Sandwiched between the big summer action flicks Live Free or Die Hard and Transformers, Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille dishes out a tale food and friendship as it debuts in theaters across North America today. The latest animated feature from director Brad Bird (The Incredibles, The Iron Giant) is the best-reviewed movie in release and should do big business, despite some tough competition from officer John McClane and certain robots in disguise.
Ratatouille tells the story of a rat named Remy, who dreams of becoming a great chef. When fate places him in the city of Paris, he finds himself ideally situated beneath a restaurant made famous by his culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau. There, he forms an unlikely partnership with Linguini, the garbage boy, and the two hatch a plan to jointly become the greatest chef in all of Paris. The movie has opened in nearly 4,000 theaters and has a good chance of occupying the No. 1 spot on the charts, at least until the DreamWorks/Paramount live-action/CG take on Transformers brings some early Fourth of July fireworks to multiplexes on Tuesday.
If its mid-week debut is any indication, 20th Century Fox’s Live Free or Die Hard is going to put up a good fight this weekend. The film grossed $9.1 million on Wednesday, proving the Bruce Willis franchise still has some steam left in it nearly 20 years after the first film changed the face of the action flick forever. Directed by Len Wiseman (Underworld, Underworld: Evolution), this fourth installment in the series features extensive visual effects work by Digital Dimension, RIOT, The Orphanage, Hydraulx, Pixel Liberation Front, New Deal Studios, Baked Goods, Pixel Magic, Amalgamated Pixels, Rainmaker and Cinema Production Services.
While action and animation draw in a decidedly male audience, ladies in search of something more emotionally charged can seek out Evening, a romantic drama from Focus Features that spans two generations of women. The movie opens today in a mere 977 theaters.
Recent releases Evan Almighty (Universal), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (20th Century Fox), 1408 (Weinstein Co./MGM) and Ocean’s Thirteen (Warner Bros.) should get a bit of extra mileage this holiday weekend, assuming there are enough Ratatouille scraps and spare Transformers parts to go around.
