Ratchet & Clank
| Budget: $20 million | Financed by: Rainmaker; CNHK; Cinema Management Group |
|---|---|
| Domestic Gross: $8,821,329 | Domestic Distributor: Focus (Gramercy) |
| Overseas Gross: $4,193,984 | Directed by: Kevin Munroe |
Starring: Paul Giamatti | Produced by: David Wohl |
Ratchet & Clank began active development in early 2013, after Rainmaker saw modest returns on their animated feature Escape From Planet Earth (2013). Ratchet & Clank was based on a video game series that began in 2002 and Rainmaker was the lead investor on the project, covering 63% of the $20 million budget. Other financing came from the China based CNHK, which is part of the Wanda company and Cinema Management Group. Canadian tax breaks and foreign pre-sales sold by Cinema Management Group fueled the rest of the expenses. The movie was brought to the Toronto Intl. Film Festival in 2014 for distribution, with the hopes of securing an early 2015 release, but it wasn’t until May 2015 at Cannes that it landed a domestic distributor. Focus took the pic as a service deal and would distribute with P&A expenses funded by Rainmaker and other 3rd party sources. Ratchet & Clank was dated for April 29, 2016 and that date would be parallel with a new video game release for PlayStation 4.
Focus released Ratchet & Clank sporting their recently revived Gramercy Pictures label, which was designed for genre releases. The toon had a modest marketing spend compared to most studio fare, but the P&A expenses were at least the cost of the film’s budget. $11.85 million (as per iSpotTV) was spent on national TV ads, plus millions more on other promotional means and booking expenses. Focus secured 2,891 theaters and it opened against Keanu and Mother’s Day and would see direct competition with the third weekend of The Jungle Book and Zootopia was still going strong in its 9th frame. Ratchet & Clank was tracking for an opening weekend near $10 million, but was dead on arrival with $4,869,278 — placing #7 for the weekend led by The Jungle Book. It lost even more of its core audience the following weekend when Captain America: Civil War opened and Ratchet sank 69.9% to $1,463,250. It lasted only five weeks in release and cumed just $8,821,329. About $4.8 million would be returned after theaters take their percentage of the gross. In their investor filing report, Rainmaker took a $10 million impairment charge on the movie after it flopped.
Ratchet & Clank was a total dud overseas as well, grossing just $4,193,984 across many distributors. France was the only market that posted over $1 million in receipts with a $1.2 million total. It was sent straight to video in Australia.