“Ratatouille” Tops Box Office With Culinary Cartoon Comedy
Posted July 1, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The studio that gave us Mickey Mouse has put another rodent on top of the box office world.
” Ratatouille,” an animated comedy about a gourmet rat that cooks in a French restaurant, debuted as the top weekend movie with $47.2 million, beating out action thriller ” Live Free or Die Hard,” and thus relegating Bruce Willis‘s return as unstoppable cop John McClane to second-place with $33.15 million.
In much narrower release, Michael Moore‘s health care documentary ” Sicko,” took in $4.5 million in its nationwide debut, good for the ninth spot.
Rounding out the top three was the previous weekend’s No. 1 movie, ” Evan Almighty,” which pulled in $15.1 million in its second go-round.
With terrific reviews for “Ratatouille,” Disney’s counting on staying power at theatres.
“Our whole idea was to set ourselves up for what we call the 10-day opening,” Viane said of the upcoming Fourth of July week. “We look at this as one extended playtime. We’re in this for the long haul. We’re glad we’re No. 1, but we’re not trying to make this just a weekend wonder.”
Hollywood’s overall revenues appear to be up slightly, marking the end of a four-week downturn. The top-12 movies took in $146.7 million, up two per cent from the same weekend last year.
“For now, I’m glad we broke the down streak,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. “Four down weekends turns into five, which turns into eight, and then we have a slump on our hands. We didn’t want to go in that direction.”
Here’s the rest of the weekend’s top 10, with all figures estimated according to Media By Numbers LLC.
1. “Ratatouille,” $47.2 million.
2. “Live Free or Die Hard,” $33.15 million.
3. “Evan Almighty,” $15.1 million.
4. ” 1408,” $10.6 million.
5. ” Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer,” $9 million.
6. ” Knocked Up,” $7.4 million.
7. ” Ocean’s Thirteen,” $6.05 million.
8. ” Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” $5 million.
9. “Sicko,” $4.5 million.
10. ” Evening,” $3.5 million.
