Big in Japan: How This Year's Best-Picture Nominees Fared Overseas

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Americans took some hard knocks last year, and it quickly became evident which sectors were going to foible (retail, travel) and which would emerge “recession proof” (booze, movies). Yes, the American tradition of escapism has served both the Prozac and film industries well. We came out in droves to see flicks like Up, The Blind Side and Inglourious Basterds. And then there was Avatar. There’s hardly a word to describe director James Cameron’s 3-D box-office success story.

But Americans weren’t the only ones filling theater seats to experience this year’s Oscar-nominated line-up. Let’s take a look at how these 10 films fared abroad, starting from the bottom of the list, alphabetically, since Avatar shouldn’t get to be first at everything:

Up in the Air (Total Gross: $80,908,880)

Although it soared to success in the States, receiving loads of rave reviews, even George Clooney can’t win them all. In France, where the film opened on Jan. 27, he’s been beaten—by fish, no less. Océans—which will open in the U.S. as the accentless Oceans on Earth Day, April 22—is a French maritime documentary two years in the making. It opened to the tune of 105,000 viewers in its first two days, compared with the 45,000 who came to see the first showings of Up in the Air.

Up (Total Gross: $727,104,164)

Pixar has traditionally counted on overseas audiences to bring in the big bucks for their family-friendly flicks. Things were already looking good upon Up’s release, too, since the Cannes Film Festival selected it as its coveted opening-night entry—the first animated film to hold that slot. And Up didn’t disappoint. It opened in Russia a day before it hit U.S. theaters, and was Pixar’s best opening ever. In Australia, Up held the number one spot for five weeks—the longest box office reign the country had seen since The Dark Knight. In fact, the animated film surged 30 percent ahead of WALL-E in ticket sales Down Under. Global success continued into February, when the film snagged an Annie award for Best Animated Feature Film from the International Animated Film Society.

A Serious Man (Total Gross: $15,514,940)

Despite being notoriously quirky—or perhaps because of the quirkiness—the Coen brothers’ films seem to attract equal attention from audiences and critics alike. A Serious Man, despite its Jewish theme and frequent use of Yiddish, has pulled in $1,306,995 so far in the overwhelmingly Catholic nation of Spain—and the film’s only been out there since February 4.

Precious: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire (Total Gross: $46,836,059)

Although director Lee Daniels said he was hesitant to show his film at Cannes last May because he didn’t want it to appear “to exploit black people” and wasn’t sure if he "wanted white French people to see our world,” the screening was a rousing success, inspiring a 15-minute standing ovation from the international audience.

Inglourious Basterds (Total Gross: $320,351,773)

The obvious question, perhaps: How did this film fare at German box offices? After all, director Quentin Tarantino let out all the stops when it came to rewriting Nazi history—and the German public was either going to love it or hate it. Turns out, the former was the case. According to Box Office Mojo, Basterds came in eleventh (rather narrowly beating Twilight) in gross ticket sales in Germany, raking in an impressive $23,585,703 since its Aug. 20 release.

Additionally, 28 German theaters showed the original, un-dubbed version of the movie so they could “hear Tarantino’s celebrated dialogue in its original language," according to Ben Fritz of the L.A. Times.