"Parasite" and the other most popular foreign film hits of our lifetimes.
Monday, February 17, 2020 at 3:00PM by Nathaniel R
In lieu of the traditional box office charts for the holiday weekend, it's time to marvel yet again at how leggy Parasite (2019) continues to be. After its Oscar win a week ago it doubled its screen count and is expected to take in over $5 million this weekend once the actual money has been counted. So let's take a look at the very biggest international hits since box office stats began to be a commonly reported thing. Which foreign films were the all time biggest hits (since the late 80s)? For clarity we're talking about films that weren't in English but also weren't from the US which removes Mel Gibson's weird dead language projects like Passion of the Christ and Apocalypto, Clint Eastwood's Iwo Jima, and the recent Lulu Wang hit The Farewell among a few others.
THE 25 HIGHEST-GROSSING INTERNATIONAL
FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILMS
IN DOMESTIC RELEASE (1987-2019)
01 Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (Taiwan, 2000) $128
10 Oscar nominations including Best Picture. 4 wins. There will never be another subtitled hit as big as this one but what a glorious film to find up top.
02 Life is Beautiful (Italy, 1998) $57.2
7 Oscar nominations including Best Picture. 3 wins including Best Actor. And yes we still resent it for stealing Sir Ian McKellen's Oscar.
03 Hero (China, 2002) $53.7
1 Oscar nomination. It's the highest grossing foreign language film that didn't win Best Foreign-Language Film at the Oscars. It was defeated by Germany's Nowhere in Africa which made a still formidable $6.1 in stateside release.)
04 🔺 Parasite (South Korea, 2019) $53+
6 Oscar nominations. 4 wins including Best Picture which was a first for a foreign film. We've discussed this grand movie a lot.
05 Pan's Labyrinth (Mexico, 2006) $37.6
6 Oscar nominations. 3 wins -- it holds the record of the most Oscars ever won by a foreign language film that did NOT win Best Foreign Film (the prize that year went to Germany's The Lives of Others)
06 Amelie (France, 2001) $33.2
5 Oscar nominations, no wins. It shares the record of being the most nominated foreign film to win zero Oscars with France's Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and Sweden's The Emigrants (1971). Those earlier pictures suffered the same exact fate though they did it in two separate Oscar ceremonies --for an explanation see the write-up down at #22.
07 Il Postino (Italy, 1995) $21.8
5 Oscar nominations including Best Picture. 1 win. (Not submitted for Best Foreign Language Film)
08 Baahubali 2 The Conclusion (India, 2017) $20.1
(Not submitted for Best Foreign Language Film)
09 Kung Fu Hustle (Hong Kong, 2005) $17.1
(not submitted for best foreign film)
10 The Motorcycle Diaries (Brazil, 2004) $16.7
2 Oscar nominations. 1 win (Not submitted for Best Foreign Language Film)
11 Y Tu Mama Tambien (Mexico, 2002) $13.8
1 Oscar nomination (Not submitted for Best Foreign Language Film)
12 Volver (Spain, 2006) $12.8
1 Oscar nomination though it was not nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. We will never get over this horrific snub as it should have won the category. Unfortunately US critics and the Oscars were in a kind of taking-Pedro-for-granted coma when Volver surfaced since he was coming off the best run of four consecutive classics to rival any director's throughout any decade of film history. At least the acting branch responded!
13 Dangal (India, 2012) $12.3
(Not submitted for Best Foreign Language Film)
14 Cinema Paradiso (Italy, 1989) $11.9
1 Oscar nomination and win. The only thing I remember about this love-letter to movies was that insanely great censored-footage kissing montage. Does this movie hold up? Have any of you seen it recently?
15 Padmavaat $11.8 (India, 2018) $11.8
(Not submitted for Best foreign language Film)
16 The Lives of Others (Germany, 2006) $11.2
1 Oscar nomination and win.
17 House of Flying Daggers (China, 2004) $11.0
1 Oscar nomination. (Not nominated for Best Foreign Language Film). It's the second of two Zhang Yimou films on this list after Hero. In both cases you can see the after effects of Crouching Tiger's seismic popularity. For a few years after that Ang Lee blockbuster Americas were into wuxia films. But all trends eventually end.
18. La Vie En Rose (France, 2007) $10.3
(Nominated for 3 Oscars, won 1. It was not submitted for Foreign-Language Film). Propelled financially in large part by Marion Cotillard's beloved Oscar-winning performance. France submitted the animated film Persepolis instead which also was a hit at arthouses with a $4+ million gross.
19 Intouchables (France, 2011) $10.1
Remember when this international blockbuster got stiffed by the Oscars? In earlier decades before the rule changes it might have won but the executive committee and the expanded interest in the category has really upped their game in terms of quality. It was recently remade in English as The Upside which grossed over $100 in the US. But the original French film had the last laugh as it grossed over $400 million globally.
20 Talk to Her (Spain, 2002) $9.3
2 Oscar nominations. 1 win for Best Original Screenplay. It was not submitted for Best Foreign Language Film, Spain choosing Mondays in the Sun, instead which did not receive a nomination. But Spain neglecting Talk to Her actually increased its chances in the other categories we think.
21 The Barbarian Invasions (Canada, 2003)
2 Oscar nominations. 1 win.
22 All About My Mother (Spain, 1999) $8.3
1 Oscar nomination and win. Sadly this is Almodóvar's only Oscar win within the Best Foreign Language Film category. It always feels like he's had more nominations than he's actually had (given the general popularity of his films) but Volver and Talk to Her -- his two biggest hits stateside -- were not nominated in the category. Only three of his films have competed in the category: Women on the Verge, All About My Mother, and Pain and Glory this past season.
23 Sanju (India, 2018) $7.9
(Not submitted for Best Foreign Language Film)
24 City of God (Brazil, 2003) $7.5
4 Oscar nominations. (Not nominated for Best Foreign Language Film). This Brazilian hit from Fernandos Meirelles (The Two Popes) is a great bookend to Hero (up at #3) because together they demonstrate an Oscar rule that a lot of people still don't understand about the Best International Feature category. If you are submitted for competition in an Oscar year without a US theatrical release (as Hero and City of God both were in 2002) and then you are given an actual theatrical release the following year in the US (as Hero and City of God both were in 2003) then you are only eligible at the Oscars in that release year IF YOU WERE NOT NOMINATED IN FOREIGN FILM. That's why City of God was able to clean up with surprise high profile nominations in 2003 but Hero couldn't even land Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design citations (as it surely would have if eligible after becoming so popular with moviegoers).
(This rule was not always in place. You can find examples from previous decades where a film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in one year only to receive other category Oscar nominations the following year once it was released.)
25 Run Lola Run (Germany, 1998) $7.2
Germany submitted this stylish flick for the Oscars (which promptly ignored it -- too crazy and the people who loved it best were young audiences -- but it didn't arrive in movie theaters in the US until the summer of 1999 when it proved an arthouse smash. (And yes Alias promptly ripped off Lola's look in its initial promos in 2001.)
25 Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Spain, 1988) $7.2
1 Oscar nomination. Pedro Almodóvar has more hits on this chart than anyone (with 4). Women on the Verge... is the film that made him famous all over the world.
runner up
25 A Separation (Iran, 2011) $7.0
2 Oscar nominations. 1 win. Nice to end this list which was prompted by a masterpiece (Parasite) with another bonafide masterpiece.
Note 1: Titles from the 1980s and early 90s would definitely rank more highly if you adjusted for inflation and some titles that aren't even listed above would probably surface if you did. That surely must be true of hits like Akira Kurosawa's Ran (pictured, left), Denmark's Babette's Feast, or France's Indochine.
Note 2: The 25 films above were all VERY big hits as imported films go. A lot of high profile subtitled hits top out between 3-7 million dollars even if they're audience and Academy favourites (like Three Colors: Red, Amour, Ida, or Cold War). That's easy money for Hollywood pictures but still a sign of a significant hit at the arthouse.
Note 3: This list is as complete as we could make it but it's possible we're missing a few titles since that was not an easy list to compile since there's not a single source to collect the information anymore.
Reader Comments (45)
Who ruined Box Office Mojo and WHY?
Gong Li,Ziyi Zhang,Michelle Yeoh,Hong Chau,Tang Wei just a handful of Asian actresses giving once in a lifetime performances and Oscar passed on them.
Nat: I really like Volver, and it ABSOLUTELY should have been a nominee. But, WINNING? In most years, sure, but in the same year as The Lives of Others AND Pan's Labyrinth? No. Bleep no.
Flabbergasted that Ingmar Bergman's extraordinary 1982 masterpiece (and four time Oscar winner) Fanny and Alexander fails to make the list!
Who ruined boxofficemojo? Capitalism.
Actually, Benigni stole Nick Nolte's Oscar, but tomato, tomato. :-)
@Travis C: McKellan and Nolte were brilliant in their respective films and either one would have been a great choice. Begnini's win is still one of the all-time worst choices for a winner in any category, on a par with Crash being awarded Best Picture in '05. Just a travesty.
Neither Nolte in The Prince of Tides nor Lauren Bacall in The Mirror Has Two Faces was ever going to win the Oscar. Despite both being frontrunners in their respective years, too many in the film industry were strongly opposed to having a winner stand on that stage and laud the skills of Streisand as a film maker.
I would have voted for Volver over both Pan's Labrynth and The Lives of Others. A ridiculously good year, but Volver's snub is unforgivable.
So much love for Almodóvar, WOW
Is interesting how just some authors of cinema catches the attention in foreign countries
Pan's Labyrinth - wow! I was afraid of that movie because of some of the special effects in the promos. Saw it and then the next year The Shape of Water came out. del Toro is my favorite director for now. Just being reminded of Pan makes me want to watch it again - right now! (have seen Shape of Water 3 times so far).
I was fortunate to take a free film class online taught through Purdue University where we studied del Toro and two classic filmmakers. Really taught me to study films, which is why I'll watch Pan's Labyrinth again.
James -- box office data prior to the late 80s is a mess or very little is verified so I'm sure it was a big hit as it crossed over in a major way. That's why i said late 80s onward.
Happy to see two italian movies in the house! And a surprise that you think that Benigni winning for best actor is considered one of the worst choices by the Academy. I think you0re right, but Life is Beautiful is gorgeous anyways.
I had the chance to work with Cinema Paradiso's cinematographer last year. He's still on point!
"Saw it and then the next year The Shape of Water came out"
So... you were in a coma from 2006 to 2017?
I checked to see what weak competition Volver must have had to earn that blurb and it had Pan’s Labyrinth AND the very deserving to beat the aforementioned next in line The Lives Of Others! Bias or smoking crack, though Volver should have at least been nominated.
@Jonathan. i didn't see Pan's Labyrinth until I took the film course - in roughly 2016.
I adore Cinema Paradiso but people have strong feelings about it in both directions. Definitely worth a rewatch.
LaQuanda -- not bias or smoking crack ;) It's called opinion. I think VOLVER is absolutely brilliant and either the best picture of that year or the second best (warring with MARIE ANTOINETTE for the honor.
James: in Benigni's year, Nolte was nominated for AFFLICTION, not PRINCE OF TIDES.
Love this list and love so many of these movies, most of which are masterpieces. That being said, why do I have no memory of HERO? I was following film pretty closely at the early part of the century, but for whatever reason cannot remember it at all. CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON would have been one of the greatest best picture choices ever. I’m happy PARASITE was able to do what CTHD could not and get across the finish line. So many of these movies deserved it, and I’m hoping future masterpieces can break through at the Oscars after PARASITE’s success.
Cinema Paradiso's montage sequence gets me bawling every single time. And that theme song, whew.
But 9, 10, 11 24, and 25 are also among my favorite films of all time.
Okay, but it's not that you think it's better, but the major disparity in quality among three near masterpieces. I think you've shown recently that you're better at saying "it's just an opinion" but not treating others the same. We all occasionally are hypocritical with our passions, but you're aware now so that's helpful depending on your hubris.
Thanks for the list, Nathaniel. I have only one quibble (and it's not about your taste or your apparently misguided love for Volver!): it's just that, in your write-up on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon you say, "There will never be another subtitled hit as big as this one". Why so sure? Here's to more blockbusters in languages other than English!
I think Cinema Paradiso does hold up - it was cheesy in 1988 and it's cheesy now, but it's a mature cheese!
I'm pretty sure that Hero's regular US theatrical release happened two years after its Foreign Film nomination, i.e. 2004. Christopher Doyle won some critics prizes for it that year and the National Society of Film Critics gave Zhang Yimou their Directing prize for both Hero and House of Flying Daggers that year too.
Re: your note on #22, as well as films being able, back in the day, to get nominated for Best Foreign Language Film one year and then nominated in other categories a year (or, in the case of The Battle of Algiers, two years later, there is also the unique case of Marriage Italian Style, nominated for Best Foreign Language Film 1965 having been nomianted for Best Actress a year earlier! I've tried to find out but I don't know how that happened. I can only imagine that it was something to do with release dates in countries of origin. Maybe it was released in Italy AFTER the cut-off for Foreign Language Film 1964 but there was no rule preventing it from being entered the year after...?
What Edward L said, Hero was 2004 and thus ineligible as it had been more than a year since it's international release.
I love that, despite the very rich array of films listed, most of the comments are about “Volver”! Count me on team Nathaniel on this one. Not only should it have won, I consider it Almodóvar’s very best film. Let the backlash begin!
Btw, all this hubbub over “Volver” makes me think you should do some kind of special Almodóvar royal rumble — pit all his films against each other and see which one emerges victorious!
Laquanda,
"We will never get over this horrific snub as it should have won the category."
Horrific refers to no nominations, its loss was a simple "it should have won". Where was the "the major disparity in quality"?
I read this post after the Renee post. And I really don't get it. Is it fun to read someone just to be angry about him?
07 Il Postino (Italy, 1995) $21.8
5 Oscar nominations including Best Picture. 1 win. (Not submitted for Best Foreign Language Film)
If I recall, it wasn’t submitted because it was ineligible for having a British director, Michael Radford. Miramax used that (and Massimo Troisi’s death) to campaign heavily in the main categories — Picture, Director, Leading Actor — and succeeded. Billy Crystal kept pointing out these tactics during the ceremony (“Miramax just changed the name to IL SORVINO” after Mira Sorvino won Supporting Actress for MIGHTY APHRODITE).
I'm not sure if I've ever seen anyone else say this, but Maggie Cheung and Zhang Ziyi should have been nominated for "Hero".
Btw Nat, this week's BOM article pointed out Parasite is about to pass "Instructions not Included". It seems like that movie should be consider from Mexico (even with some American backing), while subsequent hit "No manches Frida" is more "American". But these things are fuzzy, and I almost didn't want to write as it kicks out A Separation, easily my favorite from those I have seen above.
Where does The Artist (2012) fall within this list? Subtitles in English but I think it was a French film albeit a silent movie...or does that take it out of the equation? Thanks for new titles to add to my must see list!
ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER received just one nomination, right?
I've seen all of these except Intouchables (looks terrible) and the Bollywood movies. Does anyone have any info or recommendations on the Indian films?
And I remember bawling my eyes out at the dollar theater in South San Francisco when I saw Cinema Paradiso. It may be sentimental but it works, that's for sure.
Jennie -- i dont consider it a foreign-language film since there is no dialogue and it's a French/US co-production.
Cinema Paradiso, City of God, Il Postino, Pans Labyrinth, Parasite, Life is Beautiful , Volver, All About My Mother, Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown...all excellent foreign language pictures. Hopefully Parasite and The Artist's wins for Best Picture will see more foreign language films being nominated and awarded in future.
Jennie - The Artist has a few spoken lines at the end, all in English (one of them spoken by John Goodman), so definitely not a foreign-language film...
Remembered liking Central Station so much when it came out and surprised it didn't crack the top 25 international films. That film at least is now ensconced in film studies as rich in metaphoric imageries, a sublime creation despite Embrafilme's cancellation and disbandment in the 1990s, and featured one of the most enduring elder/youth pairing. There are films that get discussed beyond their runs in cinemahouses.
I also thought that Maggie Cheung was at her most heartbreaking in Hero where her eyes conveyed so much pain without moving a muscle. Also great were Talk To Her (my favorite Almodovar film), A Separation, and other non-English language films like Since Otar Left, Under the Sand,, Sokurov's Alexandra and Zvyagintsev's The Return. There's something ineffably affecting about how these films are narrated. I love international films that make money but equally love the joy of discovering unheralded films -- they can touch you in ways Neruda spoke about: without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I couldn’t even finish Cinema Paradiso. I found it so cloying and unbearable.
For some reason City of God is the only foreign film straight guys seem to know.
Or at least the ones I’ve met.
HI, you forgot "La vie en Rose", around 10 millions.
As someone brought up earlier, we need to pull "Instructions Not Included" into the fray. To be fair, I had heard about it for the first time only this week w/r/t Parasite's box-office. But it was a huge MFing hit within the last couple of years.
Gigi -- i was always told that was a US release. Hmmm. will research
La Vie En Rose won two Oscars right? I remember Katherine Heigl (!) being super nervous during the make up category.
What a great list of movies. I always remember AMELIE making way more.
Re 2006, for me it's THE LIVES OF OTHERS > VOLVER > PAN'S LABYRINTH.
One Oscar-related thing is that some of the "not submitted" films were ruled ineligible, right? I remember THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES having that problem because multiple countries had a piece of the funding and all wanted to submit it or something to that effect. I think it was the one-two punch of DIARIES and the Haneke films of the time that were often France/Austria productions that forced the branch to change the rules about co-productions although that didn't help some films that had American directors, strangely.
Oh, and what about MARIA FULL OF GRACE? Is that classified as American?
Edward L. Marriage Italian Style. The film was released in Italy and in the US simultaneously, in December 1964. That made it eligible for nominations in regular categories, and Sophia Loren got in. Ten months later, Italy had to choose their submission for 1965. Now, here's the catch: the eligibily year for Foreign-Language films was not January-December 1965. It was roughly 1 November 1964 through 30 October 1965. That's how Italy could submit it for 1965 considetarion, and it was nominated.
@Glenn Dunks - also agree that The Lives of Others > Volver > Pan's Labyrinth. In fact I wrote in my Instagram post that both The Lives of Others and Volver were deserving of Best Picture that year (over The Departed, which was not as good a remake as the original Hong Kong version in my opinion).