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Culture

How do Foreign Films do in the US?

Foreign films don't always do so well with audiences in the United States, but 22 films have broken the $10 million barrier. That is, 22 films produced overseas — remakes don't count.

About 1,000 foreign films have been released in the U.S. during this time frame. This means only 2% have made enough money to shake a stick at.

Which ones and how much:

  1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, $128,078,872 ($663,205 of that was the opening weekend alone)
  2. Life Is Beautiful, $57,563,264
  3. Hero, $53,710,019
  4. Pan's Labyrinth, $37,634,615
  5. Amelie, $33,225,499
  6. Jet Li's Fearless, $24,633,730
  7. Il Postino, $21,848,932
  8. Like Water for Chocolate, $21,665,468
  9. La Cage aux Folles, $20,424,259
  10. Kung Fu Hustle, $17,108,591
  11. The Motorcycle Diaries, $16,781,387
  12. Iron Monkey, $14,694,904
  13. Monsoon Wedding, $13,885,966
  14. Y Tu Mama Tambien, $13,839,658
  15. Volver, $12,899,867
  16. The Protector, $12,044,087
  17. Cinema Paradiso, $11,990,401
  18. Das Boot, $11,487,676
  19. The Lives of Others, $11,286,112
  20. Brotherhood of the Wolf, $11,260,096

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Discussion Comments

By anon355935 — On Nov 20, 2013

Personally, I never hear anything about foreign films that much. They never seem to play at our local movie theaters. We have four regular type movie theaters where I live. They are 14 screens, 16 screens, 11 screens and a dollar type with nine screens. They show only Hollywood movies for the most part. Maybe one will have a foreign language film every once in a while.

Then there is a nearby city that has one with 12 screens. It’s close enough to count as part of the area. There is one theater that will play foreign films. It has three screens and does play Middle Eastern films from time to time, as well as others, but still does play some Hollywood films. The three screens only have one showing in the evening for each film.

My point is, foreign films just don't make much of a splash in the United States market. I never hear people mention seeing a foreign film. Usually my experience is when renting, people will ask if a questionable film is foreign and will we have to "read" the film. Even if it is dubbed, my friends tend to want to pass on it.

I think deep down inside, we all know why this is true. About 98 percent of these films are just not that great, and any of the good ones get dragged down with them.

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