Universal’s Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy leads new releases in UK and Ireland cinemas this weekend after grossing just shy of £2.1m in previews on Thursday (February 13).
Taking advantage of Valentine’s Day, the fourth instalment in the British romantic comedy franchise screens in 733 venues from today. The £2.1m Thursday total is on par with 2008’s Sex And The City as the highest-grossing single-day preview for a romantic comedy in the territory.
Renee Zellweger returns to screens as the titular Bridget Jones, now a fifty-something widow who decides to head back to work and begin dating again. Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson are also among the returning cast while new faces include 2023 Screen Star Of Tomorrow Leo Woodall and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Michael Morris directs with a screenplay from Dan Mazer, Abi Morgan and Helen Fielding who also wrote the novel on which the film is based.
Screen earlier reported that Mad About The Boy was enjoying bigger advance sales than that of fellow female-skewering juggernaut Barbie which opened on £18.4m back in 2023.
The fourth outing of Bridget Jones comes nine years after Bridget Jones Baby which debuted with £8.1m for a £48.1m cume. Bridget Jones’s Diary grossed £42.1m at UK and Ireland cinemas in 2001 while its sequel Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason dipped with £36.0m in 2004.
Going into battle with Bridget Jones is another fourth instalment in a franchise - Captain America: Brave New World - which Disney is launching into 616 locations.
Anthony Mackie takes the reins from Chris Evans who played the titular superhero in the previous three entries. The last edition came in 2016 when Captain America: Civil War bowed with £14.4m, an impressive jump from the 2013 sequel The Winter Soldier (£6m opening) and 2011’s The First Avenger (£3m).
Disney’s last Marvel outing Deadpool & Wolverine bucked the trend of superhero fatigue with a huge £12.6m debut last year, but other recent comic book titles have not fared so well, such as Sony’s Kraven The Hunter which opened to just £686,806 late last year.
Julius Onah directs Brave New World which sees the new Captain America caught in the middle of an international incident. Harrison Ford, Danny Ramirez, Livy Tyler and Giancarlo Esposito are among the supporting cast.
Valentine’s-themed releases
Also opening this weekend is the romance horror Heart Eyes in 401 cinemas via Paramount. Set on Valentine’s Day, the slasher follows a masked killer intent on murdering romantic couples. Josh Ruben directs with a cast including Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding.
Vertigo Releasing has children’s animation The Sloth Lane is out in 318 sites. The Australian feature premiered at Annecy and centres on a family of sloths trying to adapt to life in the big city.
Fellow Australian animation, and Oscar nominee, Memoir Of A Snail glides into 66 sites for Modern Films. Winner of best feature at Annecy, Adam Elliott’s feature, loosely based on his life, stars the voice of Sarah Snook as a melancholic hoarder.
Conic Film has crime thriller To A Land Unknown in 30 venues. Mahdi Fleifel’s Cannes title follows a Palestinian refugee who seeks revenge on the streets of Athens.
In re-releases, Park Circus is screening the 1945 classic Brief Encounter in 31 cinemas while AA Films has the 1994 Indian musical Hum Aapke Hain Koun! In 15 sites.
Further releases include Indian actions Chhaava and Laila via Yash Raj Films and Dreamz Entertainment, respectively, as well as Japanese drama Cottontail via Day For Night.
Key holdover titles include Disney’s A Complete Unknown and Universal’s Dog Man.
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