Foreign Films

I think that three foreign movies that were remade for American audiences from French films are the most successful in the genre
Millions of Tickets
41.7 Three Men and a Baby 11/25/87
35.0 True Lies 7/15/94
28.1 The Birdcage 3/8/96

And one huge success for a film that was not in English
22.71 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Taiwan) Dec 8, 2000

However, despite the large numbers of Spanish speakers in America, there have been very few Spanish movies that have done well at the box office. The most successful foreign language films were very visual or in the case of "Life is Beautiful" very emotional so that reading captions was not a big issue.

Millions Title (Foreign Language Film) Date
11.41 Life Is Beautiful (Italy) Oct 23, 1998
8.65 Hero (China) Aug 27, 2004
8.14 La Cage aux Folles (France) Mar 30, 1979
5.79 Amelie (France) Nov 2, 2001
5.47 Pan's Labyrinth (Mexico) Dec 29, 2006
5.23 Like Water for Chocolate (Mexico) Feb 19, 1993
4.95 Il Postino (Italy) Jun 16, 1995
3.84 Das Boot (Germany) Feb 10, 1982
3.76 Jet Li's Fearless (China) Sep 22, 2006
2.90 Cinema Paradiso (Italy) Feb 2, 1990
2.70 The Motorcycle Diaries (Argentina) Sep 24, 2004
2.67 Kung Fu Hustle (China) Apr 8, 2005
2.60 Iron Monkey (Hong Kong) Oct 12, 2001
2.50 La Cage aux Folles 2 (France) Feb 15, 1981
2.39 Monsoon Wedding (India) Feb 22, 2002
2.38 Y Tu Mama Tambien (Mexico) Mar 15, 2002
2.15 Fanny and Alexander (Sweden) Jun 17, 1983
2.13 My Life as a Dog (Sweden) May 1, 1987
2.07 Shall We Dance? (Japan) Jul 11, 1997

With a few exceptions, remakes of foreign films into English have not been spectacular successes either. Godzilla is hardly a remake as they only copied the idea and the name of the monster.

Millions Title (Foreign Language Title, Date) Date in USA
35.00 True Lies (La totale!, France, 1991) Jul 15, 1994
29.06 Godzilla (Gojira, Japan, 1954) May 20, 1998
22.21 The Ring (Ringu, Japan, 1998) Oct 18, 2002
20.12 The Departed (Infernal Affairs) Oct 6, 2006
17.77 The Grudge The Grudge Oct 22, 2004
17.57 Vanilla Sky (Abre los ojos, Spain, 1997) Dec 14, 2001
12.93 12 Monkeys (La jetee, France, 1962) Dec 29, 1995
11.89 The Ring Two The Ring Two Mar 18, 2005
11.59 Insomnia (Insomnia, Norway, 1997) May 24, 2002
9.08 Unfaithful (La femme infidele, France, 1969) May 8, 2002
8.50 Contraband Contraband Jan 13, 2012
8.44 The Tourist The Tourist Dec 10, 2010
7.26 Point of No Return (La femme nikita, France, 1990) Mar 19, 1993
5.98 The Grudge 2 The Grudge 2 Oct 13, 2006
4.41 Quarantine ([Rec]) Oct 10, 2008
4.38 The Eye The Eye Feb 1, 2008
4.27 Mirrors Mirrors Aug 15, 2008
4.10 Last Man Standing (Yojimbo, Japan, 1961) Sep 20, 1996
3.98 The Uninvited (A Tale of Two Sisters, South Korea) Jan 30, 2009
3.87 Diabolique (1996) (Diabolique, France, 1955) Mar 22, 1996
3.75 One Missed Call (Chakushin ari, Japan, 2003) Jan 4, 2008
3.61 Shutter Shutter Mar 21, 2008
3.51 The Vanishing (Spoorloos, Netherlands, 1988) Feb 5, 1993
3.09 Pulse (Kairo, Japan, 2001) Aug 11, 2006
3.06 Eye of the Beholder (Mortelle randonnee, France, 1983) Jan 28, 2000
2.99 The Invisible (Den Osynlige, Sweden, 2002) Apr 27, 2007
2.92 Original Sin (La sirene du Mississippi, France, 1969) Aug 3, 2001
2.18 Body Parts (Orlacs Hande, Germany, 1924) Aug 2, 1991
2.13 Bangkok Dangerous Bangkok Dangerous Sep 5, 2008
2.09 Wicker Park (L'Appartement, France, 1996) Sep 3, 2004


Do you think the American movie audience will expand it's taste as it grows more multicultural?

I have to say, "No". American movie attendance is in decline, and the only films getting alot of ticket sales are special effects blockbusters. Since the market for those is mainly American, I don't see ticket sales increasing.

On the other hand, I do see the market opening up to foreign films as theater owners look for niche films to fill their empty non-IMAX, non-3D equipped, seats.

Also, Netflix and other On-Demand models make it very easy for consumers to be exposed to foreign productions in their homes.

Are you only focused on "Foreign Language", (i.e., non-English), as opposed to "Foreign" films? A Bollywood flavored film, "Slumdog Millionaire", did quite well, pulling in $140+ million on a $15 million dollar budget.

I agree that its a shriveling market. People are getting netflix but not going out to movie theaters or they are going to vending machines for videos but not going to movie theaters. Movie theaters involve trips and parking and crowds which means noise and gun fire. Movie Theaters charge outrageous prices for tickets, outrageous prices for snacks and have rude employees.

Movie attendance is up in places like Vegas where part of the sale is "air conditioning" and most of the price is comped. Other than that it seems to be an archaic industry involving vampires and zombies and of little appeal to anyone with a brain. Not much will be added to the experience if the dialog is in French and more boobs are shown.

Quote: Ayecarumba

Are you only focused on "Foreign Language", (i.e., non-English), as opposed to "Foreign" films? A Bollywood flavored film, "Slumdog Millionaire", did quite well, pulling in $140+ million on a $15 million dollar budget.

I suppose that we have treated most British films almost as foreign as the non-English ones. Outside of the handful of exceptions like Slumdog Millionaire. I don't really consider the Harry Potter films as "British" even though they had British actors. They were made and marketed by American film companies, just like the Lord of the Rings movies.

Orlando (1993) Dir Sally Potter (Tilda Swinton, Billy Zane, John Wood)
Blue (1993) Dir Derek Jarman (voices of Tilda Swinton, John Quentin, Nigel Terry)
Naked (1993)Dir Mike Leigh (David Thewlis, Lesley Sharp, Karin Cartlidge)
Trainspotting (1996) Dir Danny Boyle (Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller)
Robinson in Space (1997) Dir Patrick Keiller (Paul Scofield (voice))
Gallivant (1996) Dir Andrew Kötting (Andrew Kötting, Eden Kötting, Gladys Morris)
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) Dir Mike Newell (Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell, Kristin Scott Thomas)
London (1994) Dir Patrick Keiller (voice of Paul Scofield)
Land and Freedom (1995) Dir Ken Loach (Ian Hart, Icíar Bollaín, Tom Gilroy)
Secrets and Lies (1996) Dir Mike Leigh (Brenda Blethyn, Timothy Spall, Marianne Jean-Baptiste)
Nil by Mouth (1997) Dir Gary Oldman (Kathy Burke, Ray Winstone)
Under the Skin (1997) Dir Carine Adler (Samantha Morton, Claire Rushbrook, Rita Tushingham)
A Room for Romeo Brass (1999) Dir Shane Meadows (Paddy Considine, Andrew Shim, Ben Marshall)
Ratcatcher (1999) Dir Lynne Ramsay (William Eadie, Tommy Flanagan, Mandy Matthews)
Wonderland (1999) Dir Michael Winterbottom (Gina McKee, Shirley Henderson, Molly Parker, John Simm)
Topsy-Turvy (1999) Dir Mike Leigh (Jim Broadbent, Allan Corduner, Timothy Spall)
In This World (2002) Dir Michael Winterbottom (Jamal Udin Torabi, Enayatullah)
28 Days Later… (2002) Dir Danny Boyle (Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson)
24 Hour Party People (2002) Dir Michael Winterbottom (Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Ron Cook)
Dead Man's Shoes (2004) Dir Shane Meadows (Paddy Considine, Gary Stretch, Toby Kebbell)
London to Brighton (2006) Dir Paul Andrew Williams (Lorraine Stanley, Johnny Harris, Georgia Groome)
This Is England (2006) Dir Shane Meadows (Thomas Turgoose, Stephen Graham, Jo Hartley)
Fish Tank (2009) Dir Andrea Arnold (Katie Jarvis, Kierston Wareing, Michael Fassbender)
Hunger (2008) Dir Steve McQueen (Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham)

Gregory's Girl (1981) Dir Bill Forsyth (John Gordon Sinclair, Dee Hepburn, Claire Grogan)
Local Hero (1983) Dir Bill Forsyth (Burt Lancaster, Peter Riegert, Denis Lawson)
Brazil (1985) Dir Terry Gilliam (Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond)
Caravaggio (1986) Dir Derek Jarman (Nigel Terry, Sean Bean, Tilda Swinton)
Withnail and I (1987) Dir Bruce Robinson (Richard E Grant, Paul McGann, Richard Griffiths)
Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) Dir Terence Davies (Pete Postlethwaite, Freda Dowie)

It is fascinating that "British films" and "films about the British" are so wide apart on the success meter. America loves the British accent, but nothing helps success like a huge budget for special effects, marketing, and distribution.

I wonder. With all these massively multiple online games are the game players really Movie Directors making their own movie?
The select characters, action, major script features... its sort of a true "video on demand". So maybe "The Movie Industry" financials should be broadened to include game revenues and maybe the movie watching experience should be broadened to include Grand Theft Auto, including any Spanish Language version of it.

Quote: Ayecarumba

It is fascinating that "British films" and "films about the British" are so wide apart on the success meter. America loves the British accent, but nothing helps success like a huge budget for special effects, marketing, and distribution.

So we think that all that Shakespeare is just dress rehearsal so that they can carry a gun and be in a proper American action film.




Hugh Laurie before he learned to do his American accent.