Monday Mouse Watch : Could underwhelming box office receipts for “Ratatouille” really spell trouble for Disney & Pixar officials?

Jim Hill

17 years ago

Here’s the official party line for the Walt Disney Company nowadays : That everyone who works in Burbank is just thrilled that John Lasseter & Ed Catmull now exert so much control over the corporation. More importantly, that all Mouse House employees have been eager to embrace Pixar‘s “Quality is a great business plan” aesthetic.

Okay. Now do you want to know what’s really going on? Take a gander at this excerpt from an e-mail that I received late last week from a Disney executive:

There are a lot of people here who are now actively hoping for a Pixar backlash. The transition has not been handled well, due mostly to the great care & attention that’s being lavished on Pixar. Every attempt has been made to make sure that that animation studio’s creative culture have been kept intact. Meanwhile, Disney Studio’s own unique traditions & operating systems are being plowed under.

Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. / Pixar Animation Studios. All Rights Reserved

Many of us here feel that Disney’s own executives (Who in some cases have decades of working experience) are needlessly being forced to take a backseat to the crew from Emeryville. Meanwhile the people from Pixar are afforded stronger creative control, get superior treatment, receive more credit and have their asses kissed regularly by Iger & associates.

The good news is that all of this may all change once “Ratatouille” ‘s box office receipts get counted. Though Brad Bird has made a great little movie, it won’t hit the B.O. numbers that Wall Street wants and that will get a lot of attention.

Not exactly what you expected to hear, right? Wait. The news gets worse.

How much worse? Well, let’s now talk about “Ratatouille” ‘s box office projections. Nikki Finke over at DeadlineHollywoodDaily has been reporting that Pixar’s latest should pull in something around $60 million over its opening weekend. Which then puts “Ratatouille” pretty much on par with what “Monsters, Inc.,” “Cars,” and “Toy Story 2” earned over their opening weekends.

Mind you, those three Pixar productions would then go on to earn $242 million, $255 million & $245 million over their respective domestic releases. Unfortunately, according to current box office projections, “Ratatouille” isn’t expected to do nearly as well as that.

According to information that studio insiders have shared with me, this Brad Bird movie should only earn $150 – $170 million during its entire domestic run. Which then puts Pixar’s latest on par with what “A Bug’s Life” (I.E. That studio’s lowest grossing animated feature to date) earned back in 1998. Which only took $162 million domestically.

Okay. So you now have “Ratatouille” (Due to the fact that this Pixar production is being released during a particularly competitive summer when people’s movie-going habits are rapidly changing) projected to make only $150 – $170 million during its entire domestic release. Which will be $70 – $90 million less than “Cars” made last summer. And given that many investment analysts still consider that John Lasseter film to be a disappointment because it failed to achieve “Finding Nemo” -sized grosses … Well, how do you think that those folks are going to react when they hear this news?

The word that Disney & Pixar officials fear most here is “trend.” As in ” … ‘Ratatouille’ ‘s disappointing box office receipts continued the downward trend that began last year with the release of ‘Cars.’ ” Which — of course — then re-opens the door to the whole “Did-Disney-over-pay-for-Pixar ?” question.

Which is why — over the past few weeks — Disney’s PR machine has gone into overdrive. Placing all sorts of pre-emptive pieces in major news weeklys about “Ratatouille.” Which — even as these articles talked up this film’s artistic achievements — they also downplayed the importance of this Brad Bird movie needing to make any real money.

Don’t believe me? Then check out this story that appeared in the June 13th issue of BusinessWeek magazine. Where veteran business writer Ronald Grover actually says:

” … even if Ratatouille doesn’t come out of the gate with some super-duper opening weekend, and folks say that Iger and company got snookered in the Pixar deal, it doesn’t matter. Sure, the Pixar deal was pricey, but it was worth it.”

Mind you, in order to justify this claim, Grover did have to do some rewriting of recent Mouse House history. Take — for example — this line from his “Pixar Purchase Pays Off for Disney” article:

” … (‘Meet the Robinsons’) is approaching $100 million (in earnings for its domestic box office run, which is) a rarity these days for Disney-made animated films.”

Which would be news to the WDAS employees who worked on “Lilo & Stitch” and “Chicken Little.” Given that that 2002 Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders film earned over $145 million during its domestic run, while Mark Dindal‘s 2005 CG comedy went on to earn over $135 million stateside.

Anyway … Disney’s PR department really hopes that Wall Street buys into this whole “Ratatouille”-doesn’t-need-to-earn-any-significant-money idea. Because — if not … Well, the next few months could be fairly miserable for Mouse House officials.

So let’s review here … We have Mickey’s own employees chaffing at all of the changes that have occurred at the Disney corporation over the past 15 months. With resentment building toward Pixar staffers, given the obvious favoritism that Disney management has been showing toward its Emeryville-based employees. We also have reports that “Ratatouille” is expected to earn far less than “Cars” did last year. Which is why the Mouse’s PR staff is now aggressively trying to spin this situation, trying to downplay the importance of this new Brad Bird film having to earn any real money during its initial domestic release. So that Wall Street types won’t then start asking inopportune questions like “Did the Walt Disney Company really over-pay when it spent $7.4 billion to acquire Pixar Animation Studios?”

This already sounds like a pretty bad situation, don’t you think? Well, why don’t we throw in an inside joke that misfired? Which inadvertently insulted the Walt Disney Company’s newest business partner?

To explain: When you’re watching “Ratatouille” later this week, be sure and stay to the very end of the movie. Where you’ll then see this gag credit that Brad Bird reportedly insisted on tacking onto the end of his film. Which reads:

Our Quality Assurance Guarantee:
100% Genuine Animation!
No motion capture or any other performance shortcuts
were used in the production of this film.

Which (I’m told) is Pixar’s none-too-subtle swipe at all those folks in Hollywood who used performance capture technology to create animated features like “Happy Feet,” “Monster House” and “The Polar Express.”

The only problem is … The producer of “The Polar Express” and “Monster House’ is Robert Zemeckis. As in: The Academy Award-winning director that Mickey just got in bed with in order to create a brand-new 3-D animation studio, Disney’s ImageMovers Digital. And given that this company is supposed to specialize in producing new performance capture-based motion pictures … Well, I hear that Dick Cook, Chairman of Walt Disney Studios, had to call Zemeckis and then personally apologize for this gag credit at the end of “Ratatouille.” To assure Disney’s newest partner that no real insult was intended. That this was just Pixar’s way of twitting all of the other people in Hollywood that used motion capture to make movies. Not Robert.

* Sigh *

It would be nice if this Brad Bird film (Which is actually very cute, by the way. Nancy and I managed to catch last weekend’s sneak preview of the picture and found Pixar’s latest to be quite charming) could catch a break. But — to be honest — in spite of the glow-in-the-dark reviews that “Ratatouille” has received to date, the disappointing domestic box office returns that have been projected for this new CG film suggest that Disney & Pixar officials may may be in for a rough couple of months. As Wall Street revisits what went wrong with “Ratatouille,” then wonders aloud if “WALL * E” will be the movie that can then reverse this emerging trend.

Meanwhile, Disney execs (Like the one whose e-mail I shared at the very start of this article) will be downright giddy. Not because this new Brad Bird film actually failed to meet its initial box office expectations. But — rather — because this under-performance then proves that Pixar isn’t actually perfect. Which will hopefully translate into Bob Iger being a little less likely to follow John Lasseter & Ed Catmull’s advice about what the Walt Disney Company should be doing next.

I know. This isn’t the hap-hap-happy story that many JHM readers have been hoping to read about “Ratatouille” and Pixar in particular. But this is the news that’s actually coming off the Disney lot these days. And I just thought that you folks would want to know about it.

Your thoughts?