'Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical' earns over $1mn for actors
What's the story
Once in a blue moon do we get a social media trend that is endorsed by its original creators. Even if that happens, it fizzles out as a trend itself. But that has not been the case with the viral trend of the Ratatouille musical, which has snowballed perfectly into a Broadway-based musical featuring big luminaries of the trade. And, it generated big money!
Streaming on TodayTix
First crowdfunded title based on Disney's content
The show, which has become the first crowdfunded title based on a Disney creation, is still available on TodayTix.com for streaming with a starting asking donation fee of $5 only. One can donate a maximum of $100 for one ticket, although anyone opting for the different donation tiers of $15, $20, $25, $35, and $50 are also given the same access to the show.
Earned over $1mn
Streaming for 72 hours only
However, there's a catch; the 45-minute musical was uploaded for streaming on January 1 and is available for streaming for only 72 hours. The site informs that there are options to buy the musical and view on-demand, too. The premiere night ticket sales have helped earn the production team a handsome sum crossing $1 million, which will benefit The Actor's Fund.
Viral song
'Remy, the ratatouille'
Broadway stars Jeremy O Harris, Michael Breslin, and Patrick Foley executive-produced the musical, which has accredited Emily Jacobsen as one of the nine songwriters in the project. It all started with Jacobsen, a kindergarten teacher, who wrote, composed, sung, and presented a funny song on Ratatouille's lead character Remy, the rat, on TikTok with chipmunk-style vocals.
Context
Disney supported the process passively
The song was then quickly lapped up by TikTok users with Broadway backgrounds and over 200 million users watched various versions of that fan-made song and subsequent creative improvisations. Disney has also not meddled with the process with legal notices and copyright issues as the brand understood that the motive is to generate money for actors struggling through pandemic with this one-off initiative.