74 )tA8lETr( Tues., Jan. 8, 1991 'Curious' Top Foreign Language Boxoffice Hit In Variety Survey By LAWRENCE COHN piling boxoffice figures reported by breakthrough film that the Supreme tional audience. Films such as "I Am Curious NEW YORK - From "La Dolce theaters in over 20 key U.S. cities. Court ruled could be shown public• Ticket price inflation (a quad• (Yellow)," the Danish sex comedy Vita" to "Cinema Paradiso," fbr- For foreign language and other ly in U.S. theaters. rupling over the three-decade time- hit "Without A Stitch " and the eign language films have played a specialized art-house films, this ur• Soon after U.S. softcore and then span) is not taken into account in ground-breaking Isabel Sarli smash small but significant part in U.S. ban sample captures from 40% to hardcore porn films replaced for• compiling this list, which states es• "Fuego" made all earnings in sub• exhibition over the last three de- 75% of the total grow. eign films at the nation's "art the• timated bo. grosses. Thus, Felli- titled version. "Stitch" even played cadea. The composite chart listing 60 of aters, " bringing both the X rating ni's "La Dolce Vita" performance at U.S. driveins with subtitles. The accompanying chart, listing the biggest foreign hits has been ex• and notion of "art picture" into dis• in 1960 would be comparable to a "A Man And A Woman," "El- the greatest successes among panded beyond the comprehensive repute. $70 million grossing mainstream vira Madigan" and "La Cage Aux foreign-film imports, is based on a 1968-90 sample back to 1960, using Federico Fellini and the late Vit- release today. Folles" transcended the art-filmg Variety study of specialized film annual film-rental data on the older torio de Sica are the most successful Many of the older titles benefited market by becoming popular" distribution. pictures. Continental directors on the list, from the kind of in-depth distribu• "date" films. To a lesser extent, The bulk of the data is extrapolat- French, Italian and Swedish films each with numerous hits. Two of de tion not possible today, due to the recent hits like 'My Life As A ed from the Kzhefy 1968-90 theater dominate the foreign language list. Sica's final films, "We'll Call Him former acceptance of dubbed-into- Dog," "Women On The Verge Of sample of over 10,000 films, com- The traditional common denomi• Andrea" and "The Voyage." did English foreign films in the U.S. A Nervous Breakdown " and nator for popularity of foreign im• not receive U.S. theatrical ex• marketplace. The grosses from "Cinema Paradiso" have also ex- ports has been sex. Films in the posure, and Fellini's latest two fea• dubbed prints are included in the panded past the core audience of '50s and '60s offered audiences the tures, "Intervista " and "Voices total bo. for these earlier films. foreign-film buffs. Sony To Demo forbidden fruit of more explicit From The Moon," have failed to scenes than were permissible under find U.S. distribution deals to date. Camcorder Link the old production code governing Not included in the list of top for• Sony Corp. is expected to demo American films. eign language films is Bernardo Top 60 Foreign Language. this week a new product, dubbed Early Swedish imports like "One Bertolucci's $35 million grosser the VBox, that promises to link the Swedish Summer" and Ingmar from 1973, "Last Tango In Pahs." 8m Camcorder and other home vid• Bergman's first international suc• Starring Marlon Brando and featur• Films At US. Boxoffice eo peripherals with computers. cess, "Summer With Monika, " ing a predominantly English- Theatrical grosses, 1960-90. had fleeting nude scenes. Brigitte language soundtrack (with signifi- The new product, which will sell TITLE U.S. DISTRIB, YEAR DIRECTOR U.S. BO. Bardot was the top draw on the aM- cant French segments as well), the for $249.95 and be available in the II Am Curious (Yellow) Grove Press, '69 V. Sjoman $19,000,000 Alberto Grimaldi production was Spring, reportedly will allow com• theater circuit in the late '50s, and 2. La Dolce Vita Astor/Landau/AlP, '60 P Fellini 18,000.000 an Italian French coproduction puters (initially Apple's Macintosh 20 years later Laura Antonelli had 3. Lm Cage Aux Folk: UA.'79 E. Molinaro 17.000.000 backed by United Artists. computers) to communicate interac• comparable impact. 4 Z Cinema 5, '69 Cosla-Gavras 15.000,000 tively with Sony video peripherals By 1990, U.S. filmmakers had Leading Italian filmmakers like 5 A Man And A Woman Allied Artists, '66 C Lelouch 13.000.000 such as the Camcorder. been making sensual pictures for Bertolucci, Luchino Visconti, 6. Emmanuelle Columbia, 75 J Jaeckin H.500.000 For its new product, Sony has de• two decades as well as thousands of Franco Zeffirelli, Michaelangelo 7. Cinema Paradiso Miramax, '90 G. Tornatore 11,300,00% veloped a protocol for controlling pornographic features and video Antonioni and Sergio Leone are not B Das Boot Triumph, '82 W Petersen 11,000,000" consumer video products from a tapes. Yet Miramax was still a hit at widely represented on the list be• 9StoryOfO Allied Artists/Lonmar, computer, allowing consumers to the bo. with two sexy imports, cause they often chose to make their 15 Jaeckin 10,000.000 edit and perform other functions "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & films in English for a wider interna- 10. BW Embassy, '63 Fellini 9.500.000 usually only available to video Her Lover " (a French-Dutch 11. Yesterday, Today And pros. coproduction shot in English) and Tomorrow Embassy, '64 V dcSka 9.200.00 Suggested possible applications "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!" Both Quello Blisters 12. Marriage Italian Style Embassy. '64 V deSka 9.000.000 for the product include a sales pre• had ratings problems, ultimately 12. Elvira Madigan Cinema 5, '67 B Widerberg 9,000.000 sentation with computer graphics, receiving the NC-17 tag that 14. Dear John Sigma 3. '64 L M Lindgren 8,800.000 sound from a compact disk and use replaced the X. Nets On Mideast 15. Cousin Cousine Libra, '76 J C Tmcchella B.500.000 Federal Communications Com• 16. My Lik As A Dog Skouras, 87 L Halbarom B, 100,000 of a video clip. Miramax released the most popu• mission member James Quello 17. Fanny & Alexander Embassy,'83 I Bergman B.000.000 Sony currently supplies computer lar foreign language film of the de raised eyebrows at the Association IB Women On The Verge Of disk drives and displays to Apple cade, "Cinema Paradiso," without of Independent Television Stations A Nervous Breakdown Orion a.'88 Almodovar 7,500,000# but reportedly won't limit use of the any MPAA rating or controversy convention with a blistering broad- 19 Ran Orion a,'85 Kurosawa 7.100,000 VBox to Macintosh computers. Five years earlier, Cinecom distri- side against network coverage of 20. Two Women Embasmy, '61 deSka 7.000,000 It's believed that Sony also will ubted the leading foreign-film hit, the Middle East 21 Without A Stitch V.I. Prods /J.H Harris, TO Meineche 6,500.000 Merchant Ivory's English-language make VBox available to IBM and Quello, speaking on a Saturday 22 Diva UA Classics, '82 J Beineix 6.300,000 other personal computer makers "A Room With A View," which 23 Swept Away Cinema, 5, '75 Wertmuller 6,000.000 grossed $25 million domestically panel with fellow FCC members that use MS DOS. Ervin Duggan and Sherrie Mar• 23 La Cage Aux Folks II UA, '81 Molinaro 6,000.000 Demos of the product arc to take and played a year without an 25. Jean De Florette Orion CI.. '87 Bern 5.450.000 MPAA rating. shall, claimed the webs have taken place via a series of informal press an "almost fanatical adversarial ap- 26 King Of Hearts UA Lopcrt, '67 de Broca 5.400.000 Orion a.'88 Malle briefings prior to the opening of the The 1969 Swedish film "I Am proach" to the Bush admistration's 26. Au Revoir, Les Enfants 5.400.000 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Curious (Yellow)" tops the list of 28 Babette's Feast Orion a,'88 Axel 5,300,000 handling of Iraq's invasion of Atlantk, "78 Mizrahi Vegas later this week modern imports, representing the Kuwait. 29 Madame Rosa 5,200,(XX^ 30 The Garden Of The Quello said he supports free Finzi-Continis Cinema5. '71 deSka 5.100,000 speech rights of broadcasters, not- 30 Manon Of The Spring Orion a.'87 Bern 5.100.000 Half Of Famed Elstree Doomed ing that he voted in 1987 to abolish 32 Seven Beauties Cinema 5, '76 Wertmuller 5.000.000 LONDON - A minor part of the Group. That barely a murmur has the fairness doctrine, the rule that 32 Bread And Chocolate World Northal, "78 Brusati 5.000,000 Brent Walker empire but a major been raised this time indicates the required broadcasters to air both 34 Amarcord New World. '74 Fellini 4,700.000 part of British film culture, Elstree demoralization of the U.K. produc• sides of a controversial issue. "I 35. The Emigrants WB,'72 Troell 4,500.000 Studios, has been turned into a tion sector. don't have to take a back scat to 36. Get Out Your Hand building site. Walker, who paid £38 million anyone on the First Amendment," kerchiefs New Line, T9 B Blier 4,300.000 The oldest working film studio in ($72 million) for Elstree two years said Quello.