Global Box Office: Monks, Assassins, Maids & Trophy Wives
Saturday, August 27, 2011 at 2:41PM 
To speak in gross generalities the last weekend in August is Hollywood's last chance to nab easy-to-please summertime dollars before the films get more "depressing" (read: statue-hungry) and people get back to careerism/schooling in September. But with Hurricane Irene shutting down NYC's unshutdownable mass transit and keeping people locked up in their homes (or other people's homes) this weekend all over the Northeast the box office will probably be way down. The Help will try to fend off three wide release newcomers seeking different audiences be that the horror crowd (Don't Be Afraid of the Dark), the action-hungry (Colombiana), or comedy seekers (Our Idiot Brother reviewed). We probably won't be discussing box office tomorrow -- especially if we get a power outtage tonight! -- so let's talk about a related topic today.
Let's talk about movies that box office reports elsewhere never talk about: non-English language movies. Which are the highest grossers worldwide? The figures are drawn from various box office mojo charts as of Friday 08/26. I'm assuming that India doesn't release figures since Bollywood is a huge industry and you'd think they'd factor into the first chart more than they do if they did.
UPDATE: After compiling the list I discovered through the comments -- thanks Kin -- that the "Yearly Worldwide" chart that was my primary source of information contradicts the "Overseas Total Yearly Box Office" chart to quite an insanely large degree (what gives box office mojo?). Some titles are totally absent from either list though that makes no literal sense as "overseas" by any definition is part of "worldwide". NEW UPDATED LIST AND APOLOGIES AFTER THE JUMP.
As it turns out, their "yearly worldwide" chart excludes properties that were not released in the US (though even that chart does contradict itself since two of the titles have not yet been released) which is grossly xenophobic. America is NOT the world!
I'm not sure what I can do at this point other than to throw up my hands as it would take at least 6 more hours to revamp the chart as I intended it to include the "Overseas Total Yearly Box Office". In my zeal to cover something that doesn't get covered I dug myself into an abyss of information that's hard to compile and very hard to get right. Rather than spend another day onphotos and research and write-ups I am just going to list the titles with no information... if they appear on only the Overseas chart, they have only the titles and no information. Most though not all of the films that I did write ups and photos appear only the Yearly Worldwide chart.
I apologize. Given the contradictions from the same source I hope you'll take this not in the spirit of global completism in which it was attempted but in the spirit of "TFE Cares and Tries!" ;)
2001's International Hits
Non-English Language Division
Hankyu Densha (Japan) $118.7
Rien à déclarer (Nothing to Declare) (France) $90.0
Che bella giornata (What a Beautiful Day) (Italy) $60.6
<--- Beginning of the Great Revival (China) $58.3
I need to get out more and support distributor China Lion's efforts to bring Chinese films to the American marketplace. (It's happening much more frequently thanks to them. Their current release is that 3D Sex & Zen talking point.) This film, though, - lambasted in some quarters as Communist propaganda -- features no three-dimensional sex and details the founding of China's communist party with a cast that includes the director John Woo (he did not direct this) and three star beauties: Fan Bingbing, Andy Lau and Daniel Wu. It made only $151,000 in limited release in the States but at home it was a big deal.
Sunny $51.1
Pokemon: Best Wishes The Movie (Japan) $47.3
Kokuriko-zaka kara (Japan) $44.7
Kokowääh (Germany) $44.4
<--- Of Gods and Men (France) $42.2
Though famously snubbed by Oscar this past February, the true story of Christian monks living on the outskirts of a poor Muslim village was a major hit and award winning success elsewhere. Hence the 'famously snubbed' part. The irony for Oscar watchers is that the film was also an arthouse success in the States far outdistancing all but one of the actual Oscar nominees in ticket sales. The film stars two actors whose faces are very familiar to international audiences since they work regularly in both French cinema and Hollywood films: silver fox Lambert Wilson and character actor Michael Lonsdale.
[Of Gods and Men at Netflix, Love Film]
Meitantei Conan: Chinmoku no kuôtâ (Detective Conan: Quarter of Silence) $42.0
<---- Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance (Japan) $41.2
IMDb lists this sci-fi anime hit as a 2009 feature but it seems to have had its release schedule truly spread out for years to travel the world. I was going to type up a simple synopsis but every time I attempt to read about it my head starts spinning. It's the second part of a tetralogy which is based on a television series.
[Evangelion at Netflix, Love Film]
SP: The motion picture kakumei hen $40.2
Gantz $39.4
Kronjuvelerna (Sweden) $39.0
Gantz: Perfect Answer $33.6
Shaolin $33.5
Chosun's Detective $31.7
Jiang Ai (Eternal Moment) (China) $30.1
My Own Swordsman (China) $30.0
Wu Xia (Dragon) (Hong Kong) $29.1
Eiga Doraemon Shin Nobita to tetsujin heidan: Habatake tenshitachi (Japan) $28.4
<---- Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen (Hong Kong) $26.6
Donnie Yen took over the old Bruce Lee role back in 1994 and this is the nearly two decade later sequel to his first go at the role which left him presumed dead. Guess again! Franchise characters never die. This film takes place before the second sino-japanese war and Chen Zhen is concerned about Japan invading China.
[Available for Instant Watch on Netflix, Love Film]
<---- Biutiful (Mexico) $25.1
Though one might suspect this story of a cancer stricken drug addict would drown in Feel Bad oceans, it's international box office was clearly buoyed by unarguable star power (Javier Bardem is a draw here and elsewhere). As y'all know I tried to watch it but was unsuccessful due to my Alejandro González Iñárritu miserabilist allergies. It seems that each decade I miss one of the Best Actor nominated performances (in the Aughts it was Tommy Lee Jones's In the Valley of Elah) and I'm sad to have already used my pass for this new decade. Mostly because I love Bardem.
[Biutiful at Netflix, Love Film]
Eyyvah eyvah 2 (Turkey) $24.7
Torrente 4 (Spain) $24.0
<--- Potiche (France) $23.2
The French comedy drew moviegoers to theaters through its colorful camp, funny screenplay and parade of Gallic stars: Deneuve, Depardieu, Renier and Viard. It earned 93% of its gross outside the States. It was a minor arthouse hit here too but it's sad that it wasn't bigger. We pay so little attention to subtitled fare. The theatrical grosses for foreign language films in the States seem to shrink every year. Are Americans just less adventurous in general or did three decades of home viewing ease (vhs to dvd to bluray) merely move adventurousness into the privacy of one's own home?
[Potiche is available at Netflix and soon on Love Film]
Andarushia: Megami no Houfuku $22.9
Choijongbyunggi Hwal (The Last Weapon) $22.3
Qualunquemente (Italy) $22.0
Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf 3 $21.7
Immaturi (Italy) $21.3
Quick (South Korea) $20.5
Saya-zamurai (Scabbard Samurai) $20.2
Gojijeon (The Front Line) (South Korea) $20.1
Gooische vrouwen (The Netherlands) $19.5
Princess Toyotomi (Japan) $19.1
Gaku (UNKNOWN) $18.5
Sector 7 (South Korea) $17.7
Oba: The Last Samurai $17.7
<---- 13 Assassins (Japan) $17.6
Takashi Miike's über violent samurai picture caused a pebble like stir in America's big pond with that 45 minute action climax. I believe it's now the director's biggest American success. The ripples were bigger overseas where it grossed millions more and is now the fourth biggest grosser of the prolific directors career. Curiously, Miike's arguably most famous feature, the terrifying Audition (1999 released in the US in 2001), is not among his top ten biggest financial successes. I amend: I suppose that's not curious at all since the biggest critical hits are rarely the biggest grossers, no matter which language the actors are speaking.
[Available for Instant Watch on Netflix, and Love Film]
Gekijouban Kamen raidâ Ôzu Wonderful: Shougun to 21 no koa medaru $17.4
<---- The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch (France) $ 16.9
Here we get our first film on the countdown that has never been released in America. It's about the secret adopted heir to a billion dollar empire who is imprisoned for a crime he claims he didn't commit. It's based on a hugely successful Belgian comic book series ---which one assumes is why it hasn't been exported to the US (?) -- and since IMDb lists it as a 2008 feature it took a long time to get to theaters anyway. The film stars Miki Manojlovic, Kristin Scott Thomas and Tomer Sisley as Largo.
<---- Delhi Belly (India) $16.7 .... listed as $15.1 on a different chart
This mix-up comedy about three roommates and a package they're supposed to deliver was produced by Bollywood superstar Aamir Khaan (Lagaan). Unfortunately the title is slang for "Diarrhea experienced by travelers in a foreign country who are not accustomed to the local food and water." Ewww. How did they sell so many tickets!? Oh wait, right, Bridesmaids. People love bathroom humor! Perhaps the film doesn't belong in this list though since much of it is in apparently in English.
[Available at Netflix]
Paradise Kiss (Japan) $16.7
Femmine contro maschi (Italy) $16.3
Case départ (France) $16.2
Kureyon Shinchan: Arashi o yobu ougon no supai daisakusen (UNKNOWN) $16.1
OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let's Go Kamen Riders $16.0
Les femmes du 6ème étage (Service Entrance) (France) $15.5
<--- Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster (Hong Kong) $15.1
Martial arts star Donnie Yen had a good year, eh? It's his second film in the countdown after "Legend of the Fist". This is the biopic about Bruce Lee's mentor Ip Man. And as you'll undoubtedly recall it's the same general story that's inspired international reknowned director/actor duo Wong Kar Wai and Tony Leung Chiu Wait to reteam for the forthcoming The Grand Master (2012)... see previous post.
[Available for instant watch on Netflix, Love Film]
<--- The Housemaid (South Korea) $14.8
This erotic thriller is a remake of the 1960 Korean classic of the same name. It doubles as a nasty satire about class warfare if you let it marinate a bit in your mind. The Housemaid got people talking at film festivals and in cinephile circles on this side of the Pacific but the conversation was much louder overseas where it earned 99% of its gross. The film is now available on DVD so don't miss the lead actressing of Jeon Do-yeon (one of Asia's very best actors) who gets key support from Yoon Yeo-jeong as the bitter dryly funny older maid. Yoon Yeo-jeong (sometimes spelled as Yun Yeo-jong) won several Supporting Actress Awards for her work here. [Interesting trivia note: Yeo-jeong was the lead actress of Woman of Fire (1971) which was the second entry in Kim Ki-young's original Housemaid trilogy begun in the 60s. How about that?!]
[Available at Netflix, and soon on Love Film]
Trap.com (Brazil) $14.5
1,778 Stories of Me and My Wife (Japan) $14.2
L'élève Ducobu (France) $14.1
Rebirth (Japan) $14.0
Largo Winch 2: The Burma Conspiracy (France) $14.0
Titeuf, le film (France) $13.9
Vykrutasy (Lucky Trouble) (Russia) $13.9
<--- My Afternoons With Margueritte (France) $13.6
Gerard Depardieu joins Donnie Yen as a two-timer on this hit list. This film is the sentimental adaptation of the bestseller about an illiterate handyman (Depardieu) who develops a friendship with an older woman who schools him on the love of literature. It's one of only two films in the top dozen that never came to US theaters but since its Depardieu you can trust it'll show up in the top film markets. I just typed that without even checking. [...a minute later...] Yep, it arrives in the US on September 16th.
Since so many of those films barely made a blip in the US, I thought it might be interesting to compare these statistics to the foreign successes at the US box office. Here's one final quickie list for comparison's sake.
Biggest Foreign Language Hits of 2011 at the US Box Office
01 Biutiful (Mexico) $5.1 OSCAR NOMINEE
02 Of Gods and Men (France) $3.9
03 Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (India) $3.0
04 Incendies (Canada) $2.0 OSCAR NOMINEE
05 Potiche (France) $1.6
06 Delhi Belly (India) $1.5
07 The Double Hour (Italy) $1.5
08 Certified Copy (France) $1.3
09 No Eres Tú Soy Yo (Mexico) $1.3
10 In a Better World (Denmark) $1.0 OSCAR WINNER
11 Yamla Pagla Deewana (India) $.9
12 Ready (India) $.9
*13 Assassins came in at... wait for it... 13!
How many of these features have you seen? If you're on the East Coast have you prepped your home or apartment for power outtages (charge up those laptop batteries and photos now!)
Reader Comments (21)
Love when you report on this stuff.
My name is James, I'm an actressexual and I haven't seen Potiche. Bravo me but I regret it and I'll totally see it some day!
Nick -- thanks. I try. there's clearly an absence of such reporting ;)
James -- say three Hail Meryls and we absolve you of this sin (as long as you put it on your rental queue)
"It's based on a hugely successful Belgian comic book series ---which one assumes is why it hasn't been exported to the US (?) "
The Smurfs and Tintin are also based on hugely succesful Belgian comic book series. The only difference is those are American films. It's just a patriotic thing.
I've lived in Belgium for the first 20 years of my life. We got to see almost any French movie released (and believe me, the amount of crap compared to good movies is the same as the American film industry) and just the big US movies, and by that, I mean the blockbusters and the Oscar films.
It's not just an American thing to reject foreign language films, it's universal. I guess we get to see more variety in Europe, but you have to search for it in specific movie theatres.
This is why The Film Experience is indispensable. Nobody reports on this stuff.
I have only seen Certified Copy (amazing) and My Afternoons with Margaritte (a movie that is a hit here in Brazil, as well as Potiche; Brazilians love French comedies!). It's good and all that, but we have seen the same history in a movie called Driving Miss Daisy, 20 years ago.
This report was great, even if some of these movies are not. (International mass audiences don't fare much better taste-wise than US mass audiences.) I've added Potiche to my upcoming list of films to catch at my local film festival; wouldn't have noticed Deneuve's involvement if not for your mention here. Thanks!
I saw "Potiche" twice, and loved it both times.
"My Afternoons with Marguerite" played here in Québec late last year, and I found it quite nice. Gisèle Casadesus, the older lady, is a treasure. Both of the above films put lie to the supposition that Gérard Depardieu, because he's looking pretty scruffy and pisses in airplanes, has lost his acting chops. He hasn't!
Interesting to not that "Incendies" got more than double the US box office than the Oscar winner "In a Better World." (Note that the "Incendies" figure is just the USA, whereas "IaBW" is the USA + Canada.) I gather, Nat, that you haven't seen "Incendies" yet....
The Largo Winch film played in Montréal in early 2010 or maybe late 2009, but I never saw it, since it looked lousy and got crap reviews.
As for the top NAm box-office films this year..."Certified Copy" is really going to make my Top Ten list, that's for sure!
I haven't seen any of those yet. I was going to see the Miike but my local multiplex already relegated it to late-o'clock screenings and I would have fallen asleep. The Housemaid is hanging around here somewhere somehow. I just don't remember where.
So far, instead of seeing Midnight in Paris again (boo, hiss) and hoping against hope Don't Be Afraid of the Dark was a halfway decent haunted house-like thing, I've watched a ton of Doctor Who and got through some late '90s Korean horror films. Whispering Corridors was a great ghost/mystery film with some gialli-like flourishes and Memento Mori was an interesting high school romance/thriller wrapped with a bland oatmeal bow. People have told me to watch those for years and I'm mad at myself that I didn't listen sooner. Stupid hurricane.
wow, i'll forgive gérard depardieu for his lack of bladder control now that i see how pregnant he is
This is cool as I always love your foreign reportings. But instead of using various charts, why not just use this one:
http://boxofficemojo.com/intl/weekend/yearly/?yr=2011&p=.htm
It looks like you missed some foreign films here. Sequel! :)
Delhi Belly was actually quite a breakthrough for mainstream Bollywood. They tried making a Guy Richie-Tarantino-esque film...it;s much cruder, but the influences are crystal clear. And it's an Aamir Khan production so it is of a certain level. Very new...very enjoyable. I dunno how it'll fair with non-Indians though.
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara was pretty nice too.
Kin -- UGH. that makes no sense I used one chart (the "yearly" worldwide) and supplemented for the second list with the american yearly. then i double checked with individual film titles.
And yet this list i didn't see AND it contradicts the "yearly" worldwide... how can the "overseas" total yearly conflict with the yearly worldwide in terms of absent movies? CONFUSING.
Yeah, I just saw the worldwide list and it said on the bottom that "Movies must be released in the US for the year specified to qualify for this chart." So if there's no release/distributor, Americans can't possibly care about them. That's unfortunate.
*US release/distributor
Anyways, silly BOM.
Actually, there's a mistake with the box-office gross of "Potiche". On Box-Office Mojo the total is not updated with every country... until now, the film has grossed $ 31 millions on foreign markets (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=potiche.htm), the $ 23.2 millions is only updated to last March. This means is Ozon's biggest foreign hit since "8 Women".
Kin -- but even that does not explain it since some of those titles that i featured have not been released in the states.
EVERYONE -- I TOTALLY FUSED THE LISTS BUT UNFORTUNATELY IT MAKES THIS POST VERY USELESS.
I REALLY APOLOGIZE. it's what i get for attempting this every so often. blargh.
Stefano -- i don't see verification of that anywhere -- they have the number at 23.2 still. But i think if i ever report on this again i will just have to use a lot of disclaimers such as "this is all dependent on box office mojo's whims"... unless someone knows of a better site for this type of thing?
Unfortunately, cumulative numbers on Box Office Mojo for foreign markets are not always updated, especially for art-house films. The best thing is to sum a film's box-office gross for every country on their list... in this case, the result ($ 31 million) is much higher than the 21 million they reported for foreign markets (updated to last March). Until now, "Potiche" has grossed over $ 32.5 millions worldwide... hope they become faster to update their worldwide chart.
Sorry Nat, I didn't mean to give you stress or make you work doubly hard (even when I claimed for a sequel). I think any movie with a US distributor is included, even those to be released later in the year. We can all agree that this BOM's fault.
Nat, the way Box Office Mojo lists foreign revenues is really tough to follow, so don't beat yourself up over it.
I was surprised to see that "Rien à Déclarer" did so well. I saw it on Friday, when it opened here, and found it to be very funny, even more so than "Potiche."
Also, I forgot to mention that Catherine Deneuve is the specially honoured star at this year's Montréal World Film Festival.