This month, a period drama and a comedy created a sensation in Italy, while a romantic saga continued to draw crowds across Europe.
This month, one French production succeeded in rallying more than 400,000 moviegoers abroad.
| # | Title | Admissions | Box Office Revenues (€) | No. of Prints | No. of Countries | Total Admissions |
| 1 | An Officer and a Spy | 428,972 | 2,870,155 | 499 | 5 | 428,972 |
| 2 | La Belle Epoque | 357,577 | 2,564,826 | 596 | 10 | 357,577 |
| 3 | Portrait of a Lady on Fire | 141,635 | 1,135,509 | 259 | 8 | 283,868 |
| 4 | Little White Lies 2 | 112,202 | 665,751 | 221 | 4 | 297,197 |
| 5 | The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir | 104,607 | 475,907 | n/a | 2 | 550,183 |
| 6 | Ailo's Journey | 98,795 | 629,347 | 490 | 8 | 275,520 |
| 7 | Just a Breath Away | 93,018 | 252,457 | 108 | 2 | 530,154 |
| 8 | The Specials | 82,802 | 768,814 | 152 | 4 | 112,340 |
| 9 | Love at Second Sight | 70,844 | 401,297 | 161 | 3 | 255,886 |
| 10 | City Hunter | 63,428 | 685,387 | 102 | 1 | 179,692 |
| 11 | Les Misérables | 59,202 | 455,032 | 112 | 3 | 59,202 |
| 12 | The Bears' Famous Invasion | 58,653 | 356,049 | 229 | 6 | 63,227 |
| 13 | My Stupid Dog | 45,910 | 368,139 | 93 | 4 | 45,910 |
| 14 | The Truth | 43,385 | 374,202 | 294 | 2 | 282,799 |
| 15 | Just Retired | 39,960 | 367,014 | 52 | 2 | 39,960 |
| 16 | Spread Your Wings | 33,699 | 277,574 | 93 | 5 | 55,236 |
| 17 | Terra Willy | 28,574 | 117,670 | 125 | 5 | 733,960 |
| 18 | The Mustang | 28,060 | 239,357 | 24 | 2 | 605,711 |
| 19 | Who's That Granny?! | 27,295 | 117,425 | 107 | 3 | 64,289 |
| 20 | Remi, Nobody's Boy | 27,155 | 95,437 | 54 | 5 | 248,666 |
In November, French productions registered a total of 2.76 admissions in theaters outside France (€18.7 million), with films majority-produced by France accounting for 87% of this month's figure (representing 2.41 million tickets sold and €16.3 million in receipts). French cinema is clearly picking up pace in the international arena! Movie attendance is up by 14.5 % against the figures of last month, and by 2% compared to November 2018 (2.71 million admissions). Five titles attracted over 100,000 spectators, three more than in October, and the top three titles together raked in 928,000 admissions, against 420,000 in October and 860,000 in September. While Portrait of a Lady on Fire remained in the Top 3, it stood in third place, out-performed by another 2019 Cannes success, La Belle Epoque, in second place, with the top spot taken by the winner of the Golden Lion award at this year's Venice International Festival, An Officer and a Spy. The rise in ticket sales across the five continents in this period can be credited both to new titles entering the charts as well as a number of lesser known titles that achieved outstanding results at a local level.
At the very start of its international run, An Officer and a Spy jumped straight to number 1 this month, thanks particularly to Italian audiences. The latest offering from Roman Polanski boasts the most successful opening for a French-language title in Italy since the beginning of 2019! In its opening week, An Officer and a Spy took second place at the Italian box office, registering 237,500 admissions in over 400 sites (€1.5 million), and is currectly credited with 377,000 admissions after two weeks (€2.38 million). This drama also had a strong opening in Belgium (€288,000, with over 33,000 tickets sold) and will soon be released in Israel and Poland in December, Spain early January, and Russia late January.
The number 2 title, La Belle Epoque, was launched in around a dozen markets in November. Here again, it proved a hit with Italian moviegoers, with word-of-mouth so strong that the number of sites deployed was raised from 95 to 180 in its second week! To date, 218,000 Italians have flocked to see the film (€1.39 million in ticket sales), thus ranking as the best performance by a French comedy in Italy in 2019, ousting Serial Bad Weddings 2 (204,000 admissions and €1.24 million in ticket sales). In its first two weeks in theaters in Belgium, La Belle Époque posted the highest per-print average of all films in the local charts, taking €424,000 (50,000 admissions), while opening at the same time in Germany and Russia, where it recorded 29,000 and 21,000 spectators respectively (€223,500 and €90,500). It is scheduled for release in upcoming weeks in Israel, The Netherlands, Portugal, and Quebec.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire fell back one spot, but still holds firm in our Top 3. In Germany, its release was even increased from an initial 88 sites to 102 in its third week! After four weeks, this drama posted a total of 72,000 admissions (€582,500), a score that is not far from that achieved by Invisibles (74,500 admissions and €575,000) and In Your Hands (75,500 admissions and €568,000). In the Netherlands, Portrait of a Lady on Fire continues its highly successful run, currently tallying €592,000 and with over 70,000 tickets sold, and is still showing in around fifty theaters six weeks after its release. Céline Sciamma's latest film will soon hit screens in Austria, Israel, Italy, Quebec, Tunisia, and Turkey, as well as being programmed at a special Film Week event in Los Angeles and New York prior to its North American premiere on February 14, 2020.
Outstanding performances outside the Top 3:
- Just a Breath Away has pulled in 86,000 spectators in Peru (taking €225,500) and currently sits at 3rd place at the box office. This is the best opening for a French film in Peru in 2019, and one of the most successful French titles in this market since 2010!
- Love at Second Sight stands out as the only French film to have broken into the Top 5 in South Korea since January 2019! Released on 153 screens, this drama has attracted 83,500 moviegoers (€465,000). Since the release of The Bélier Family in 2018 (122,000 admissions, taking €743,500), no other majority-French production (excluding animated films) has enjoyed such an exceptional launch.
- City Hunter has registered 63,500 admissions in Japan (€685,500), sitting at number 8 at the box office—the best achievement by a French production in Japan this year.
- In Spain, Little White Lies 2 has had the most successful opening in any country to date outside France, with 104,000 spectators already registered (€635,000).
This study is based on results recorded on December 11, 2019. As the figures relating to film releases are continuously updated, the graphics generated automatically on our website will differ from the chart featured in this article.
