Top5 global Box Office worldwide (2007) Worldwideboxoffice.com
- Pirates of the Caribbean III (USA) $958.4M
- Harry Potter V (UK/USA) $937M
- Spider-Man III (USA) $885.4M
- Shrek III (USA) $791.4M
- Transformers (USA) $701.1M
This is only the very top of the Box Office in each country (a selective list of countries chosen by Cahiers), so we are really looking at what each audience watch the most, the best seller movies that the largest majority of movie goers want to see. The top 5 ranks don't account for the actual diversity of the viewers consumption, but it tells us which titles draw the widest enthusiasm.
If they are domestic films it shows the local industry is in touch with the mainstream taste of their population. But if we find foreign films in the top5, it means that the (majority of the) audience is open to outsiders, to a culture that doesn't necessarily reflect their own culture and language. If there are only foreign films stealing all the slots in the top5, it means either the local industry is very weak (unable to produce mainstream/commercial movies with a wide appeal), or that the number of domestic films produced is too small to compete with the large number of commercial imports. It's interesting to compare the composition of this top5 with the share of the domestic market in each country.
The only blockbuster worldwide distributed that is not strictly Hollywood, Harry Potter V, is actually a UK/USA co-production (I'm not sure if this super production can be considered a non-Hollywood movie).
The only two non-American blockbusters making a top5 outside of their country of origin are Lissi und der wilde Kaiser (a German movie in Austria) and Mr Bean II (a British movie in Portugal).
11 markets rank Hollywood-only blockbusters in their top5 (Canada, Quebec, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Malaysia, Australia, France, UK, Germany, Belgium). The 18 markets from this list that do not rank an all-5 Hollywood movies are :
- domestic films 5/5 (India, Iran)
- domestic films 4/5 (Turkey)
- domestic films 3/5 (Morocco, Serbia)
- domestic films 2/5 (China, Korea, Italy, Russia)
- domestic film 1/5 (Japan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Sweden, Estonia, Spain, Switzerland, Romania, Israel)
- Germany : 77.2% (2005)
- Spain : 71.2% (2006)
- UK : 63.1% (2005)
- Italy : 61.9% (2006)
- European Union (average) : 60% (2005)
- France : 30% (2006)
USA (Domestic 95+%)
BRAZIL (Domestic 11.7%)
INDIA (Domestic 92%)
MOROCCO (Domestic 13.6%)
| FRANCE (Domestic 36.5%)
IRAN (Domestic 99.4%)
|
source for the top5's worldwide : Hors Série Cahiers du cinéma Atlas 2008
5 commentaires:
The only thing one can see in this list is the omnipresence of Hollywood domination- I mean all I can see is red, red everywhere. Beside, Hollywood executives are trying all nuts and bolts to eat into the Indian market,but due to Indian being so culturally diverse, with segregated market its difficult to do so, and the National Cinema being rich. However, its something which I don't get, For eg: Inspite of French Cinema releasing a number of movies every year, why is it that not one movie broke in TOP -5? How is that a country producing a large number of films, still lag behind in market share and ratio? Is it something to do with the lack or ingenuity of popular entertainment title, or sheer neglect from the movie-goers.
Even Korea where with each year the no of film production is increasing, but the market share is somewhat stagnant, even though in the last couple of years their has been an increase in attendance.
Its really surprising that movie-goers throughout the world watch dubbed or subtitled Hollywood Production, but America itself is so close to the whole idea of foreign film. Is it the market which does not exist( Recently, Tartan US closed down their business their) or a certain model to provide those movies are not there. I wonder?
Harry, great update and stats again, these details really give an important overview of Cinema. I was just wondering, whether its feasible enough to invest in French Cinema? I mean, French Cinema largely survives on subsides, but what are your views on investment for lets say, a new financer in a French Film, I mean from the market perspective and stats which over the weeks we been seeing on the blog?
It's amazing how India is one of the few markets escaping the Hollywood steamroller, and unlike Iran it's not because of political censorship or the English language barrier!
In France we don't make commercial films as polished and appealing as Hollywood, and we mainly make "boring films" for a higher-brow crowd... But 2008 will change that because Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis is a French blockbuster that will beat any Hollywood film. We had a couple of top-ranking blockbusters in the past though (Amélie, Taxi, Les Choristes, Asterix, Les Bronzées 3, Camping...), but just not consistently. It's difficult to compete with the high-profile entertainment products that are superhero movies. The mainstream crowd in France is very much pro American, movie-wise.
And the French movie industry is only developing the formulaic blockbuster very recently, because it's usually looked down upon by critics and Les Césars (the French Oscars).
Are you asking about investment in French cinema by foreign investors?
I don't think we lack money in France really (since we fund foreign movies on top of our domestic production) and we are already producing enough movies that saturate the weekly distribution. Of course our average film budget is closer to 5 Millions euros (while in Hollywood it's $100M), so we could make more spectacular entertainment... but the few big budget movies we make aren't on par anyway. The latest Astérix (€78M) was a failure.
I don't know anything in economy though, so don't know how to answer.
Somehow I missed this article from Feb. 2007 by Kristin Thompson at Observations on film art : "World rejects Hollywood blockbusters!?"
which is a response to "Hearts and Minds vs. Shock and Awe at the Oscars" the newspaper article by Nathan Gardels & Mike Medavoy.
Here are selected excerpts from Kristin Thompson's commentary:
"there are plenty of American films that don’t fall into the “blockbuster” category. (...) Conversely, most films made in foreign countries are no less formulaic than ours. Other countries’ popular comedies, crime films, and horror pics are almost never imported into the USA."
"According to Gardels and Medavoy, the fact that films now gross more abroad than at home suggests that the American public is tired of these big pictures. (...)
The rising proportion of receipts abroad results largely from reasons other than any putative decline in the popularity of American cinema. For one thing, rising prosperity in developing countries has made movie-going more affordable, and hence there are more movie-goers. The fall of Communism and the new profit orientation in China have opened large new markets for American films. Most crucially, a huge boom in the construction of multiplexes in South America, Europe, and much of Asia during the 1990s and early 2000s raised the number and cost of tickets sold outside the US. It isn’t the American market that has shrunk. It’s the foreign market that has expanded.
Moreover, comparisons between the total box-office income of films within the American market and in foreign ones are often misleading due to currency fluctuations. The recent weakness of the American dollar against many other currencies has made it considerably easier for those in other countries to see Hollywood’s products. Theatrical income does not necessarily reflect the number of tickets sold or the price of those tickets in local currencies. Hence raw statistics may not accurately indicate the actual popularity of any given title."
"American films are truly international products, and blockbusters play in most foreign markets. A non-English-language market like Denmark may produce films that gain considerable screen time at home, but they do not circulate outside the country on nearly the scale of the American product."
"The English language, however, remains central to most internationally successful films, and that is unlikely to change any time soon. The most popular stars still tend to come from English-speaking countries or to be able to speak English well, as actors like Juliette Binoche and Penélope Cruz can."
"When a huge, complex production like The Lord of the Rings can be almost entirely made in a country with a miniscule production history, there is far less reason for American producers to confine any phase of their projects to the traditional capital of filmmaking."
"There may indeed be an ongoing decline in Hollywood’s importance in world cinema, but it isn’t happening quickly. For one thing, there is no reason to think that US firms will soon cease to be the main sources of financing and organization of filmmaking."
"Finally, we shouldn’t forget that since early in the history of the cinema the USA has been far and away the largest exhibition market for films. No other single country can match it, and Europe’s attempts to create a united multi-national market to rival it have so far made slow progress. With such a firm basis, the Hollywood industry can simply afford to spend more on its films than can firms in most countries. Expensive production values help create movies that have international appeal, in part precisely because they are blockbusters of a type that are rarely made anywhere else."
The trouble with these stats and the conclusions from them is that they rely on films seen in cinemas - but most film viewing is not donw in cinemas but on TV, DVD and via download.
Of course. When we talk about "box office" it's at the movie theatre. It's an indicator of the popularity of the movies at their first release on a proper "big screen".
Now if the majority of the audience watches on a TV (which I don't), we'd need stats covering this type of consumption. But it doesn't exist as far as I know.
But it would be an interesting survey to consider. Rental stats, DVD sales, VOD downloads, TV broadcast...
I wonder if the mainstream taste differs from the theatre B.O., as many suggest (allegdly DVDs give more visibility to overlooked titles, oldies and obscure fair).
If you have more infos, let me know.
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