character is coming back," Lasseter told MTV News. "He's a good friend of mine, and so we're just waiting to see." Although some articles conflict, it was widely reported earlier this month that Newman was battling lung cancer. Read More...

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