ROTTEN TOMATOES: Pixar's "Ratatouille" Scampers Beneath Summer ’07 Tentpoles

Pixar's "Ratatouille" Scampers Beneath Summer ’07 Tentpoles

by RT Staff | January 04, 2007

Disney’s release of Pixar’s latest, "Ratatouille," is under some scrutiny following the solid-but-not-stellar performance of last summer’s "Cars."

With the marketing of "Cars" in question and the retail potential of "Ratatouille" in doubt, Disney is concerned with how to properly promote their film in a summer packed with formidable family-friendly tentpoles such as "Shrek The Third," "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End," and "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," especially given to the underperformance of mouse-centric animated fare like "Flushed Away" and, in the wake of "Happy Feet’s" grosses, the potential threat of the "Surf’s Up" penguins three weeks prior to "Ratatouille’s" release.

According to Jim Hill Media, "You see, according to Disney's own internal projections, "Ratatouille" is already expected to sell far fewer tickets than "Cars" ... This is why it's doubly important that Disney's PR department put together the best possible marketing campaign for this Brad Bird movie." (Check out the "Ratatouille" trailer right here.)

"Ratatouille" is currently scheduled to open on June 29, opposite the adult-skewing "Live Free or Die Hard."

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Celeb:	Brad Bird

(1-12 of 12 posts) | Reply

sukhumvit writes:
on Jan 04 2007 02:40 AM

Don't know about others but I'm much more inclined to go and see Ratatouille than Cars. Nothing about the Cars trailer inspired me to go and it was the first Pixar feature I've skipped. The Ratatouille trailer, however, is great fun.

(Reply to this)

antickpix writes:
on Jan 04 2007 05:35 AM

maybe it didn't occur to them that cars are just not as excitement inducing as mice? i think this will do better than cars. then again, what are they cribbing about really? 200+ million domestically is pretty decent dosh in the till (dunno what the production budget was though..)

(Reply to this)

synergyred writes:
on Jan 04 2007 07:46 AM

Well I know that I am excited about seeing this. I've loved all of the Pixar movies, including Cars, and like with Cars, I'll probably end up seeing this multiple times in theaters. I mean, it's Brad Bird!

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a limited run film writes:
on Jan 04 2007 08:57 AM

I have to agree with the first two commentors. "Cars" was the first Pixar movie I skipped. But "Ratatouille" I will definitely see, mainly because Brad Bird is behind it. ("The Iron Giant" remains to be my favorite animated film.)

(Reply to this)

Holly Jolly writes:
on Jan 04 2007 09:12 AM

When I saw the trailer I thought; "Another animated mouse movie?" But it looks beautiful and like everyone else said...it's Brad Bird. Maybe this will be the mouse movie to end all mouse movies.

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Zen Bullet writes:
on Jan 04 2007 09:43 AM

I think the studio is being too concerned about a non-issue.

A good movie is a good movie. People will see a great family film. Word-of-mouth(or the lack thereof) is a powerful force.

"Cars" suffered because it's concept, and then its trailers, instead of enticing audiences, made them highly skeptical. And when the movie did finally get released, its story was too thin for its run-time . . . hence the too-slow pacing. I don't see any mystery behind why Cars was slightly underwhelming at the box office. It was completely expected.

"Ratatouille" on the other hand, has a lot going for it . . . including a much better trailer and Brad Bird's involvement. Sure, there're more animated films in competition then ever before . . . but how much does that really matter if Ratatouille turns out to be excellent? After all, Disney made the insane decision to release Monster's Inc. a week before Harry Potter and the Scorcerer's Stone, and yet no one's complaining about how that turned out.

(Reply to this)

rustdog writes:
on Jan 04 2007 10:01 AM

yes lets end all animated mouse movies. There are plenty of other furry creatures. I wish Brad Bird would move away from the more kid friendly animation to something more dark and adult. I always thought Bird was the guy to change how the world viewed American animation.

(Reply to this)

CannibalPenguins writes:
on Jan 04 2007 11:27 AM

Ratatouille is being butchered.

Flushed Away tainted the animated rat industry, although there never was one to begin with. But then again Flushed Away was on a suicide mission, opening up against The Santa Clause 3.

And Surf's Up will probably do well, but not as well as Happy Feet. The penguin craze should die out soon. Or one could only hope.. But I doubt it'll have an effect on families hoping to take their children to see a digital animation flick next June. The films open 3 weeks apart, that's the same for the trio of trilogies in May (Spiderman 3, Shrek The Third, Pirates of The Caribbean : At World's End). And Order of the Phoenix opens after Ratatouille, so if anything Ratatouille should be able to get enough going so that when Harry Potter comes out it won't burn off.

~$48,000,000 opening weekend
~$55,000,000 for Fourth of July week - weekend
~$30,000,000 Post-Harry Potter
($133,000,000 in three weekends) [$22,000,000 less than Cars)

And it'll shed theaters by end-August, and be on DVD intime for November.

But to be fair, compare the same three weekends to Cars:

$14,569,356
$10,734,082
$7,840,985

I say multiply these numbers by 3, and you've got the same for Ratatouille.

$14,569,356 x 3 = ~$43,000,000
$10,734,082 x 3 = ~$32,000,000
$7,840,985 x 3 = ~$23,000,000

(Total: ~$98,000,000)

I actually believe that's better than the previously mentioned.
Pixar can't have all blossoms, it needs a few weeds. Though if this does fail to make $100,000,000 in the first 3 weekends, you can expect it to be kicked to the curb, shedding theaters at a rapid pace, and the downfall to Pixar's digital animation empire. (Someone's being too dramatic)

Either way, just be happy 2007 is not being over-loaded with digital animation films.

I doubt this'll do any better than Cars. Pixar does need a couple red numbers on their charts.

(Reply to this)

gerke writes:
on Jan 06 2007 02:45 AM

first of all, it is good when there are a lot of big tentpole movies. they will attrack more repeat businees for other movies. (you then see the trailer and want to see the other big guns) just look at 1999.

no pixar will open with less then 50. the name is too strong for that now. and this one looks to be more funny than cars.

cars wasn't a trainwreck domestically with 240 mln but it was worldwide with around 210. normally a pixar animated movie will out preforme it's domestic totals. 450 mln is still respectable add in the dvd sales and rentals and this numbers will double. so all in all cars did very good.

ratatoullie eems to be more open to audiences around the world (oke only saw the short trailer, but it looks like this one is funnier) and ofcousre brad bird knows what he is doing.

pixar is a brand that doesn't have to worry that the competition is too strong. this one will be prob on par with cars domestic (cus 240 is still a load of bucks) but will prob make more international since pixar opens different than lets say pirates or potter so it will cash more evenly.

just look at the battle between pirate sand nemo. both made tons of money. this time there are just some movies more in the market that people want to see. people will spend their bucks on all movies expect the bad ones from these five (but that's normal)

(Reply to this)

nickb1016 writes:
on Jan 06 2007 06:52 PM

since when is 240+ million dollars a dissapointment? they need to shut up and be happy...its not like it was the ant bully

(Reply to this)

the_shadow writes:
on Jan 25 2007 11:04 AM

In reply to this comment (#852249)
production budget was $120m i believe. so pulling in $460m worldwide leaves them with huge profits, but notably smaller numbers than pixar had gotten used to with Finding Nemo and The Incredibles (which was also considered a bit of a disappointment despite raking in $600m+ globally). inevitable that expectations would be inflated after the immense success of Nemo, just hope it doesn't take a toll on the future quality of their films.

(Reply to this)

ploodie writes:
on Feb 15 2007 06:56 PM

I think we are finally at the point where there are so many CGI movies coming out each year that they can't guarantee an audience by simply EXISTING anymore. There needs to be more to it that just being being animated - there needs to be an interesting story or element to it, and this one just doesn't have it.

(Reply to this)

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