In November, French animated films set a new record on the international stage: the French contender for the Oscar for Best Foreign-Language Film has just launched a highly promising run in the USA, while French comedies have posted successful results in Belgium in 2015.
This November, two majority French productions succeeded in attracting over 3.5 spectators in international theaters!
# | Title | Admissions | Box Office Revenues (€) | No. of Prints | No. of Countries | Total Admissions |
1 | The Transporter Legacy | 3,701,830 | 17,595,356 | N/A | 10 | 9,308,562 |
2 | The Little Prince | 3,675,603 | 12,482,085 | 1,717 | 25 | 12,607,061 |
3 | The New Adventures of Aladdin | 92,439 | 760,865 | 54 | 2 | 228,164 |
4 | Once in a Lifetime | 76,760 | 510,068 | 120 | 2 | 160,862 |
5 | Mustang | 67,762 | 400,614 | 93 | 5 | 142,269 |
6 | Arthur and the War of the Two Worlds | 60,596 | 368,424 | 267 | 1 | 1,534,860 |
7 | Dheepan | 55,129 | 319,431 | 212 | 10 | 176,586 |
8 | Grace of Monaco | 49,615 | 202,945 | 96 | 3 | 3,534,596 |
9 | The Bélier Family | 46,688 | 438,495 | 67 | 5 | 3,440,805 |
10 | Lolo | 45,521 | 374,733 | 52 | 2 | 80,791 |
11 | Love | 41,986 | 324,397 | 129 | 10 | 142,931 |
12 | Mune | 40,900 | 214,030 | 67 | 6 | 1,926,432 |
13 | The Measure of a Man | 34,528 | 200,872 | 48 | 2 | 73,723 |
14 | Marguerite | 32,920 | 229,898 | 146 | 9 | 133,318 |
15 | The New Girlfriend | 24,091 | 69,517 | 62 | 5 | 366,502 |
16 | Samba | 12,708 | 40,025 | 31 | 3 | 2,158,997 |
17 | Mon roi | 11,918 | 109,863 | 25 | 2 | 30,035 |
18 | Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants | 11,757 | 61,093 | 44 | 3 | 2,471,712 |
19 | Courted | 11,288 | 142,757 | 13 | 1 | 11,288 |
20 | The Salt of the Earth | 9,996 | 37,467 | 36 | 4 | 1,377,213 |
The results speak for themselves! The Little Prince now ranks as the most successful French animated film in foreign theaters in more than 20 years. With just under 13 million admissions registered at the end of November, the film produced by On Entertainment has broken the record set almost ten years ago by Arthur and the Invisibles (10.3 million admissions abroad). The film's Japanese launch has certainly played a part in these fine results: released late November, it attracted 192,000 spectators in its opening week and jumped to the top of the box office. In Mexico, after sitting at the number 2 position in the charts for two weeks, it has already reached 2 million admissions. This is a historic feat that only three French productions shot in English have achieved in over 20 years, with the film even outshining the performance of The Intouchables (1.6 million admissions). This is the 28th French film to have attracted more than 10 million spectators in international theaters since 1994.
France's submission for the Oscar for Best Foreign-Language Film has enjoyed a successful debut across the Atlantic. Released in three North American theaters that are accustomed to presenting French fare (the Lincoln Plaza and the IFC Center in New York, and the Laemmle's Royal Theater in Los Angeles), Mustang clocked up $32,000 in ticket sales in its opening week and $35,000 in its second week, despite the number of prints remaining constant. Boasting a high average number of spectators per print, Mustang thus registered an average of 8,250 spectators after two weeks, with an anticipated increase in the number of prints in circulation at the end of 2015. Mustang posted a running total of 140,000 admissions registered in 7 foreign markets at the end of November.
For its first major release abroad, The Transporter Legacy began its international career in China in November, and the results are unambiguous! Sitting at 4th place at the box office, with around 84 000 screening sessions offered and over 2.1 million spectators registered in three days, these figures outscore the film's entire run across the Atlantic (2 million admissions in 11 weeks). By the end of November, it had registered a total of 3.6 million admissions in China and over 9.3 million admissions in international theaters overall.
French comedies enjoyed an outstanding year in Belgium in 2015. Three comedies feature among the five French titles that have topped the 100,000 admissions mark this year. Following in the footsteps of the highly successful Profs 2 in the summer (200,000 admissions at the end of November), The New Adventures of Aladdin maintained a high per-print average number of spectators in November and crossed the €1 million mark in ticket sales (with around 177,000 admissions recorded at the end of November). The third title, Daddy or Mommy, was released in February and tallies an impressive 116,000 admissions to date in 2015.