French films showed encouraging results in foreign markets during February, with several remarkable performances in Italy and in French-speaking territories, in particular.
| Rank | Title | Admissions | Box Office | No. of Prints | No. of countries | Total admissions |
| 1 | Belle and Sébastien | 1,225,698 | 7,550,178 | 706 | 7 | 1,569,552 |
| 2 | Beauty and the Beast | 459,372 | 3,037,445 | 420 | 3 | 687,826 |
| 3 | The Past | 218,457 | 1,485,207 | 250 | 9 | 572,661 |
| 4 | Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants | 149,630 | 980,019 | 252 | 4 | 382,517 |
| 5 | Superchondriac | 132,819 | 1,021,998 | 58 | 2 | 214,882 |
| 6 | Three Brothers : The Return | 108,324 | 891,163 | 53 | 3 | 115,595 |
| 7 | Blue is the Warmest Color | 102,395 | 529,937 | 234 | 12 | 1,496,756 |
| 8 | Me, Myself and Mum | 56,893 | 373,248 | 47 | 3 | 196,655 |
| 9 | Ernest & Celestine | 47,934 | 227,808 | 215 | 5 | 283,828 |
| 10 | Venus in Fur | 47,373 | 284,857 | 51 | 4 | 505,258 |
| 11 | On My Way | 46,114 | 328,156 | 70 | 3 | 204,176 |
| 12 | On the Way to School | 44,585 | 252,459 | 88 | 5 | 299,416 |
| 13 | Il était une forêt | 43,646 | 354,281 | 108 | 4 | 152,076 |
| 14 | Yves Saint Laurent | 42,998 | 386,686 | 42 | 2 | 95,899 |
| 15 | The Dreamers | 38,883 | 206,858 | 20 | 1 | 39,896 |
| 16 | Stranger by the Lake | 37,521 | 250,728 | 49 | 4 | 120,975 |
| 17 | The Family | 33,977 | 73,629 | 74 | 3 | 8,548,246 |
| 18 | The Crocodile of Botswanga | 32,017 | 256,313 | 28 | 2 | 40,020 |
| 19 | Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart | 30,194 | 228,401 | 45 | 2 | 32,440 |
| 20 | Jamais le premier soir | 21,014 | 161,117 | 20 | 2 | 49,306 |
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In February, French films engendered slightly better results in international theaters than during the same period in 2013, with a total of 4.3 million admissions across 27 territories (compared with 4.1 million in February 2013). This month's rankings confirm the success of Belle and Sébastien in Italian theaters, and reveal excellent results for new titles such as Beauty and the Beast in Italy and Superchondriac in Europe's French-language markets. Seven majority French productions topped 100,000 admissions – 4 more than in 2013. The fine results of the films mentioned above allow French-language films to account for 73% of global admissions, a higher score when compared with last year's results for the same period.
Several French comedies have scored well in Europe's French-language territories. The release of Three Brothers : The Return and Superchondriac in Belgium attracted nearly 440,000 spectators in February, proving that an upturn is well underway there after a slow 2013 (156,000 admissions in February). The same can be said for French-speaking Switzerland, which accumulated 166,000 admissions last month (compared with 73,000 in 2013).
Spotlight on a selection of majority French films which left their mark in February 2014
Belle and Sébastien's success is confirmed in Italy (Notorious Pictures). After rising to first position at the box office during its second week, with almost 400,000 spectators for 521 prints (the largest print run for a majority French film ever launched in this territory), the film has now clocked up more than one million admissions in Italian theaters. Belle and Sébastien is hence fast approaching the results achieved by Amelie (Bim Distribuzione) which attracted 1.5 million spectators. However, it lags behind the record held by a French film in this territory: The Intouchables with 2.5 million admissions.
Belle and Sébastien posted 1.6 million admissions outside France by mid-March.
With nearly 16,000 admissions for 55 prints, On My Way got off to a reasonable start in Germany (Goodfellas), given the difficulties films of this type usually face in this territory. The film maintained its performance in the following weeks, with more than 40,000 admissions registered by the end of February and after 3 weeks in theaters. As a comparison, Bright Days Ahead (Goodfellas) tallied 15,000 admissions for 47 prints during its opening week last year, and went on to reach 68,000 admissions by the end of its run. The influence of Catherine Deneuve's popularity is hence confirmed by On My Way's results in Germany, as was the case last year in the The Netherlands (Goodfellas), where the film drew in almost 60,000 spectactors for a maximum of 27 prints. Last but not least, in Brazil (Esfera Culturals), Emmanuelle Bercot's film registered 40,000 admissions after 11 weeks in theaters.
On My Way had accumulated 208,000 admissions abroad by mid-March.
Three Brothers : The Return successfully launched in Europe's French-speaking markets. After rising to second place at the Belgian box office (Belga Films) during its opening week, with 46,000 admissions for 35 prints, the film had accumulated almost 83,000 admissions by the end of February. Although it has already overtaken the 50,000 admissions recorded in 1996 by The Three Brothers (Alternative Films), it will nevertheless be impossible to revive the performances of the second film in the series, The Three Kings (Alternative Films), which scored nearly 200,000 admissions in 2001. In French-speaking Switzerland (JMH Distributions SA), Three Brothers: the Return rose to top position at the box office during its opening week, with nearly 11,000 admissions for 14 prints, making it the best French film release of 2014 in this territory. With 25,000 admissions after 3 weeks on release, the film will however not match the results of The Three Brothers (Pathé Films), which clocked up 88,000 spectators after 20 weeks in theaters in 1996.
Superchondriac has had an excellent debut in Europe's French-speaking territories. In Belgium (Alternative Films), the film raced to first position at the box office during its opening week and clocked up more than 115,000 admissions for 43 prints. This launch, the best since the beginning of 2014, can be compared with that of Welcome to the Land of Ch'tis (Alternative Films), which began its Belgian career in 2008 with 124,000 admissions in its opening week, going on to register the best admisson figures for a French film since the beginning of 2000, with more than 1.1 million admissions by the end of its career. In French-speaking Switzerland (Pathé Films), Dany Boon's latest film also rose straight to the top of the local box office during its opening week and became the best launch for 2014 in this territory, with nearly 18,000 admissions for 15 prints, thus scoring the period's highest spectator average per print. However, this result is still below the performances of Nothing to Declare (Pathé Films), which, in 2011, garnered 49,000 for a similar number of prints (16), before completing its run with 202,000 admissions.
The Past successfully pursues its career in the USA and English-speaking Canada (Sony). After 10 weeks in theaters, the number of prints has remained at a solid 75, and the film has generated nearly $1.2 million at the box office, being about 142,000 admissions. The Past has hence achieved the third best box office performance for a majority French-language film released in 2013, after Renoir (Samuel Goldwyn Films – $2.3 million, being around 300,000 admissions) and Blue is the Warmest Color, which is still out on release (IFC Films – $2,2 million, being around 270,000 admissions). In Germany (Camino Filmverleih), Asghar Farhadi's film has reached 76,000 admissions 5 weeks into its run, for a maximum of 66 prints. It will have to sustain this performance if it is to come close to the results of the director's previous film, A Parting (Alamode Film Distribution OHG), which, in 2011, completed its career with 120,000 admissions in this territory.
By mid-March, The Past had raked in 573,000 admissions abroad.
Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants has posted excellent results in Eastern Europe. In Poland (Kino Świat International), the film has registered more than 224,000 admissions after seven weeks on release, the highest attendance recored for a French film in the territory since the beginning of 2013. It should be noted that only Arthur and the Invisibles (Monolith Films – 361,000 admissions by the end of its career) and The True Story of Puss'n Boots (Kino Świat International – 300,000 admissions) have achieved this level of performance for a French animation film since the beginning of 2000. The film has also already accrued more than 50,000 admissions in the Czech Republic (Hollywood Classic Entertainment) and 15,000 in Slovakia, where it is also distributed by Hollywood Classic Entertainment.
Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants had a total of 383,000 admissions in international theaters by mid-March.
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