‘Sparkling’ Bridget Jones sequel breaks massive box office record raking in £12,300,000

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Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy has made history at the box office.

The fourth film in the franchise managed to beat its own record set in 2004 with Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason to become the best-performing rom-com in the UK and Ireland on its opening weekend.

According to Universal, the film has taken £12.3 million, which beats Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World. The Edge of Reason hit £10.4 million in its opening weekend in the early noughties.

The fictional journalist with a love for swigging wine from the bottle also attracted more pre-sales than 2023’s Barbie starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Reynolds.

To add to their achievements, they had the franchise’s biggest opening weekend in Poland, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland.

Its popularity in the UK isn’t quite reflected in America with the film not even getting a cinema release and instead going straight to streaming service Peacock.

The franchise has proven it is still as relevant today (Credits: Universal Pictures/PLANET PHOTOS)

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, with Renée Zellweger still perfect in the titular role, came out in UK cinemas on February 13 and has been met with much praise.

The film finds Bridget in a very different place in her life, matured into a mother but unexpectedly alone again after the tragic offscreen death of her husband Mark Darcy (Colin Firth).

Four years after his death, Bridget decides it’s time to live again and returns to the workforce and dating. Expect to laugh and cry if you’re planning a trip soon! Fans were glad to see Hugh Grant return to his role of Daniel Cleaver, and the addition of Leo Woodall and Chiwetel Ejiofor as love interests.

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy scored 86% on Rotten Tomatoes (Picture: Jay Maidment/Unive)

The title has scored an impressive 86% on Rotten Tomatoes from audience members and 75% from critics. Metro’s film expert Tori Brazier gave the movie four stars out of a possible five.

‘Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is a film full of joy, laughs, and, perhaps surprisingly, some tears. A heartfelt entry in a series of the ongoing trials and tribulations of Britain’s favourite diarist’ said film critic Adam Schoales on the platform.

The previous record was held by Edge of Reason (Picture: Jason Bell/Universal/Studio Canal/Miramax/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)

Rachel Wagner added: ‘If you think there’s no way you will enjoy another Bridget Jones movie it might actually surprise you.’

‘The sincerity of Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy makes it her best sequel yet. Some may miss the silly slapstick humour of past outings, but this feels like the right film for Bridget in this stage of her life,’ raved Amelia Harvey.

‘Bridget Jones sparkles amid a new era of feminism and hun culture,’ added Adam Bloodworth.

There are some new faces in the latest film (Picture: John Nacion/Variety via Getty Images)

The character first appeared in an anonymous column written by journalist Helen Fielding, and the first film, Bridget Jones’ Diary came out in 2001. The most recent film, Bridget Jones’ Baby arrived at the cinema in 2016.

It’s not just the grown-up actors who’ve been praised for their contribution, Bridget Jones’ children Billy and Mabel played by Casper Knopf and Mila Jankovic have shown their early star power.

The youngsters appeared on This Morning and made Dermot O’Leary laugh after pointing out a flaw in his question.

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