French films at the international box office: October 2011

Rank	Title	Admissions	B.O. Revenues	No. of Prints	No. of Countries	Total Admissions
1	Colombiana	410,805	2,742,633	1,127	18	7,669,687
2	Carnage	189,405	1,119,774	223	2	599,483
3	Bienvenue à bord	77,076	610,969	32	2	77,243
4	Nothing to Declare	70,217	386,416	234	5	2,080,860
5	A Monster in Paris	69,201	445,386	71	2	69,201
6	Tomboy	62,533	377,741	47	4	80,279
7	Service Entrance (The Women on the 6th Floor)	59,635	338,873	121	4	387,826
8	Sarah's Key	56,457	325,564	148	3	1,870,639
9	My Afternoons with Marguerite	54,410	312,746	45	2	943,948
10	The Artist	53,125	452,050	39	2	53,642
11	Special Forces	52,632	275,252	250	1	52,632
12	The War of the Buttons (II)	42,648	294,720	29	2	57,554
13	Certified Copy	41,242	282,249	45	1	827,335
14	Mozart's Sister	34,720	201,228	50	2	152,086
15	Love Crime	31,619	180,940	29	1	123,526
16	Poliss	30,887	257,644	73	3	31,116
17	The Hedgehog	28,289	162,699	38	1	1,115,337
18	Where Do We Go Now?	17,281	129,677	16	2	19,125
19	War of the Buttons	16,564	120,302	35	2	65,747
20	Romantics Anonymous	15,224	83,062	44	2	240,843

In the first 10 months of 2011, admissions to French films in foreign theaters reached a level close to that of the same period in 2010, thanks to fine performances in French-language markets, North America, Germany, and Brazil. Nonetheless, French films registered a decline of 15% in attendance to films shot in the French language.
Admissions abroad were boosted by the success of Colombiana and Carnage, both French majority films shot in English, as well as the French minority productions Unknown and The Three Musketeers. However, the international performance of high profile French-language productions in 2011, such as Nothing to Declare, Sarah's Key, Service Entrance, Potiche, and My Afternoons with Marguerite, coupled with the continued release of Of Gods and Men and Oceans, were not enough to match results registered by hit films of 2010, such as The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec, The Concert, and A Prophet.

A Monster in Paris kicked off its international career with good results in French-language markets. In Belgium, the film attracted 62,000 admissions after 3 weeks in theaters. This ranks as the 4th best performance for a French majority film in 2011 in Belgium, behind Colombiana (103,000 admissions), L’élève Ducobu (150,000 admissions), and Nothing to Declare (948,000 admissions). In French-speaking Switzerland, the film does not appear to be losing steam after three weeks, with 6,200 admissions to its credit to date.
Despite the large number of animated films released in these two markets this year, few feature films have made their mark. Titeuf, the Film put in the best performance, totaling 95,000 admissions. The Rabbi's Cat and A Cat in Paris each pulled in around 20,000 spectators. As for Tales of the Night and The Prodigies, neither film exceeded 10,000 admissions. It is nonetheless important to note that the release of animated films is often spread across a number of years. Hit titles released in French-speaking markets in 2011 will only see their international careers fully launched in 2012. This will be the case for A Monster in Paris, which has been sold in over 20 territories around the world, notably in Germany, Russia, Turkey, and India.

A surprise success story in October was the performance of Tomboy in Italy, boasting a total of 62,000 admissions in four weeks. This is excellent news for French auteur cinema, which is enjoying only limited success so far in Italy in 2011. The film may well end its Italian run with an equivalent score to Public Enemy Part 1 (88,000 admissions in 2009).
Tomboy has already attracted 80,000 spectators abroad, including 9,000 in the UK, 5,000 in Belgium, and 3,000 in French-speaking Switzerland. Its success in Italy thus raises hopes for good results in other international markets, with upcoming release scheduled in markets across the globe, such as Germany, the USA, Australia, Portugal, and Thailand.

Service Entrance continues its triumphant international run, credited with 390,000 admissions to date. This French comedy charmed over 200,000 moviegoers in Italy and 60,000 in Quebec last summer. Now showing for four weeks in the USA, it has already clocked up more than $160,000 at the box office (close to 30,000 admissions).
Its launch in Germany, on the other hand, was somewhat slow, with 18,000 admissions registered in 4 days on 75 prints. Numerous auteur films have achieved only disappointing results in Germany this year. My Little Princess, however, pulled in 9,000 admissions on 36 prints after 2 weeks. This is twice the score of Poliss for the same period, and for On Tour after 7 weeks. Certified Copy registered 41,000 admissions after 4 weeks. Mon part du gâteau (My Piece of the Pie) was taken off screens after just 5 weeks, with a tally of 20,000 admissions.

Released 3 weeks ago in French-speaking Switzerland, The Artist jumped to the top of the charts in its opening week and has maintained high attendance figures since then, to reach a running total of 22,000 admissions. This unusual new film by Michel Hazanavicius looks set to outshine the performances of the previous hit OSS 117, Le Caire nid d’espions, which registered 30,000 admissions after 8 weeks in 2006.
Also released in Belgium at this time, The Artist has topped 30,000 after three weeks, indicating a warm but short-lived reception from Belgian moviegoers.

Special Forces kicked off its international career in Russia, where it registered 53,000 admissions in 4 days, benefiting from an ambitious 250-print release. These are encouraging results for the debut film by Stéphane Rybojad in a market that has so far proved rather lackluster for French films in 2011. The film is set for upcoming release in around 20 territories, including Japan, Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, and Australia.
Colombiana currently has reached a total of 7.8 million admissions abroad, ranking as the 12th best performance in theaters for a French majority production since the beginning of the decade, outscoring From Paris with Love and Transporter by a small margin. It will continue its international run in Australia late November.
Colombiana has registered fine scores in notoriously difficult markets such as Vietnam, where it pulled in 44,000 spectators on 20 prints, Thailand (63000 spectators on 51prints), and the Philippines (92,000 spectators on 30 prints).

Roman Polanski's new film God of Carnage continues its run in Italy, with 600,000 admissions to its name after 7 weeks in theaters. By the end of November, the film could well top previous results for the previous Polanski film released in Italy, The Ghost Writer, which attracted 617,000 spectators in 2010.