RATATOUILLE has just celebrated its third week at Number 1 at the UK Box Office, proving it’s the firm family favourite for half term and beyond.

The Disney/Pixar collaboration, directed by Brad Bird, has now grossed an impressive £17.3 million in three weeks and is gaining momentum from the fantastic audience word of mouth backed up by some of the best reviews of the year.

Strong evening shows prove that Ratatouille is being enjoyed equally by adults on a night out as well as by families with kids, proving once again that Pixar have the magic formula to create fantastic animated films for all audience palates.

Ratatouille has also been a huge hit across Europe grossing $240 million so far and making it the third biggest animated film ever.

The film follows the fortunes of Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt), a country rat with a heightened sense of taste and smell who dreams of becoming a chef in Paris. When fortune places him in the city, he reluctantly teams up with inept garbage boy Linguini (Lou Romano) and sets about transforming Gusteau’s restaurant into the talk of the town.

Incredibly, the success of the film has even been credited with sparking one of the unlikeliest pet crazes for some time with the UK’s largest pet retailer, Pets at Home, announcing a dramatic rise in sales of pet rodents following the release of Ratatouille.

UK sales of rats currently sit at 2,022 for the whole month so far – a 30% increase on last – and although Pets at Home strongly urge against “impulse buys”, the animal specialists are already estimating weekly sales to have doubled by the end of the half-term week to over 1,000 rats.

“Dumbo rats” have proved to be the favourite among enthusiasts who identify the species’ notable big ears as having a likeness to the film’s main character, Remy.

Read our review of Ratatouille

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