Is Ratatouille a flop?

[Aya Reiko]

Ratatouille in it's third week has only earned $142 mil. domestically. By all estimates, it should exit the theaters with a total of about $170 mil. domestically.

For most films, that would be passable, but this is Pixar. And a $170 mil. US B.O. take would make this movie one of Pixar's worst films financially. This would be a huge blow to Disney, who is expecting Pixar to be their knight in shining armor.

For comparison, here's a chart of past Pixar films and how well did they do in the box office:

Code: Select all

Movie            Domestic Earnings  Release Date
Finding Nemo     $339,714,978       5/30/03
The Incredibles  $261,441,092       11/5/04
Monsters, Inc.   $255,873,250       11/2/01
Toy Story 2      $245,852,179       1/19/99
Cars             $244,082,982       6/9/06
Toy Story        $191,796,233       11/22/95
A Bug's Life     $162,798,565       11/20/98
Ratatouille      $148,425,089       6/29/07

And that doesn't take inflation into account. So, in a word, ouch.

Here's the question:

Should Ratatouille be called a flop?
And why did it not do better at the box office?

[Starscream]

I don't think it's late enough for us to call it a flop. Certainly not the block-buster success Disney hoped it would be, but I think it will at least break even, if not a bit more.

As for why? Easy: Transformers and Harry Potter. It came out a scant 3 days before TF; after that, forget it. TF dominated the box office that week, and still didn't fare too terribly after Harry Potter took its place at number one. Had it come out a week or - better yet - two weeks earlier, it would have probably seen more action, but the hype this summer was all about TF and HP. It would have been a struggle regardless.

[Tiff]

o.O I'm with Dave.

Plus, I mean, even though it didn't make as much money (and who can blame them, like Dave said, with two huge franchises coming up right behind it), it got EXCELLENT reviews, being hailed as one of the best Pixar films yet (which I agree with as well).

[Aya Reiko]

Another problems with Rat is the lack of merchandising and tie-ins, aka peripheral advertising.

A part of the problem was that very few knew it was in theaters. No buzz was being made for it, thus no one cared.

IMHO, they chose a bad date to release the film. Rat should've come out in the beginning of June or early April. Maybe even held off releasing it until November.

[Starscream]

Another problems with Rat is the lack of merchandising and tie-ins, aka peripheral advertising.

A part of the problem was that very few knew it was in theaters. No buzz was being made for it, thus no one cared.

Eh. I can't think of a Pixar movie since Toy Story 2 that really had a high level of tie-ins and peripheral advertising. And in terms of regular advertisement, you might have a point, depending on the market; I know I've seen my fare share of Ratatouille commercials before the movie came out, whereas with TF, for example, I've only really been bombarded with them since AFTER its release.

[/quote="Aya Reiko"]IMHO, they chose a bad date to release the film. Rat should've come out in the beginning of June or early April. Maybe even held off releasing it until November.[/quote]

Early Fall would have been best. Hype about Spider-Man, Pirates, TF, and Harry Potter meant that this movie - which really only got advertising in theaters maybe 3 or 4 months before it started - would never get the numbers it needed for a summer hit. It might have also worked well for the winter had the movie's setting matched.

[SeiUsa]

And people don't know how to pronounce it. =P

But seriously, I think it does have to do with this being the summer of the threequels plus Harry Potter...And it's always competitive in the summertime...

[Aya Reiko]

Another problems with Rat is the lack of merchandising and tie-ins, aka peripheral advertising.

A part of the problem was that very few knew it was in theaters. No buzz was being made for it, thus no one cared.

Eh. I can't think of a Pixar movie since Toy Story 2 that really had a high level of tie-ins and peripheral advertising. And in terms of regular advertisement, you might have a point, depending on the market; I know I've seen my fare share of Ratatouille commercials before the movie came out, whereas with TF, for example, I've only really been bombarded with them since AFTER its release.

Cars had merchandising deals up the ying yang. McDonald's Happy Meals, NASCAR, and plenty of junk you can still find at your local Wal-Mart.

[Tiff]

Cars had merchandising deals up the ying yang. McDonald's Happy Meals, NASCAR, and plenty of junk you can still find at your local Wal-Mart.

There may be plenty of merchandise made, but to be honest..I don't think many kids are buying it. Being a teacher, i've yet to see hardly any kids giving a damn about any of the cars merchandise out there. No backpacks, shoes, clothing, or toys seem to be in their interest. If anything, I saw far more Spiderman and Batman, and like...no Cars. It's like the merchandise is just sitting there.

[Starscream]

Another problems with Rat is the lack of merchandising and tie-ins, aka peripheral advertising.

A part of the problem was that very few knew it was in theaters. No buzz was being made for it, thus no one cared.

Eh. I can't think of a Pixar movie since Toy Story 2 that really had a high level of tie-ins and peripheral advertising. And in terms of regular advertisement, you might have a point, depending on the market; I know I've seen my fare share of Ratatouille commercials before the movie came out, whereas with TF, for example, I've only really been bombarded with them since AFTER its release.

Cars had merchandising deals up the ying yang. McDonald's Happy Meals, NASCAR, and plenty of junk you can still find at your local Wal-Mart.

Ah, but I'm neither a NASCAR fan nor do I have a local Wal-Mart, so I've been totally ignorant of these tie-ins :P

[SeiUsa]

At the Payless I work at, we have plenty of Cars shoes...and occasionally you still see some Nemo stuff.

[Senshi_of_Vision]

I brought into the cars hype cause my kid loves all forms of automobiles. Went out for christmas last year brought that fast talkin lightning Mcqueen thinking oh man hes going to love that and he was petrified of the darn thing. So toy tie ins are just another way to sucker poor parents into traumatizing kids IMO.

And the only thing ive seen so far besides the video game is some talking rat doll that cooks..I think i'll pass on that toy dont need to scare the kid again.