Everyone out there enjoying the day after Thanksgiving? Particularly all of those delicious leftovers that you’ve got stashed in the fridge?
Not me. I mean, sure. I’ll get to them eventually. But first … I have to choke down a rather large portion of crow.
By that I mean … Have you seen the international numbers for “Ratatouille” ? Which just this past weekend slipped past the $600 million mark at the worldwide box office. Which makes this Brad Bird film the second biggest international Disney / Pixar release of all-time. As someone who earlier wrote an awful lot of stories about how “Ratatouille” was under-performing domestically, I have to admit that even I am impressed with the way that this animated feature has been performing overseas.
That said, I think it’s important to keep in mind that — according to what studio insiders have told me — “Ratatouille” still isn’t in the black. That — due to this animated feature’s enormous production costs (A reported $150 million. Which was allegedly racked up because Pixar management insisted that “Ratatouille” had to make its previously locked-in June 29th release date) as well as that $180 million that Disney supposedly spent on stateside & international promotion of this picture minus the exhibitors’ cut of ticket sales — this Brad Bird film will have to be a top selling DVD title well into 2008 before Disney’s accountants can then finally officially move this movie into the “Win” column.
Though — to be fair — I guess I should mention that this same sort of news applies to Walt Disney Pictures’ top grossing release for the year, “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.” Due to the very interesting way that math works these days in Hollywood, a picture that has — to date — earned $961 million worldwide is still deeply in the red. Which is reportedly due mostly to the ridiculous amount of money that the Mouse had to throw at various FX houses around town in order to make sure that all of this movie’s effects shots were actually in place by the time this Gore Verbinski film debuted at Disneyland on May 19th.
In fact, to hear the suits inside the Michael Eisner building talk … You want to know which 2007 Walt Disney Pictures release was the first to officially make it into the black? More importantly, which picture released this year has had the best profit margins to date? Would you believe “Wild Hogs” ? Which is why the studio is already hard at work developing “Wild Hogs 2.”
Copyright 2007 Disney. All Rights Reserved
But none of that stuff matters. Or so says the unnamed Disney exec that I spoke with earlier this week. As he explained it to me:
“When it comes to big ticket items like ‘At World’s End’ and ‘Ratatouille,’ you can’t just focus exclusively on how these titles are going to do domestically. That’s being old fashioned and short sighted. When it comes to the projects that Disney produces nowadays, you always have to consider what this picture’s long term profit potential might be. How many tickets will this film sell overseas? How many units will Disney Home Entertainment ultimately be able to ship? Where does the sale of character-based merch for this movie factor into this equation?
You have to understand that — when it comes to making the most off of each individual motion picture — no one’s better at doing this than the Walt Disney Company. We have years of experience when it comes to the long term nurturing of individual characters as well as our film franchises. We know how to take a successful movie and then turn that into an evergreen title. Something that will make money for this company for decades yet to come.
Trust me, Jim. Long after the two of us are dead and gone, the Walt Disney Company will still be making money off of “Ratatouille.” That Pixar picture is a classic in the very best sense of the word.
So were we disappointed that ‘Ratatouille’ didn’t earn more during its initial domestic run? Sure. But you know what? We got over it. And you should too.”
Just so you folks know, though: I’m not the only reporter who’s been hearing this “You really need to rethink the way you report on the Walt Disney Company” spiel from senior Mouse House officials. Truth be told, Mickey has devoted an awfully lot of time & energy recently towards trying to convince us folks who regularly write about the entertainment industry that we need to let go of our obsession with domestic box office numbers and/or the Nielsen ratings.
Disney CEO Robert Iger speaking at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas
Take — for example — that speech Robert Iger gave last month. Where he took the Hollywood Reporter and Variety to task for their old-school thinking when comes to reporting on how individual films & TV shows are doing. That — by taking the short-term approach and only talking about a movie’s domestic box office and/or a television program’s ratings in the U.S. — this sort of reportage is “rooted in the past.”
As for me … I have to admit that I’m not all that comfortable with the idea of overlooking how individual Disney projects are doing today and only focusing on what their long term profit potential might be. That — to me, anyway — smacks of “Magic 8 Ball” -style reporting. In that I’m supposed to overlook the hard numbers that I have right here in front of me and then make some sort of wild-assed guess about what an individual motion picture or TV show might make a year, two years, five years, a decade or more further on down the line.
Plus it’s hard for me to swallow the Mouse House’s new “What-we-earn-domestically-doesn’t-really-matter” mantra when Walt Disney Pictures still buys full page ads in the trades to boast about how “The Game Plan” was the No. 1 movie in the U.S. for two weekends in a row. When I see something like that … It seems like Mickey is talking out of both sides of his mouth. That the Mouse now wants to have his cake (i.e. Insist that no one’s better at strip-mining long term profits out of their studio’s motion pictures) and eat it too (i.e. Have Disney execs still able to brag about their opening weekend grosses while dining at the Ivy).
But, look … That ultimately isn’t what today’s story is actually about. Today’s story is about “Ratatouille.” And how, me personally, I have to acknowledge that — in spite of what I may have written earlier about this Brad Bird film’s domestic performance — this picture has done very well internationally.
Copyright 2007 Disney/Pixar. All rights reserved.
So let’s just cut to the chase, shall we? When you take into consideration the overall worldwide box office performance of Pixar’s latest, there’s really no other way to say it: “Ratatouille” has been successful.
Very successful.
Mind you, “The Best Reviewed Film of the Year” still reportedly has yet to recover its initial production & promotional costs. But — as I now begrudgingly attempt to embrace Disney’s new “Don’t-think-short-term-but-focus-on-long-term-profitability” mantra — I guess I can try & say that this ultimately doesn’t matter.
So there. I said it.
Now — if you’ll excuse me — I have some feathers that I have to try & floss out from between my teeth.
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Happy Holidays!