The United States give a warm welcome to Frrench films.
The Intouchables has released in Mexico (Gussi-Artecinema) where it has clocked up 55,000 admissions in its first week on a 38-print release. This is an excellent start among audiences traditionally fond of genre (thriller) and animmation films rather than French-language comedies. In nearby Argentina (Distribution Company), the film has attracted 44,000 supplementary spectators in its second week, making a total of 90,000 admissions since its release. Still in theaters in the United States, the film remains over the $500,000 box office mark in its 13th week and now has earned $7.1 million, being more than 900,000 admissions. The Intouchables has now tallied 22.7 million admissions abroad.
Happiness Never Comes Alone earned 43,000 supplementary admissions in Russia (Daro Film) during its first full week on 147 prints. With nearly 80,000 admissions all up, the film sports the seventh best performance of a French film in 2012, behind You Don't Choose Your Family (Cascade Film - 84,000 admissions) and A Monster in Paris (Paradise - 165,000 admissions). At the end of the first month of its run in Spain (DeAplaneta), it had drawn in 75,000 spectaors, being the fifth best performance recorded by a French film released in 2012 in this territory.
2 Days in New York's print run increased from 8 to 20 prints for its second week in the United States (Magnolia Pictures). This increase allowed it to earn $145,000 worth of supplementary admissions for almost $190,000 dollars in total (being 24,000 spectators). We recall that in 2007, the first episode, 2 Days in Paris (Samuel Goldwyn Films), had garnered $548,000 dollars at the same phase of its career and with a comparable print run. Bolstered by this success, the film finished its North American career with $4.4 million, being more than 670,000 spectators.
Farewell, My Queen passed the million dollar box office mark (around 127,000 spectators) at the end of its sixth week on release across the Atlantic (Cohen Media). This is a symbolic threshold, beyond which it is often considered a French film is a success in American theaters. Carried by an international female cast and the appetite shown by many territories for period costume dramas (in particular, English-speaking countries and Russia), Benoît Jacquot's latest film could expect to pass the 500,000 foreign spectators mark during its international career planned for 50 territories. To date, the film has registerd 216,000 admissions abroad.
