There’s a short article in this week’s “BusinessWeek” magazine. The jist of it is, because of strong overseas box office, “Ratatouille” has become the 3rd most successful Disney animated film of all time, behind Lion King and Finding Nemo. It was also the top-rated film in France for 6 consecutive weekends in a row. Here’s the short article (typed in by me, any typos are mine):
DISNEY TAKES THE SHOW ON THE ROAD
Ratatouille, the tale of a French rat who takes over the kitchen at a Parisian restaurant, was a good-size hit for Walt Disney in the U.S. this summer. The Pixar-produced film had box-office revenues of $206 million. But that was still the lowest of any Pixar production since A Bug’s Life in 1998. So what did Disney do? Studio cheif Dick Cook took the movie to Paris, and beyond, in a big way. An imaginative, all-out push has helped Ratatouille reach $400 in foreign box-office sales, making it the third most successful animated Disney film (after The Lion King and Finding Nemo).
Faced with a crowded summer schedule of big-name sequels, Disney decided to delay the release in several European markets until October, says Mark Zoradi, president of Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. Then it held a star-studded black-tie premiere in Paris that included guest appearances by the city’s most famous chefs. Ratatouille was the top-rated film in France for six consecutive weekends this fall.
Sorry for shouting ( ), but Ratatouille is one of the best movies of all time, and it is a Pixar film (check out the opening credits for proof), and definitely NOT a Disney film.
I’d much rather celebrate that Pixar got a load of money! Yay! Great work, Pixar!
They own Pixar, Ratatouille is therefore a Disney film. They also produced it. Do we say “Lord of the Rings is a Weta film!” generally? No. We generally refer to LOTR being a New Line film.
Although in terms of “legal”, Ratatouille probably is Disney’s, BUT it was made by the people at Pixar. I’m sure others would agree that when a person puts their soul into something they create, it is their creation, regardless of legal terms.
RE: Disney or Pixar.
(a) It’s not MY article, I just typed it in (it’s from BusinessWeek)
(b) We all know it’s a Pixar film, but as far as Industry (and business) is concerned, it’s a Disney film since Disney owns Pixar. If you take another film such as “Mr & Mrs Smith”, you won’t see a headline saying “Regency’s Mr & Mrs Smith Does well”, you’ll see it saying “Fox’s Mr & Mrs Smith Does Well” even though Fox didn’t make the film (and in this case Fox doesn’t even own Regency – they just distribute their stuff!) Disney owns Pixar. You don’t have to like it, but that’s the way it is. So any Pixar film is a Disney film as far as statistics like box office are concerned.
RE: The Incredibles
The article was talking about TOTAL box office not just domestic. As far as domestic-only (North America, ie US/Canada only) box office, Incredibles did better than Ratatouille, but world-wide (the total for all countries, including North America), Ratatouille beat Incredibles and all other animated Disney films except for Lion King and Nemo. To be technial, the article didn’t mention if it figured in inflation adjusted dollars in the amounts or not (probably not), but since we’re only talking a few years here the difference would be minimal.
Wonderful news! I’m pleased that Ratatouille is doing well at the box office, as usual, although it’s really the story itself that matters and not the numbers it earns. Still, it’s a nice bout of information to know/read about.
And yes, as the majority of the individuals here have said, Ratatouille is technically a Disney film, but is “legally” a Pixar film. I’ve always gotten rather pissed off when a particular film (that is made by a separate company) is branded with a fore-credit bearing the title of a different studio name. It only makes sense, but I never was that keen on it. Then again, that’s just me.
Those are some very, very impressive numbers. It was always obvious that Ratatouille would do well, but this is a whole new level. Thanks for the info., miafka.
(I just fixed a few minor typos in the article like “staf-studded” to “star-studded”).
Not to beat a dead horse, but as just a PS, the article does mention that the film is Pixar-produced (it mentions Pixar a few times)… it’s not trying to hide the fact that it’s Pixar, it’s just that on the business end of things, it’s considered a Disney film, since Disney owns Pixar.
Yes, I was very pleased to read that article. It’s good to hear that Ratatouille was so well-loved around the world (especially in France, as another poster here mentioned a few weeks ago)…
@Mafika, TSS & others:
I don’t want o ruin your peace of mind, but facts are against Your claims. The only numbers that Ratatouille have surpassed TI in already are overseas ones ($388,5 mil Rats vs $370mil TI). Total numbers for Ratatouille (for now $594,5 mil) are still quite below TI total numbers ($631,4mil), but there is still a chance that Rats will catch up to TI
Maybe they were just talking about overseas gross, but the article sure makes it sound like they’re talking about everything. Have a look for yourself. Maybe they’re wrong, I don’t know. If you like, write BusinessWeek and tell them…
Is it really the first time when some magazine is inaccurate about what they’re writing/printing ? Do some simple math: according to this article Rats earned $206 million in The USA and $400 million overseas (which may become true this week or next one) - adding these numbers You get $606 million which is still quite a lot less than The Incredibles. Just go to boxofficemojo.com and check the real numbers yourself As for now Ratatouille is the 4th, period.
Who’s right? We’ll never know for sure, those statistics are just numbers and those numbers will rise over time as more people buy tickets to Ratatouille. And we have to remember that if we really want to know what film is more successful, The Incredibles or Ratatouille, that we should adjust for inflation. I would assume The Incredibles has more tickets sold worldwide, as movie ticket prices generally go UP. Either way, the article claims $206 million in the North American box office and over $400 million in the foreign box office, which doesn’t compare to The Incredibles’ overall worldwide gross of $631 million (Boxofficemojo.com).
I’m glad people saw Ratatouille in theaters and that it’s still going strong!
Wishful thinking… but I give up… any attempt to convince The True Believers is a lost cause
Nevetheless it’s great that last weekend Rats passed $600mil
), but 
