Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy was all loved up this weekend as it recorded the biggest opening weekend ever for a rom com in the UK and Ireland. Over a four day opening weekend (including Thursday previews) the filmed debuted to a whopping £11.8 million, surpassing the opening all three of the franchises by a country mile with the second film in the franchise opening to approximately £8 million. It sends another significant signal to the market that filmforthought.site mentioned last week in that the under-served female audience can and will deliver results. Despite how lucrative the upside can be, films for the female movie going audience remain few and far between.
But how was the film? With reviews embargoed until Wednesday, a day before release, it can only mean one of two things: 1) Universal wanted to ensure there were no spoilers, or 2) they knew the movie wasn’t strong. It was unfortunately the latter. The giveaway was in the marketing, the trailers when they came were lofty, wooly and kind of ambiguous, which is never a good sign. Bridget Jones’ Baby on the other hand knew it’s proposition from the start and this tightly wound narrative made for comedy gold. Mad About the Boy didn’t know what it wanted to be and it showed.
The lack of a US release going straight to Peacock may prove to be a short sighted decision, particularly with the international success it has seen so far but only time will tell. What is unfortunately clear is that such a huge swing has paid off and because studios are mad about the box office, it is very likely that this will not be the end of Bridget Jones. Maybe the next installment will get it just right.
FILM FOR THOUGHT 