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Saturday, 16 June 2007 |
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You wouldn't think Disney would have a problem promoting an animated movie starring a mouse. But this mouse isn't named Mickey. It's Remy. Who? Exactly. Remy's the lead in "Ratatouille," about a rat that lives in a Paris restaurant and aspires to be a chef. It's the first release from Pixar Animation Studios since it was bought by the Mouse House in early 2006; "Cars" was the final film in the two company's original distribution deal.
It's also Jim Gallagher's first Pixar pic since taking the reins as president of Walt Disney Studios Marketing from Oren Aviv last year. For Gallagher, this summer is basically a repeat of 2006, when the studio had a "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequel and a Pixar film ("Cars"). Both wound up the year as the No. 1 and 2 films, domestically.
While "Ratatouille" features the flashy animation and whimsical characters Pixar has become known for, it isn't necessarily considered a simple sell.
In a summer of easy-to-market sequels, "Ratatouille" isn't based on a pre-existing franchise, its lead character isn't already known by auds, no A-list stars provide the voices of the characters (preventing the studio from pushing them out on the talkshow circuit), and there's the hard-to-pronounce name.
On top of all that, the movie's not even fast-food friendly -- mainly because the lead's a rat and scrambles around a high-end French restaurant. It's also facing some serious competition with "Transformers" and the next installment of "Harry Potter," both of which are expected to drum up family business.
So what's a marketing maven to do? You can read the rest of this Variety article here .
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