List of highest-grossing non-English films
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These are the highest-grossing, primarily non-
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
language films in the world. The vast majority of them are Chinese films.


Film and language

In terms of gross revenue, English-language films are vastly over-represented among the highest-grossing films of all time. Among the top 100 highest-grossing films, 97 of them are in English, with the other three being the Chinese films ''
The Battle at Lake Changjin ''The Battle at Lake Changjin'' () is a 2021 Chinese war film co-directed and co-produced by Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark and Dante Lam, written by Lan Xiaolong and Huang Jianxin, and starring Wu Jing and Jackson Yee. It was commissioned by the pr ...
'', ''
Wolf Warrior 2 ''Wolf Warrior 2'' () is a 2017 Chinese action film co-written, co-produced, and directed by Wu Jing, who also starred in the lead role. The film co-stars Celina Jade, Frank Grillo, Hans Zhang, and Wu Gang. The film is a sequel to 2015's ''Wol ...
'' and '' Hi, Mom''. The primary source of the highest-grossing films are the
major film studios Major film studios are production and distribution companies that release a substantial number of films annually and consistently command a significant share of box office revenue in a given market. In the American and international markets, the ...
based in and around
Hollywood, California Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...
. As a result, nearly all of these films are English-language films as the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
is primarily an English-speaking country. One factor behind the relative financial success of English-language films is that the
English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...
is widely considered to be a
universal language Universal language may refer to a hypothetical or historical language spoken and understood by all or most of the world's people. In some contexts, it refers to a means of communication said to be understood by all humans. It may be the idea of ...
—it is the
first language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...
of 400 million people, the
second language A person's second language, or L2, is a language that is not the native language (first language or L1) of the speaker, but is learned later. A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a fo ...
of another 400 million, and a
foreign language A foreign language is a language that is not an official language of, nor typically spoken in, a given country, and that native speakers from that country must usually acquire through conscious learning - be this through language lessons at schoo ...
of an additional 700 million. It is thus understood by 1.5 billion people, which is almost 20% of the
world population In demographics, the world population is the total number of humans currently living. It was estimated by the United Nations to have exceeded 8 billion in November 2022. It took over 200,000 years of human prehistory and history for the ...
. The
Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the wor ...
, especially the standard variant, has over twice as many native speakers as English, but much fewer foreign-language speakers. Another major factor is the difference in cinema
box office A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicke ...
ticket prices around the world, with
developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...
and
newly industrialized countries The category of newly industrialized country (NIC), newly industrialized economy (NIE) or middle income country is a socioeconomic classification applied to several countries around the world by political scientists and economists. They represent ...
having lower ticket prices than
developed countries A developed country (or industrialized country, high-income country, more economically developed country (MEDC), advanced country) is a sovereign state that has a high quality of life, developed economy and advanced technological infrastruct ...
, due to lower currency value, less average income and lower living costs. A number of
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
,
Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...
and
Soviet films The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
sold more than tickets at the box office, but at relatively low ticket prices compared to Hollywood films, thus limiting the amount of gross revenue generated. Up until the 1990s, US and UK ticket prices were significantly greater than Chinese, Indian and Soviet ticket prices. , the average cinema ticket price was in the United States, compared to ($5.10) in China and () in India. The world's largest markets in terms of box office admissions are
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and the United States. The former
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
(before it dissolved in 1991) was a similarly large box office market,''The Routledge Handbook of the Cold War'', page 357
Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...
, 2014
with relatively lower ticket prices than North America due to lower living costs. Indian films had a large overseas audience in the Soviet Union between the 1950s and 1980s,Bollywood affair: how Indian cinema arrived in the USSR
''The Calvert Journal'',
Calvert 22 Foundation Calvert 22 Foundation was a non-profit UK registered charity created in 2009 by Russian-born, London-based economist Nonna Materkova. Calvert 22 Foundation focused on the contemporary culture and creativity of the 29 countries of the New East ( ...
, August 2015
and were significantly more popular than Hollywood films there.''Moscow Prime Time: How the Soviet Union Built the Media Empire that Lost the Cultural Cold War'', page 44
Cornell University Press The Cornell University Press is the university press of Cornell University; currently housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage. It was first established in 1869, making it the first university publishing enterprise in th ...
, 2011


Highest-grossing films by box office revenue


Box office admissions

A number of non-English markets have traditionally given box office figures in ticket sales (such as France,
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
and
the Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
), rather than gross revenue, thus only ticket sales numbers are available for a number of older non-English films in various markets. This list varies from revenue-based rankings due to the huge difference in the price of admission tickets from place to place as well as from one moment in time to another. The following table lists known estimated box office ticket sales for various high-grossing non-English films that have sold over tickets worldwide. Note: Some of the data are incomplete due to a lack of available admissions data from a number of countries. Therefore, it is not an exhaustive list of all the highest-grossing non-English films by ticket sales, so no rankings are given.


Home video sales revenue

The following table lists known
home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...
sales for various high-grossing non-English films. Note that this list is incomplete and is thus not necessarily representative of the highest-grossing non-English films by video sales, therefore no rankings are given.


Highest-grossing openings

The following is a list of the highest-grossing openings for non-English films. Since films do not open on Fridays in many markets, the 'opening' is taken to be the gross between the first day of release and the first Sunday following the film's release. Only films that have to an opening above qualify for the list.


Highest-grossing films by year

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1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...
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Shaolin Temple Shaolin Monastery (少林寺 ''Shàolínsì''), also known as Shaolin Temple, is a renowned monastic institution recognized as the birthplace of Chan Buddhism and the cradle of Shaolin Kung Fu. It is located at the foot of Wuru Peak of the So ...
'' , $112 million , 500 million , $,000 , Mandarin , style="text-align:center;" , , - ! rowspan="2" ,
1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...
, ''
Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
'' , $101 million , 12.5 million , , Japanese , style="text-align:center;" , , - , ''Wudang'' (''The Undaunted Wudang'') , , million , , Mandarin , , - !
1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...
, ''Deadly Fury'' (''Pride's Deadly Fury'') , Unknown , million , , Mandarin , style="text-align:center;" , , - ! rowspan="2" ,
1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
, '' The Burmese Harp'' , $29 million , , , Japanese , style="text-align:center;" , , - , ''Juvenile Delinquents'' (''Innocent Teenagers'') , , million , , Mandarin,
Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
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1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...
, ''
The Adventures of Milo and Otis is a 1986 Japanese Adventure film, adventure comedy-drama film about two animals, Milo (an tabby cat, orange tabby cat) and Otis (a pug). The original Japanese version, narrated by Shigeru Tsuyuki and with poetry recitation by Kyōko Koizumi, ...
'' , $104 million , 12 million , , Japanese , style="text-align:center;" , , - , ''Great Shanghai 1937'' , , million , , Mandarin , , - ! rowspan="2" ,
1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
, '' Hachiko Monogatari'' (''The Story of Hachiko'') , $ million , , , Japanese , style="text-align:center;" , , - , ''Mirage'' (''Hai shi shen lou'') , , million , style="text-align:center;" , , Mandarin , , - !
1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...
, ''
The Silk Road The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and reli ...
'' (''Dun-Huang'') , $74.1 million , , , Japanese , style="text-align:center;" , , - ! rowspan="2" ,
1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
, ''
Kiki's Delivery Service is a 1989 Japanese Anime, animated fantasy film written, produced, and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, adapted from the Kiki's Delivery Service (novel), 1985 novel by Eiko Kadono. It was animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Yamato Transpor ...
'' , $31.5 million , , , Japanese , style="text-align:center;" , , - , ''
Intergirl ''Intergirl'' (russian: Интердевочка, translit. ''Interdevochka'') is a 1989 Soviet drama film. It is set in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) in the time of perestroika during the 1980s. The film was the most popular Soviet film in ...
'' , , 44 million , , Russian , style="text-align:center;" , , - !
1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
, '' Heaven and Earth'' , $ million , , , Japanese , , - !
1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...
, '' Armour of God II: Operation Condor'' , $24.1 million , , $15 million , Cantonese , , - !
1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
,
Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai (; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman and military officer who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, premier of the People's Republic of China from 1 October 1949 until his death on 8 J ...
, $ million , 100 million , , Mandarin , , - !
1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
, ''
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II , is a 1993 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Takao Okawara, written by Wataru Mimura, and produced by Shōgo Tomiyama. Produced and distributed by Toho, Toho Studios, it is the 20th film in the Godzilla (franchise), ''Godzilla'' franchise, as ...
'' , $36 million , 3.8 million , $9.5 million , Japanese , , - !
1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
, '' Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!'' (''Who Am I to You?'') , $ million , 74 million , $ million ,
Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
, , - !
1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
, ''
Rumble in the Bronx ''Rumble in the Bronx'' (Chinese title: 紅番區, ''Hong Faan Kui'' (transl. ''Red Turn District'') is a 1995 American-Hong Kong martial arts film starring Jackie Chan, Anita Mui and Françoise Yip. It was directed by Stanley Tong, with action ...
'' , $76 million , 22.3 million , $1.5 million , Cantonese , , - !
1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
, '' Police Story 4: First Strike'' , $53.2 million , 21.9 million , , Cantonese, Russian,
Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...
, , - !
1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
, ''
Life Is Beautiful ''Life Is Beautiful'' ( it, La vita è bella, ) is a 1997 Italian comedy drama film directed by and starring Roberto Benigni, who co-wrote the film with Vincenzo Cerami. Benigni plays Guido Orefice, a Jewish Italian bookshop owner, who emplo ...
'' , $230 million , 31.9 million , $20 million , Italian , , - !
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...
, '' Pokémon: The First Movie'' , $173 million , 36.8 million , $10 million , Japanese , , - !
1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
, '' Pokémon: The Movie 2000'' , $134 million , 19.6 million , $30 million , Japanese , , - !
2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
, ''
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' is a 2000 wuxia film directed by Ang Lee and written for the screen by Wang Hui-ling, James Schamus, and Tsai Kuo-jung . The film features a cast of actors of Chinese people, Chinese ethnicity, including Ch ...
'' , $214 million , , $17 million , Mandarin , , - !
2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
, ''
Spirited Away is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Tohokushinsha Film, and Mitsubishi and distribut ...
'' , $396 million , 46.4 million , $19 million , Japanese , , - !
2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
, ''
Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ...
'' , $177 million , , $31 million , Mandarin , , - !
2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
, ''
Bayside Shakedown 2 is the second film based on the popular Bayside Shakedown TV series, known for its unique and humorous depiction of the Japanese police force while avoiding the conventions that define most police dramas. The movie was released in the summer of ...
'' , $164 million , 12.8 million , , Japanese , , - !
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
, ''
Howl's Moving Castle ''Howl's Moving Castle'' is a fantasy novel by British author Diana Wynne Jones, first published in 1986 by Greenwillow Books of New York. It was a runner-up for the annual Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and won the Phoenix Award twenty years ...
'' , $236 million , 21.9 million , , Japanese , , - !
2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
, ''
Yamato was originally the area around today's Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan, which became Yamato Province and by extension a name for the whole of Japan. Yamato is also the dynastic name of the ruling Imperial House of Japan. Japanese his ...
'' , $ million , , , Japanese , , - !
2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
, ''
Apocalypto ''Apocalypto'' () is a 2006 action adventure film produced, co-written, and directed by Mel Gibson. The film features a cast of Native American and Indigenous Mexican actors consisting of Rudy Youngblood, Raoul Trujillo, Mayra Sérbulo, Dalia H ...
'' , $121 million , 14 million , $40 million ,
Yucatec Maya Yucatec Maya (; referred to by its speakers simply as Maya or as , is one of the 32 Mayan languages of the Mayan language family. Yucatec Maya is spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula and northern Belize. There is also a significant diasporic commu ...
, , - !
2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
, ''
Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ...
'' , $80.4 million , , , Japanese , , - !
2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
, ''
Welcome to the Sticks ''Welcome to the Sticks'' (french: Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, ) is a 2008 French comedy film directed and co-written by Dany Boon and starring Kad Merad and Boon himself. The film was the highest-grossing French film of all time at the box offic ...
'' , $245 million , 26.3 million , $14 million , French,
Ch'ti Picard (, also , ) is a '' langue d'oïl'' of the Romance language family spoken in the northernmost part of France and Hainaut province in Belgium. Administratively, this area is divided between the French Hauts-de-France region and the Belgian ...
, style="text-align:center;" , , - !
2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
, '' Mulan: Rise of a Warrior'' , $304 million , , $6.5 million , Mandarin , style="text-align:center;" , , - !
2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
, ''
Arrietty ''Arrietty'', titled in Japan and ''The Secret World of Arrietty'' in North America, is a 2010 Japanese animated fantasy film directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi as his feature film debut as a director, animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon ...
'' , $146 million , 12.4 million , $23 million , Japanese , style="text-align:center;" , , - !
2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
, ''
The Intouchables ''The Intouchables'' (french: Intouchables, ), also known as ''Untouchable'' in the UK and Ireland, is a 2011 French buddy comedy-drama film written and directed by Olivier Nakache & Éric Toledano. It stars François Cluzet and Omar Sy. Nine w ...
'' , $426 million , 48.2 million , $11 million , French , style="text-align:center;" , , - !
2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
, ''
Lost in Thailand ''Lost in Thailand'' is a 2012 Chinese comedy film directed and co-written by Xu Zheng and starring Xu Zheng, Wang Baoqiang, and Huang Bo. The film is about three Chinese men traveling in Thailand: two competing scientists searching for their boss ...
'' , $197 million , 37.9 million , $4.6 million , Mandarin , style="text-align:center;" , , - !
2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
, '' Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons'' , $205 million , 30.5 million , $64 million , Mandarin , style="text-align:center;" , , - !
2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
, ''
Breakup Buddies ''Breakup Buddies'' is a 2014 Chinese romantic comedy and road film directed by Ning Hao. It stars Huang Bo and Xu Zheng as buddies on a wild 3,000-kilometre cross-country journey from Beijing to Dali City (via Zhangjiajie). The film premiered a ...
'' , $189 million , 34 million , $11 million , Mandarin , style="text-align:center;" , , - !
2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
, ''
Monster Hunt ''Monster Hunt'' () is a 2015 mainland Chinese-Hong Kong 3D fantasy action comedy adventure film directed by Raman Hui (in his feature directorial debut). The film was released in China on 16 July 2015 in 3D and IMAX 3D. Upon release, it became ...
'' , $387 million , 65.7 million , $56 million , Mandarin , style="text-align:center;" , , - !
2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
, '' The Mermaid'' , $553 million , 93 million , $60 million , Mandarin , style="text-align:center;" , , - !
2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
, ''
Wolf Warrior 2 ''Wolf Warrior 2'' () is a 2017 Chinese action film co-written, co-produced, and directed by Wu Jing, who also starred in the lead role. The film co-stars Celina Jade, Frank Grillo, Hans Zhang, and Wu Gang. The film is a sequel to 2015's ''Wol ...
'' , $870 million , 160 million , $30 million , Mandarin , style="text-align:center;" , , - !
2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
, ''
Operation Red Sea ''Operation Red Sea'' () is a 2018 Chinese-Hong Kong action war film directed by Dante Lam and starring Zhang Yi, Huang Jingyu, Hai Qing and Du Jiang. The film is loosely based on the evacuation of foreign nationals and almost 600 Chinese citiz ...
'' , $579 million , 93.8 million , $70 million , Mandarin , style="text-align:center;" , , - !
2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
, ''
Ne Zha Nezha ( 哪吒) is a protection deity in Chinese folk religion. His official Taoist name is "Marshal of the Central Altar" (). He was then given the title "Third Lotus Prince" () after he became a deity. Origins According to Meir Shahar, Nez ...
'' , $743 million , 140 million , $20 million , Mandarin , style="text-align:center;" , , - !
2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...
, '' Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train'' , $503 million , 44.5 million , $16 million , Japanese , style="text-align:center;" , , - !
2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...
, ''
The Battle at Lake Changjin ''The Battle at Lake Changjin'' () is a 2021 Chinese war film co-directed and co-produced by Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark and Dante Lam, written by Lan Xiaolong and Huang Jianxin, and starring Wu Jing and Jackson Yee. It was commissioned by the pr ...
'' , $906 million , 125 million , $200 million , Mandarin , style="text-align:center;" , (...) Since grosses are not limited to original theatrical runs, a film's first-run gross is included in brackets after the total if known.


Timeline of highest-grossing films


Box office revenue


Box office admissions


Openings

The following is a timeline of the highest-grossing openings for non-English films. Since films do not open on Fridays in many markets, the 'opening' is taken to be the gross between the first day of release and the first Sunday following the film's release.


Highest-grossing films by language


Box office revenue

The following is a list of highest-grossing films by language.


Box office admissions

The following is a list of highest box office admissions by language.


Openings

The following is a list of highest-grossing openings by language. Since films do not open on Fridays in many markets, the 'opening' is taken to be the gross between the first day of release and the first Sunday following the film's release.


Highest-grossing film franchises and film series

The following is the Highest-grossing non-English film franchises and film series. ''
Doraemon ''Doraemon'' ( ja, ドラえもん ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Fujiko F. Fujio. The manga was first serialized in December 1969, with List of Doraemon chapters, its 1,345 individual chapters compiled into 45 ' ...
'' sits at the top with , while ''
The Battle at Lake Changjin ''The Battle at Lake Changjin'' () is a 2021 Chinese war film co-directed and co-produced by Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark and Dante Lam, written by Lan Xiaolong and Huang Jianxin, and starring Wu Jing and Jackson Yee. It was commissioned by the pr ...
'' has the best average of per film. : } , - , , - , , - , colspan="6",


See also

*
List of highest-grossing films Films generate income from several revenue streams, including theatrical exhibition, home video, television broadcast rights, and merchandising. However, theatrical box-office earnings are the primary metric for trade publications in assess ...
*
List of highest-grossing media franchises This article lists notable highest-grossing media franchises. Due to companies and corporations rarely reporting the total revenue(s) figures of their franchises, the list uses estimated figures based on publicly available data and includes th ...
*
List of most expensive non-English-language films This is a non-definitive list of most expensive non-English-language films, with budgets given in United States dollars. Only films with budgets exceeding US$30 million are listed here. Where the source gives the budget in the native currency, co ...
*
Lists of highest-grossing films The following are lists of high-grossing films. Worldwide grosses * List of highest-grossing films ** List of highest-grossing non-English films ** List of highest-grossing puppet films ** List of highest-grossing R-rated films ** List of high ...
*
World cinema World cinema is a term in film theory that refers to films made outside of the American motion picture industry, particularly those in opposition to the aesthetics and values of commercial American cinema.Nagib, Lúcia. "Towards a positive de ...


Notes


Footnotes


References


Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Non-English films Lists of highest-grossing films Lists of films by language