The Movie Blog is reporting that there is a bit of rift between Pixar and the Disney Marketing Department. According to TMB, Pixar is quite unhappy with how Disney marketed Ratatouille, so Pixar have decided to take the marketing of WALL-E into their own hands. Here is what an unnamed Disney source wrote on IMDB…
something that has apparently infuriated the Disney marketing staff. Hill quotes one unnamed studio insider as saying that Ratatouille “was a very difficult picture to sell during an incredibly competitive summer. … They’re now being complete bastards about the WALL-E trailer, insisting that only they know the proper way to promote their next picture. … But that’s okay. Let them call the shots on WALL-E’s marketing campaign. Next year, they’ll be the ones who’ll be taking the fall when that Andrew Stanton film doesn’t measure up to expectations.”
If this is true, I just hope they are able to work it out.
Last modified: September 8, 2007
Can’t absolutely everyone in the film industry just SHUT UP and enjoy making films for the love of making films?
Do they all have to be blockbusters? OH NO Ratatouille only made 200 MILLION .. animation is DEAD, obviously!
*shakes head* It’s all so sad to me.
I don’t live in the US so I can’t comment much on the marketing over there… But I must say the the marketing in Australia hasn’t been to the standard that I was expecting.
The range of merchandise out in Australia now that Ratatouille is in theatres, is less than impressive. And the plush toys look more like Muppets than their respective characters.
The tv spots seem to have been overtaken by Surf’s Up! And one would expect that Ratatouille would be promoted heavily in the ad breaks during the Saturday Disney program, for goodness sake.
At the Adelaide preview screening of Ratatouille, the cinema neglected to play the Wall.E trailer. I’m not sure if this was a mistake on the cinema’s or Buena Vista International’s (Disney) part, or just a communication error between them, but it hasn’t started on the right foot in regards for promoting Wall.E.
It’s just these little things I’ve noticed that add up. I’m not sure if it’s because Australia’s marketing being taken less seriously, or just a case of bad luck. But one would expect that the little marketing we do have over here, would be done right.
And as for Jim Hill, I don’t think it was a case of Ratatouille being hard to market at all – look at all the terrible, terrible movies that rake in the dough, simply because of the intense marketing campaign made to get people through the doors. I just think it is a case of Disney not doing their job.
The original “story” comes from http://www.jimhillmedia.com
This guy is VERY anti-PIXAR/Lassetter. He has spun A LOT of stories to make this “match made in heaven” business relationship seem like it’s Hollywood’s worse nightmare.
Suggestion: Take this info with a grain of salt
Sorry, the way Disney handled “Ratatouille” was indeed horrible. I was extremely irritated by their marketing for it, and honestly it’s just looking worse with the dvd release. Freakin’ “Meet the Robinsons” has a better dvd release, and it didn’t even make half as much money. Disney is clearly playing favorites, and actually I have no doubt Pixar would do better at marketing their own films. If this is true and Disney is not happy, they can quite frankly STFU. And Jim Hill is not exactly the most reliable source anyway.
I have to agree with the Jim Hill advice. His only sources seem to be from Disney’s bean counting side, so it’s rarely a balanced picture. Unfortunately, others pick up on this “report” and take it as fact, showing the dangers of speculation. Fortunately, one of the guys posting about JH’s original article posted a link to a nice Brad Bird article summing up Pixar’s view on Box Office success:
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22368740-5006023,00.html
(The numbers are Australian Dollars, if you were wondering)
i think jim hill and everyone in Disney are disappointed about Pixar recent financial “”””flops”””” (Cars & Ratatouille) after the Big Deal (Disney buys Pixar), and contemporarily about the gap of quality between Disney’s (Robinsons and others…) and Pixar’s movies.
Pixar is guilty for making good movies without having big success at the box offices (like all the other GOOD movies…).
Ratatouille is very different from other Disney movies, like 101 Dalmatians was… it’s almost an action movie, so it is difficult to sell to Disney traditional audience.
Just try not to sell to traditionals and catch someone else!
Bof… i think, like A bug’s life was, Ratatouille is a mistreated masterpiece and it’ll stay in DISNEY-lovers’ heart, whatever the marketing guys may say…
And I keep believing the Pixar merging was obvious and not a waste of money, like SOMEONE wants us to believe…
[sorry for my english…]
RMS Oceanic… Thanks for the link.
Another fact to remember is that this was supposed to be PIXAR’s first film NOT under the Walt Disney distribution name. I am not sure how much time Disney had to start thinking of a marketing campaign for ‘Ratatouille.’
If we spent some time looking at previous Jim Hill articles, you would see what I meant by spinning every PIXAR success into a failure.
In fact, Jim Hill “broke the news” that due to ‘Cars’ “box office failure,” John Lasseter’s influence in the Walt Disney would quckly come to halt.
Thats just desperation, considering the multi billion dollars in revenue ‘Cars’ pulls in from merchandising alone.
Grain of salt folks…
Another view on this story, if indeed there is any validity to it.
What if Disney is not pissed with PIXAR but simply experimenting by allowing PIXAR to draw from Disney marketing funds and use their own creativity to develop the marketing. Could be a good thing?
Do we have any other sources for this piece of news? The only other news article I can seem to find takes everything from JH’s article.
Either way if this is a rift or experiment, I’m sure Pixar would be able to do a good job with their own movie’s marketing.
“…. when that Andrew Stanton film doesn’t measure up to expectations.”
LOL !!!!
Regardless of who is marketing what I’m feeling that Wall-E will be able sell itself. The film (based on the small amount of material I’ve seen) will be one of the most visually stunning creations on screen in quite sometime. I’m eager to see how the animators will play off of the lack of dialog and limited number of chracters, which has not been done in a Pixar film yet. I’m in it for the artistic content, the large box office will follow I’m sure.
Thomas, if you dont have anything good to post don’t go on perpetuating someone else’s hype.
Everything I happen to read from JH is negative, he reminds me of those tabloids you see at the supermarket.. dont become like him by posting ‘i think this or that, or based on x site it appears that this or that’ without having yourself any factual information.
Jim Hill is an idiot.
If you believe anything from his site, you need your head examined.
He lives to discredit Pixar.
Please add validity to your reporting by ignoring his rants altogether.
Ratatouille: released 2 months+ late in Australia and even later in UK despite a seemingly unprecendented amount of pre-release material stating the release date as June 29 (I don’t recall an asterisk or disclaimer).
Cars DVD: Single disc, sparse bonus material, no commentary.
Ratatouille DVD: Single disc, sparse bonus material, no commentary.(apparently)
Who says the marketing is going downhill?
As for Wall-E, I’m a little unconvinced at this stage. The small amount of animation in the trailer reminds me of ET and Short Circuit – but I’m sure they’ll come through.