Ratatouille Takes First Place
Disney/Pixar Flick Tops Box Office Chart for Canada Day Weekend
Jul 2, 2007 Dominic von Riedemann
(Source: www.boxofficemojo.com)
Brad Bird's Ratatouille was the surprise box office champion this past weekend, slipping past Live Free or Die Hard to take the top spot.
The live-action Bruce Willis vehicle was favoured to take the lead this weekend, but lower-than-expected box office after its Wednesday debut meant that Ratatouille turned into the new heavyweight, especially based on its glowing reviews. The Brad (The Incredibles, The Iron Giant) Bird-directed flick opened to near universal acclaim, earning a stunning 95% Fresh Rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
On the downside, Ratatouille opened significantly lower than analysts' predictions, taking $47.2 million instead of the predicted $56 million many thought it would take. That's also a massive drop from Pixar's previous opening weekend: $60.1 million for last year's Cars.
"What we have always played for is the long run," said Buena Vista's president of distribution Chuck Viane, spinning the news for all he was worth. "In my opinion, Ratatouille will be one of the top grossing movies of the year. When this weekend is over, you're going to have nine million people telling people how much they love this movie."
To a certain degree, that's true. Animated films tend to have longer "legs" than mainstream movies, and most moviegoers and critics are saying that Ratatouille is possibly Pixar's best work so far. Certainly the movie's more international flavour should help it in overseas markets.
But it remains to be seen how this movie will stack up against the heavy metal of Transformers or Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the latest adaptation of J.K. Rowlings' saga of the boy wizard. The first flick opens this Friday, with Harry Potter opening July 11th. Neither of these two films are getting Ratatouille's critical love, but this summer has proved that audiences aren't necessarily listening to critics when making their movie choices.
What is definite is that Shrek the Third won't be dethroned as the King of the Animated Summer of 2007 any time soon. Despite opening to more tepid reviews, the DreamWorks Animation flick is well into the profit zone, with another $2.7 million in its coffers for a grand total of $313.8 million. It slid to #11 from the eighth spot in its 7th week in theatres.
Sony's Surf's Up continued its slide, this time plummeting past Shrek the Third to 12th position. It made $2.4 million, for a four-week total of $53.8 million. That's gotta be sad news for Sony Pictures Animation's boardroom, considering that, if Ratatouille has one more weekend like its debut, it could match Surf's Up's box office total in half the time.
Things are going to be relatively quiet for animated films in the next little while until July 27th, when Fox's The Simpsons Movie hits theatres. Will The Simpsons be the ones to take down Shrek? Or will the ogre prevail? Stay tuned.
Here is the complete list:
1) Ratatouille (Buena Vista): $47,227,000 (NEW)
11) Shrek the Third (DreamWorks Animation): $2,745,000 ($313,811,000 after 7 weeks)
12) Surf's Up (Sony Pictures Animation): $2,400,000 ($53,814,000 after 4 weeks)
29) Paprika (Sony Pictures Classics): $44,500 ($576,000 after 6 weeks)
scene from Ratatouille
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