Sharon Maguire, whose debut feature Bridget Jones's Diary this weekend became the biggest UK opener ever, is to direct Mail, a modern-day Jane Austen-style comedy of manners for the UK's Archer Street.

Set in Boston, the project sees Maguire return to the fertile ground of her debut, itself based on a book inspired by Austen's Pride And Prejudice. The script is being written by playwright Wendy Wasserstein, who also adapted Jennifer Aniston-vehicle The Object Of My Affection.

Archer Street, headed by the Hilary And Jackie team of Andy Paterson, Anand Tucker and Frank Cottrell Boyce, is backed by FilmFour and Intermedia. Maguire said that her project was for FilmFour.

"At the end of the day, what I really want to get is a good story," she added. "That's what makes you get up every morning."

Separately, talk is heating up about a sequel to Bridget Jones based on the book Bridget Jones: Edge Of Reason, which Working Title Films has optioned.

The interest comes after Working Title's first outing with London's most famous singleton racked up $8.2m from 417 sites in the UK over the Easter weekend, including previews on Wednesday and Thursday. The film, which stars Renee Zellweger, is also UIP's third highest opener after Hannibal's $9.4m and The World Is Not Enough's $9m.

Even discounting the preview figures of $1.6m, the romantic comedy finished ahead of the UK's top openers - Working Title's Notting Hill took $6.1m on it's first weekend on wide release, while last year's animated hit Chicken Run grossed $5.4m. Bridget recorded a massive site average of $19,695.

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