'Ratatouille' Points the Way

Jul 02, 05:00 AM

Current Headlines: By Scott Bowles

Ratatouille served up $47.2 million in theaters over the weekend, according to studio estimates from box-office trackers Nielsen EDI.

The animated story about a rat who yearns to be a chef fell about $4 million short of most analysts' projections and had the lowest opening of any Pixar film since 1995's Toy Story, which opened to $29 million.

But the studio, which has released hits including Finding Nemo and The Incredibles, enjoyed its eighth wide-release debut at No. 1, easily beating out Bruce Willis' Live Free or Die Hard. The fourth installment of the Die Hard franchise earned $33.2million, about $2million higher than projected.

Executives at Disney, which distributed Ratatouille, are confident the movie will play through Labor Day.

"With the Fourth of July holiday coming up, we see this as essentially a 10-day opening period," distribution chief Chuck Viane says. "And with the reaction we're getting from critics and audiences, I'm confident we'll be talking about this as one of the biggest movies of the year."

It's a bold assertion, given that the film centers on three things American moviegoers seem to have little craving for: rats, bistros and the French.

But the movie has gotten some of the strongest reviews of the year. It earned recommendations from 95% of critics, according to the survey site RottenTomatoes.com.

Evan Almighty never enjoyed that kind of critical support, and it appears that audiences concur. The film dropped 52% from its relatively unimpressive No. 1 debut, pulling in $15.1 million for third place. With a reported budget of $175 million -- one of the most expensive comedies in Hollywood history -- Evan has taken in $60.6 million.

Filling out the top five: the Stephen King horror film 1408 with $10.6 million and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer with $9 million.

The only other newcomer in wide release, the Michael Moore documentary Sicko, was No. 9 with a middling $4.5 million, about $3 million less than expected. Playing in 441 theaters, the film did a solid if unspectacular $10,200 a theater.

But Hollywood broke its four-week slump as ticket sales increased 2% over the same weekend last year.

Final figures are due today. (c) Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.