Ratatouille

[MacGuffin]

Disney/Pixar's Ratatouille Voice Cast
Source: Walt Disney Pictures

ComingSoon.net has confirmed that Patton Oswalt, Brian Dennehy, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofalo, Ian Holm and John Ratzenberger will voice Disney/Pixar's animated-adventure Ratatouille, opening June 29, 2007.

In the film, a rat named Remy dreams of becoming a great French chef despite his family's wishes and the obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly rodent-phobic profession. When fate places Remy in the sewers of Paris, he finds himself ideally situated beneath a restaurant made famous by his culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau. Despite the apparent dangers of being an unlikely - and certainly unwanted - visitor in the kitchen of a fine French restaurant, Remy's passion for cooking soon sets into motion a hilarious and exciting rat race that turns the culinary world of Paris upside down.

Remy finds himself torn between his calling and passion in life or returning forever to his previous existence as a rat. He learns the truth about friendship, family and having no choice but to be who he really is, a rat who wants to be a chef.

Ratatouille is directed by Academy Award®-winning Brad Bird (The Incredibles) and co-directed by Academy Award®-winning Jan Pinkava (Geri's Game).

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i hope this is good.  i really do.  cars has really lowered the bar for pixar films and it seems that other studios are really upping their game in the animation department so even though this film seems to have a troubled production (switching directors this late in the game and all), i hope they really come up with something special.

[MacGuffin]

[Kal]

is it me or when you see a pixar poster you can already see how more creative and smart they are from other animation studios... plus the quality seems just so much better... no?

[MacGuffin]

Toon Tuesday : How will "Ratatouille" fare in Hollywood's Summer 2007 rat race?  
Jim Hill discusses Disney's growing concern with Pixar Animation Studios' next release. Mind you, it's not the movie itself that worries the Mouse. But -- rather -- the challenge that the company's PR department faces in coming up with just the right marketing campaign for this new Brad Bird film
Source: Jim Hill Media

How's this for irony? The Walt Disney Company (Whose mascot is a mouse) still hasn't figured out how to properly market "Ratatouille" (Pixar's next release, which stars a rat).

At least that's the word coming out of the Mouse House this week. As Disney gears up for the coming year, making sure that all of its upcoming releases are properly positioned & promoted to insure the greatest possible market share.

"So what exactly is the problem with 'Ratatouille' ?," you ask. Well, to be honest, a lot of the concerns that are currently associated with this Brad Bird film can be traced back to "Cars." Which Disney's marketing department thought that they had put together a terrific promotional campaign for. Only to have that John Lasseter movie miss all of the studio's internal financial projections.

As one studio insider explained it to me last week:

"The feeling now is that we all may have been a little too close to 'Cars.' That we were too in love with this film before it was released. Which is why it's now considered a mistake in-house to buy into the old 'Everyone goes to Pixar movies' idea.

Sure, it seems ridiculous to be complaining about the second highest grossing film of the year. But the fact of the matter is that there are 75 million NASCAR fans out there. And -- before 'Cars' opened -- we had convinced ourselves that every one of those people was going to buy a ticket to Pixar's next movie. Which is why we were really expecting that 'Cars' would rack up 'Finding Nemo' and 'The Incredibles' -sized grosses.

But when that didn't happen ... Well, the first place that we looked was at 'Cars' marketing. We started asking ourselves: 'Did we position this picture properly? Should we have gone with another poster? Or a different set of TV commericials?' You always wind up second-guessing yourself in situations like this."

And all of the second guessing that went on after 'Cars' missed its financial projections is now having a trickle-down effect on "Ratatouille." Given that the folks at Disney PR no longer really buy into the old "Everybody goes to Pixar movies" idea ... Well, they're now trying to decide who exactly they should be marketing this Brad Bird movie to.

But -- as the lackluster grosses for DreamWorks Animation's "Flushed Away" recently proved ( That Aardman co-production only grossed $61 million during its initial domestic release) -- marketing movies that star a rat can be a rather tricky affair.

Don't believe me? Then just ask the guys who work for Disney Consumer Products. They've had a hell of a time trying to convince Disney's licensees to take a flyer on the "Ratatouille" characters. As a direct result, this coming summer, you'll only see about a third as many "Ratatouille" -related products on store shelves as there were "Cars" -related products during the Summer of 2006.

And without that retail safety cushion to fall back on (Which really made the difference when Wall Street finally passed judgment on "Cars" overall performance. The general perception now is that -- while this John Lasseter movie did not sell nearly as many tickets as it had originally been expected to -- the retail side of "Cars" did make up for that box office shortfall. Which is why Pixar's most recent release is now considered a qualified success. Translation: A worldwide gross of $461 million is nothing to sneeze at. But that's still $400 million less than "Finding Nemo" made. Which is why the investment community is looking for Pixar to do much better the very next time that this animation studio gets up at bat) ... Well, that puts "Ratatouille" in a rather precarious position.

You see, according to Disney's own internal projections, "Ratatouille" is already expected to sell far fewer tickets than "Cars." How many fewer tickets ? ... Well, no one wants to say just yet. But this is why it's doubly important that Disney's PR department put together the best possible marketing campaign for this Brad Bird movie. To not only improve this animated feature's chances at the box office, but also to help with Disney's damage control efforts.

"What damage control efforts ?," you query? Well, should "Ratatouille" only do 2/3rds of the business that "Cars" did domestically ... That downward trend -- coupled with the fact that there's no possible way that the sale of "Ratatouille" -related merchandise could ever make up for this particular film's box office shortfall -- would then re-open the door for discussion about whether or not the Walt Disney Company significantly over-paid when it acquired Pixar Animation Studios for $7.4 billion.

What's that you say? It's a little premature to be discussing the box office prospects for a film that doesn't actually open for another six months? Well, that's the other reason that Disney's marketing department is really sweating the promotional campaign for this Brad Bird movie.

You see, "Ratatouille" is being released during one of the most fiercely competitive summers in box office history ... I mean, just take a look at some of the other movies that Pixar's next release will be going head-to-head with:

Release date Film Title  Studio
May 4 "Spiderman 3"  Columbia
May 11 "28 Weeks Later" Fox Atomic
May 18 "Shrek the Third" DreamWorks
May 25 "Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End"  Walt Disney Pictures
June 1 "Knocked Up" Universal Pictures
June 8 "Ocean's 13" Warner Brothers
"Surf's Up" Columbia
June 15 "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" 20th Century Fox
June 22 "Evan Almighty" Universal Pictures
June 29th "Live Free or Die Hard" 20th Century Fox
"Ratatouille" Walt Disney Pictures
July 4 "Transformers" DreamWorks
July 13 "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"
Warner Brothers

Now add to this "Variety" reasoning behind why "Cars" was eventually able to rack up $244 million during its initial domestic release last summer (I.E. This John Lasseter film didn't really face any serious competition for the family-friendly audience during the first six weeks that it was in theaters). Then take a look at what opens on July 4th ("Transformers") and then July 13th ("Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix").

When you take all of this into consideration ... Well, is it any wonder that Disney's marketing staff is now fretting about how "Ratatouille" will fare during the Summer of 2007?

Which is why they continue to tinker with possible ad campaigns for this new Brad Bird film. As these PR flaks try & thread their way through the marketing minefield that comes with trying to sell an animated feature (Which automatically turns off a certain segment of your potential audience. Given that there are some adults who just won't buy tickets to animated features. Since they consider these sorts of films to be juvenile fare) that stars a rat (Again, another segment of your potential audience gone due to the rodent factor) who wants to be a chef (Just the idea of a rat in the kitchen is enough to turn off a certain number of potential moviegoers).

So will Pixar's next release be able to overcome all of these handicaps and eventually emerge as the top CG film of 2007? Disney certainly doesn't think so. According to the company insiders that I've spoken with, Mouse House officials are already assuming that "Shrek the Third" will be 2007's top grossing animated film. Right now, the studio's main concern is making sure that "Ratatouille" out-grosses Columbia's "Surf's Up." Given how well all of these penguin pictures have been doing lately, Disney's reportedly already worried that Sony Animation's surfer dude penguins could wind up blowing Remy the Rat right out of the water.

Which is why the Mouse's marketing department continues to explore new concepts for the promotional campaign for "Ratatouille." As it tries to give this new Brad Bird its best possible shot at success in the Hollywood rat race of Summer 2007.

[MacGuffin]

Japanese Trailer

[MacGuffin]

New Trailer here.

[Kal]

I had no idea the story was going to be like that... but I liked it... 2nd most exciting animated film of the year after Bee Movie

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Featurette with Patton Oswalt: http://www.totaleclips.com/Player/Bounce.aspx?eclipid=b10093&bitrateid=341&vendorid=600

[elpablo]

There's a 9 minute clip of the movie with an introduction by Brad Bird here: http://home.disney.go.com/index

[RegularKarate]

I saw this last night.

I thought it was pretty damn awesome. Brad Bird really has a way with making full use of the advantages of animation.  I won't get into how amazing the animation is (and it is... the water elements are just... wow)... it's Pixar, it's expected... I've gotten to the point where I just accept everything is real and I'm not watching computer-rendered stuff... it's the use of the animation that amazes me the most.  Cutting from the POV of the rats vs. that of the humans is handled really well... especially during the higher-action sequences.

Every character in the film is a great character, no matter how small the part.  With the exception of Janeane's character, who I think could have used some more exploring.

Of course, Patton did a great job... the best thing I can say about it was that I kept forgetting it was him because to me, on the screen, Remy was talking.

I have to say that of the two Bird Pixar films, I still liked The Incredibles more, however this proves Cars was a temporary slip-up.

While The Incredibles has more cool design and nerd elements that get me excited (not that this was lacking in that department), this was a more heart-warming film. There's one scene I won't ruin near the end that my wife afterward remarked about, saying "I hate when there's a scene in a movie that makes me cry and everyone else is laughing", to which I replied "I don't know about them, but I was laughing because I was so happy that the scene was so great... it was very moving, but with the series of events leading up to that scene, I couldn't help but laugh with awe and excitement at such a well executed scene (which is also kind of funny at the same time)".

Afterward, Patton and Janeane did a Q&A that consisted of Patton telling stories I've mostly heard before (all great stories) and Janeane slipping up and saying some mildly inappropriate things in front of the children (there were a lot of kids there and they were all very well-behaved, which usually means the movie worked), like the fact that she just assumed behind the scenes two of the characters were having sex. When Patton would remind her of the age of a big part of the audience, she would just say "They don't KNOW what I'm talking about".

It was really fun to listen to Patton talk about the Pixar compound and the lengths they go to in order to inspire creativity including a ceiling decorated like a night sky, complete with the occasional shooting star.

I also love how Brad Bird gets his voice actors based on talent and not name.  One of the main characters is voiced by an animator at Pixar who was just doing temp work.

[©brad]

that was a great review.

this is going to be the remedy for the trilogitis that's been plaguing us all. can't wait!

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SON OF A BITCH! 

they had a wide sneak preview of this tonite at 7pm and i just found out about it.  damn you television+apples in stereo!

[MacGuffin]

Brad Bird Puts the Rat in `Ratatouille'

Brad Bird has become one of the "Incredibles" of movie animation as part of the pioneering outfit behind such cartoon hits as "Finding Nemo," "Monsters, Inc." and the "Toy Story" flicks.

With 2004's superhero saga "The Incredibles," Bird won Pixar Animation's second Academy Award for feature-length animation, following the company's Oscar triumph the previous year for "Finding Nemo."

Writer-director Bird, 49, should be back in Oscar contention with "Ratatouille," the tale of gourmet rodent Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt), who teams with a human kitchen hand to whip up fabulous meals in a French restaurant.

Opening June 29, "Ratatouille" also features the voices of Peter O'Toole, Janeane Garofalo, Ian Holm, Brad Garrett and Brian Dennehy.

"Ratatouille" could have been the first movie Pixar released with a studio partner other than the Walt Disney Co., whose deal to distribute Pixar films was set to expire after last year's "Cars."

Pixar and Disney had broken off talks to extend their deal, but tension between the companies eased after Michael Eisner stepped down as Disney boss.

Under Eisner's successor, Bob Iger, Disney bought Pixar, continuing one of Hollywood's most successful animation partnerships. With seven films behind them, the Disney-Pixar brand has yet to produce anything short of a critical and commercial smash.

Bird sat down with The Associated Press after a 12-minute "Ratatouille" preview for theater owners in Las Vegas, discussing the Pixar touch, the movie's tongue-twisting title and how the company built itself on the precepts of animation pioneer Walt Disney.

___

AP: The advertising materials for "Ratatouille" cleverly work in its pronunciation (rat-a-TOO-ee). Was the title ever considered too much of a mouthful?

Bird: It was a challenge, because we knew that a lot of people couldn't pronounce it. In fact, there were months where they tried to come up with another title, but no other title was as good as "Ratatouille." It's one word, it's French, it's about food and it has the word "rat" in it. So rather than view it as a weakness, we started going, "What if we view it as a strength and make the pronunciation part of the sales?"

AP: Pixar has a perfect track record: seven movies, seven hits. Do you get the night sweats worrying that your movie will be the one to tank?

Bird: Sure, all the way through the production, you have night sweats. Especially in the early part, when questions aren't answered yet. I think if you ask any Broadway veteran, the ones who survive the best are the ones who still get butterflies. If you start getting smug and start thinking, hey, I've got this thing licked, then they're bound to stumble. So I view the feeling of fear as a respect for the audience, because I don't want to serve up the same old refried meal.

AP: Some critics say there's an overload of animated movies.

Bird: It's kind of like saying, "Is there a movie overload?" There's only a movie overload if they're bad. If they're good, it's just like, "Yeehaw!" The problem with animation is too many people are making the same movie. There's nothing wrong with the medium. The medium is as big as the sky, but you have to go to different places in the sky. You can't just go to the same cloud and expect people to get excited about it, with the jabbering sidekicks and the pop references and the hit pop songs. Everybody is kind of emulating that formula, because it's easier to emulate. People in Hollywood, the press always fixates on technology because it's easier to quantify. The truth of the matter is the technology has never been the answer. The same answers to making a good movie are the answers that were around 80 years ago. You've got to have characters people care about and stories that are both surprising and satisfying.

AP: Was it gratifying for you to have Pixar brought in under the Disney fold for good?

Bird: I don't think we would have been happy with just any manifestation of Disney. That was always on the table. It was, is Disney going to embrace the things, many of the principles that we had? And I feel that Bob Iger has totally done that. The ironic thing for us is most of the values that are at the core of Pixar's success are old Disney values. Everybody studies the Old Testament from Walt's mouth himself, and that has guided us, even though we've been doing new technology, and instead of retelling only fairy tales, we tell original stories. But other than that, the rule book is the Disney rule book, which is all about character empathy and the plausible impossible and understanding where characters stand. Technical innovation and all of that, that's all old Walt stuff. We feel that Iger is very much in that school. He understands the reason the Disney name became so treasured, so we couldn't be happier. We had always gotten along with so many people at Disney real! ly, really well. It was just some fundamental differences at the top that were causing the friction. With Iger in there now, everybody I think is really looking forward to the future.

AP: What are the odds of a sequel to "The Incredibles"?

Bird: I love the world. I love the characters, and if I could come with a story that was as good or better than the original, I'd go there in a second. I have pieces of things that I would love to see in a sequel, but I haven't got them all together yet, and I certainly wouldn't want to come out there with something that is less than the original. ... Sequels are not part of the business plan at Pixar. It's all about the filmmakers being passionate about going somewhere.

[bonanzataz]

SON OF A BITCH! 

they had a wide sneak preview of this tonite at 7pm and i just found out about it.  damn you television+apples in stereo!

i was there! i also went to the theater to find out about the sneak preview and that the next three showings of knocked up were sold out. that's the third time i've gone to the theater to see that movie and was unable to get in. how's THAT for trilogies?