Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boyhas passed a major box office milestone. The movie is the fourth installment in the romantic comedy series and follows the title character (Renée Zellweger) falling for a much younger man (Leo Woodall) after the death of her husband (Colin Firth). TheBridget Jones: Mad About the Boycastalso includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jim Broadbent, Isla Fisher, and Hugh Grant. Although every previous movie has grossed more than $200 million worldwide, the new installment is only being released in theaters internationally, having been given an exclusive Peacock streaming release in the United States.
PerVariety,Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boyis projected to add $19.2 million in 73 international markets by the end of the weekend. This will bring its cumulative global box office total to $71 million, officially making itthe third movie of the year to pass the $70 million milestone worldwide, after DreamWorks’Dog Manand the Marvel Cinematic Universe offeringCaptain America: Brave New World. It is also well on its way toward passing $75 million, a milestone it should achieve shortly.
A Domestic Theatrical Release Could Have Been A Success
This international gross exceeds that of all three previousBridget Jonesmoviesduring the same point in their runs, indicating that it could have potentially performed similarly in domestic theaters, helping to boost its global total even more. At the time of writing, it remains to be seen if this will limit its ability to become anything other than the lowest-grossing movie in the franchise by the end of its run. Below, seea breakdown of the domestic and international performance of the entire franchise:
$25 million
$71.5 million
$262.7 million
$334.3 million
~$50 million
$40.2 million
$224.9 million
$265.1 million
$35 million
$24.2 million
$187.7 million
$211.9 million
$50 million
$71 million+
TBD
The franchise has had severely diminishing returns at the domestic box office, and it has historically performed better overseas. This is likely the biggest reason that the new movie got a U.S. streaming release, though the potentially controversialBridget Jones: Mad About the Boyage gapmay have been another. However, as one of the highest-budgeted installments, it likely needs to earn $125 million or more in theaters just to break even, so a domestic release still could have helped push its theatrical profits into a more secure zone, even though it seems entirely able to hit that milestone regardless.
There Are Multiple Possible Reasons For Its Success
The international success of the sequelseems to extend beyond the fact that it is a nostalgic legacy sequel, asBridget Jones' Babywas the same thing.One factor that could be helping is the presence of major up-and-coming star Leo Woodall, who recently broke out with roles inThe White LotusandOne Day.Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boyreviewsare also overwhelmingly positive, including the one fromScreenRant’s Mary Kassel, who says that “Renée Zellweger is as charming as ever” in the new movie.
