Pedro Almodóvar is nobody’s idea of a conventional, throwback director in most ways. But among top international directors over the last 40 years, he stands if not alone but at least above anyone else until now in gaining prominence in the U.S. with subtitled films — without ever making an English-language one.
Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, François Truffaut, all of whom saw consistent success in U.S. arthouses, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s, made either just one or no films outside their native languages. From the 1980s, it became common for the most successful European and Latin American directors to pursue projects in English, sometimes never returning to their native tongues. Many others, like Bong Joon Ho, Alfonso Cuarón, and Guillermo del Toro, have leapfrogged to English-language scripts and actors after their initial successes.
Not Almodóvar, until now. With “The Room Next Door” (Sony Pictures Classics), he has made his first feature film not in his native language, though without changing his sensibility or style in its story of two formidable women, childhood friends reunited late in life (Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore) as one of them faces a late-life crisis. (Almodóvar made the 2020 short “The Human Voice,” with Swinton, and 2023’s “Strange Way of Life,” with Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal, as English-language beta tests for his feature-length ambitions.)
As a specialized, adult-themed drama — with Almodóvar, its stars, and decent (70 Metacritic) but not top-end reviews — “The Room Next Door,” even in English, could be challenged to reach the level of the director’s biggest films in the U.S./Canada. But what is that level?
With the grosses more modest compared to studio blockbusters, a compilation of subtitled films’ box office isn’t common, much less adjusting the initial numbers to current ticket prices. So this is likely the first attempt ever to rank Almodóvar’s domestic films’ box office.
In 2024 ticket-price terms (around $12 average, with that number reflecting lower ticket prices not applicable here), his 22 feature films before “Room Next Door” have grossed around $150 million. That might be less than the opening weekend of a studio franchise blockbuster. But it represents a not insignificant part of arthouse subtitled films over the last 40 years.
Here’s how his films have done. (All grosses below are adjusted unless noted and inexact estimates based on the best available information, but they should be considered reasonably accurate and in the appropriate order.)
Over $20 Million
“Volver” (2006, Sony Pictures Classics) — $23 million
An awards-oriented release elevated by Penélope Cruz’s Best Actress Oscar nomination, high-end reviews made this sharp hybrid drama/comedy into Almodóvar’s biggest domestic success. It didn’t hurt that it came before the sharp slump in interest in subtitled films, including his. At $12.9 million unadjusted, it also ranks #1 in raw gross.
$15 Million-$20 Million
“Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” (1988, Orion Classics) — $20 million
Almodóvar’s seventh feature was his breakout hit, and the first of his to become the top subtitled release of its year. Beforehand, he was a niche figure in domestic specialized films.
“All About My Mother” (1999, SPC) — $19 million
This Best Foreign Language Film Oscar winner grossed more than his previous four films, heralding a higher level that sustained itself for more than a decade.
“Talk to Her” (2002, SPC) — $19 million
His follow-up matched the success of “All About My Mother,” with “Talk to Her” another Oscar winner (Best Original Screenplay).
$10 Million-$15 Million
“Tie Me Up!, Tie Me Down!” (1990, Miramax) — $11.5 million
A falloff after “Women on the Verge,” but still strong.
“Bad Education” (2004, SPC) — $10 million
Gael García Bernal, after his even bigger successes with ” Y Tu Mamá También” and “The Motorcycle Diaries,” elevated this NC-17-rated drama, and one of Almodóvar’s most acclaimed films.
$5 Million-$10 Million
“Broken Embraces” (2009, SPC) — $8 million
His second collaboration with Penélope Cruz was his biggest film over the most recent 15 years.
“Pain and Glory” (2019, SPC) – $6.8 million
Antonio Banderas’ eighth film with Almodóvar yielded the actor’s only Oscar nomination so far, a significant boost for what is likely the director’s most autobiographical film.
“Kika” (1994, October Films) — $5.9 million
This was one of his few weak-reviewed films, but in this era, it was still good enough to put it in the mid-range of his output.
“The Skin I Live In” (2011, SPC) — $5 million
This psychosexual thriller marked Banderas’ return to Almodóvar after a 20-year hiatus.
$2.5 Million-$4.9 Million
“High Heels” (1991, Miramax) — $4.8 million
“Live Flesh” (1997, Goldwyn) — $4.5 million
“The Flower of My Secret” (1995, SPC) — $2.9 million
“Parallel Mothers” (2021, SPC) — $3.2 million
“Julieta” (2016, SPC) — $2.8 million
“I’m So Excited!” (2013, SPC) — $2.6 million
The final three, beginning with “Julieta,” represent more the decline of appeal of subtitled films in the U.S. Plus, in the case of “Parallel Mothers,” Covid impact kept it from reaching its box office potential (it has the highest Metacritic score of all his films).
Under $2.5 Million
“Pepi, Luci, Bom” (Cinevista, 1980)
“Labyrinth of Passion” (Cinevista, 1982)
“Dark Habits” (Cinevista, 1983)
“What Have I Done to Deserve This?” (Cinevista, 1984)
“Matador” (Cinevista, 1986)
“Law of Desire” (Cinevista, 1987)
Almodóvar’s first six films were distributed in the U.S. by Cinevista, a niche company that handled other significant gay-themed films in the 1980s and also was an early supporter of Spanish-language specialized films. “What Have I Done to Deserve This?” was the first to be released. Its gross then is unknown, but it played entirely in specialized theaters with no crossover, unlike many of Almodóvar’s later films.
After its premiere at New York’s New Directors/New Films, “What Have I Done” got the director his first American attention. Whatever its gross, it was enough to launch his domestic career. His three early films then got limited release, with “Matador” and “Law of Desire” subsequently premiering before “Women on the Verge” took him to a much higher stage.
Almodóvar entered the American specialized stage in the mid-1980s, a time when arthouses were transitioning to domestic, independent films (along with British titles) as their main focus. As such, he went against the trend.
During the following decades, though subtitled films have seen major hits (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Parasite” among them), no other director close to Almodóvar’s success has sustained a consistent level of prominent release, in his native language, solely from his own country. That was the norm from the 1950s to the 1970s, when subtitled films had a bigger domestic presence.
Of his 16 films from “Women on the Verge” through “Parallel Mothers,” eight were among the three biggest grossing specialized-market subtitled hits of their years, two biggest (“Verge” and “All About My Mother”), with five others as the second biggest.
This has come along with a significant sustained association with Sony Pictures Classics (whose executives also previously ran Orion Classics). SPC oversaw his four biggest domestic successes, eight of his 10 best, 13 overall including his last 11. It is an unparalleled director/distributor relationship in modern film history.
The release of “The Room Next Door” in English in past decades might have seen a big jump in domestic grosses. The reality is that Almodóvar’s latest is the kind of film with reduced expectations these days as serious adult films across the board struggle to reach older audiences and remain a harder sell with younger ones. Though its director and cast give it a boost, thematically it is close to recent specialized successes like Andrew Haigh’s “45 Years” with Charlotte Rampling and Michael Haneke’s “Amour,” the latter of which had major Oscar nomination boosts. They adjusted-grossed in the $7 million-$9 million range domestically. That would, these days, be a decent level of success, but would place it below the Almodóvar’s biggest hits.
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