A very wise and very serious animation commentator has recently said:
If -- on the other hand -- the stubby little legs that "Ratatouille" has developed to date don't actually carry this film past the $200 million point ... Well, this Pixar production started off life by missing its opening weekend box office estimates by 20%. If it ends its domestic run by doing 20% less business than "Cars" did back in 2006 ... There's no way that Wall Street will overlook something that significant. Those are the sorts of numbers will get the investment community asking questions like "Is Pixar spreading itself too thin these days?"
...... You have to admit that "Ratatouille" isn't exactly cooking on all burners right now...
Ah, but then there are those of us who live in the reality-based community...
Disney-Pixar's "Ratatouille" has already cooked up a healthy haul overseas, even though it has yet to open in half of its major markets. Toon moved up the international box office chart to No. 2 over the Aug. 24-26 frame, grossing $11.8 million from 2,820 locations. Toon declined 29% from the previous weekend; cume is $172.3 million.
The above is from the industry rag Daily Variety, which doesn't cling to fantasy storylines but just lays out actual facts.
And the facts are, with half of its overseas markets yet untapped, Ratatouille has now grossed $373 million in theatrical box office rentals.
Since guessing about grosses seems to be a specialty of some commentators around and about the intertubes, here's mine:
I'm guessing that Remy and Co. collect a half billion in gross revenues before they're through, also perform pretty well in the secondary markets (DVDs, t.v. sales, minor revenue streams like that.)
I'm also guessing that Wall Street won't be taking the Walt Disney Co. to the woodshed over its Pixar deal...
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2 comments:
RATATOUILLE made $200 million...in just 66 days! It passed that magical number...although that magical number used to be $300 million...then $275 million...then $250 seemed like a better benchmark, because, you know, too many big blockbusters, like Tranformers, etc., had the nerve to open this summer! (And rumors that Bob Iger bought-out a few theaters, just to make sure they got there, are just silly:) But, we need validation, so, now we have it. Whew!!! Seriously, can't we get over what other people (JIM HILL!), think? It's becoming really quite silly. But, thanks for all your hard work, Steve. Cheers, D.
Every flick stands on its own, dependent on its quality, the robustness of the advertising campaign, the competition, etc.
"Lion King," "Finding Nemo," and "Shrek III" were outliers in box office grosses. To expect them to be the norm against which other films are judged is ... ah ... risky.
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