French films at the international box office: September 2011

11 OCTOBER 2011

Sarah's Key, God of Carnage, and Colombiana are the top-performing trio at the international box office in September, with the highest admissions scores.

Rank	Title	Admissions	B.O. Revenues	No. of Prints	No. of Countries	Total Admissions
1	Colombiana	6,979,408	37,656,561	5,354	32	7,069,956
2	Sarah's Key	423,494	2,438,636	334	3	1,814,182
3	Carnage	409,734	2,301,237	367	2	409,734
4	Oceans	340,133	1,245,820	1,200	1	7,672,111
5	Nothing to Declare	173,555	1,050,435	475	4	2,010,339
6	The Hedgehog	49,478	291,037	43	3	1,120,578
7	War of the Buttons	42,285	325,037	59	4	42,285
8	Point Blank	36,808	211,853	37	1	126,495
9	Romantics Anonymous	35,819	231,634	71	2	222,942
10	Love Crime	31,163	181,129	20	1	91,907
11	Mozart's Sister	24,779	143,688	23	1	117,366
12	Service Entrance (The Women on the 6th Floor)	22,951	138,342	41	4	328,191
13	Farewell	20,503	136,284	39	1	281,637
14	The Names of Love	19,128	109,235	48	3	288,272
15	My Piece of the Pie	17,798	119,641	61	1	41,915
16	Gainsbourg: Je t'aime...Moi non plus	15,486	89,730	8	1	551,363
17	Beautiful Lies	15,132	111,090	23	3	191,494
18	Declaration of War	13,256	99,133	15	2	13,256
19	My Afternoons with Marguerite	12,395	51,695	32	3	836,748
20	Tous les soleils	12,128	73,710	20	2	100,938

Admissions to French films in theaters abroad in the first 9 months of 2011 show a decline over the same period in 2010, marking a 12% downturn for French-language films. As 2011 progresses however, international spectator numbers for French films are gradually closing the gap between results registered in 2010, thanks in particular to recent fine performances by a number of titles in North America and Germany. The resounding success of Sarah's Key in the USA has upped the figures for French-language films significantly. After a lackluster year for French films in the German market in 2010, 2011 releases such as Nothing to Declare, Potiche, My Afternoons with Marguerite, and Heartbreaker have been well received by German audiences.

After 10 weeks in US theaters, Sarah's Key clocked up $6.7 million, with around 840,000 admissions registered. The film thus outscores the performance of Coco Before Chanel in the USA ($6.1 million in 2009) and now totals 1.8 million admissions outside France.
Love Crime, also starring Kristin Scott Thomas, pulled in $180,000 in the USA after 4 weeks on the screens.

War of the Buttons attracted 30,000 admissions in Belgium after 2 weeks (released by Lumière), an unexceptional opening for the film by Yann Samuel. In 2011, a number of French comedies won the hearts of Belgian moviegoers, such as Nothing to Declare (948,000 admissions) and L’Élève Ducobu (150,000 admissions). In other markets, War of the Buttons has notably attracted 2,900 spectators in Greece after 2 weeks, and 10,500 spectators in French-speaking Switzerland after 3 weeks.
The War of the Buttons (II) has got off to a slow start in French-speaking Switzerland, registering just 1,650 admissions in its opening week.

Point Blank boasts a running total of almost 130,000 admissions abroad since its launch on the international circuit in 2010, although the film has registered only modest results in French-speaking European markets. English-speaking audiences have showed greater enthusiasm for this thriller, which has taken $627,000 in the USA (80,000 admissions) and £125,000 in the UK (23,000 admissions). It has been offered large-scale international distribution, with upcoming release planned for Singapore, Indonesia, Brazil, and Quebec. French thrillers remain a rarely exported genre, with few offers of large release in foreign theaters. Tell No One was an exception to the rule: a screen adaptation of the novel of the same title by Harlan Coben, this hit film has generated close to 1.7 million admissions around the world since its release in 2007.

Roman Polanski's new film God of Carnage has already pulled in 410,000 spectators in Italy after 3 weeks. This ranks as the best performance in 2011 for a French majority film in Italy, ousting Second Chance and its 212,000 admissions score after 10 weeks in theaters. All of Roman Polanski's films over the past decade have enjoyed successful international careers. The Ghost Writer finished its run with 7 million admissions, while Oliver Twist registered 4.5 million admissions. The Pianist attracted just under 18 million international spectators, the 4th highest score for a French majority film in the past 10 years.

Colombiana currently tallies 7 million admissions outside France, including close to 5 million in the USA. This is an impressive achievement in this market, where the film has now entered the very exclusive circle of French films that have generated more than $30 million in the past ten years. The other films in this group are essentially English-language productions, such as Taken (20th Century Fox - $145 million in 2009), Transporter 2 (20th Century Fox - $43 million in 2005), and more recently, the French minority production Unknown (Warner Bros - $64 million in 2011). Also featuring on this list are Amelie (Miramax Films - $33.2 million in 2001) and The Emperor's Journey (Warner Independent Pictures – $77 million in 2005). Colombiana has registered only mediocre performances in the major European territories, such as Germany (230,000 admissions in 3 weeks), the UK (187,000 admissions in 4 weeks), and Spain (175,000 admissions in 2 weeks). In Asia, however, the film has enjoyed wide audience appeal: South Korea (547,000 admissions in 2 weeks), Malaysia (104,000 admissions in 4 weeks), and the Philippines and Thailand, where it has charmed over 90,000 moviegoers.