Paramount’s Bob Marley: One Love leads the UK and Ireland box office releases this weekend with 687 locations while Sony’s Madame Web has 572.
The Jamaican musician’s biopic is among 2024’s biggest releases in the UK and Ireland so far, eclipsing the distributor’s January release of Mean Girls which opened in 647 venues. Event cinema release Dear England still holds the overall record after releasing in 716 UK venues through National Theatre Live.
Bob Marley: One Life is directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green and stars Kingsley Ben-Adir as the Reggae icon, exploring his rise to fame and eventual death in 1981. Lashana Lynch and James Norton also star.
Musician biopics have a strong record of faring well at the box office. Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis opened to £4m in June 2022 for Warner Bros; Elton John biopic Rocketman to £5.3m in 2019 for Paramount; and Queen story Bohemian Rhapsody which opened to £6.4m in 2018 for Disney (formerly Fox).
Green’s last feature King Richard started on £540,878 in November 2021 and ended with £1.5m.
Madame Web is Sony’s latest superhero venture and stars Dakota Johnson in the titular character’s origin story. The film follows a mixed history of superhero releases from the distributor, most recently the animated Spider-Man sequel Across The Spider-Verse which opened on an impressive £8.3m last year following its predecessor’s £1.2m debut in 2018. Meanwhile the Venom series opened to £5.6m (2018) and £6.2m (2021) while Morbius started with £2.5m in 2022.
S.J. Clarkson’s directorial debut also stars Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, Celeste O’Connor and Tahar Rahim.
Both Bob Marley: One Love and Madame Web opened on Wednesday (February 14) and have received mixed to poor reviews.
The Taste of Promised Land
Other releases this weekend include Universal’s re-release of the 2012 musical Les Miserables into 356 locations. The film, with an A-list cast including Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway, saw in £8.1m on its original opening weekend.
Cinema Live is putting out live concert My Favourite Things - The Rodgers & Hammerstein 80th Anniversary in 350 venues on Sunday (February 18).
Also releasing is France’s international Oscar entry The Taste of Things in 89 cinemas for Picturehouse. Anh Hung Tran’s Cannes premiere stars Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel as a gourmet and cook who develop a romance.
BFI Distribution has Tim MacKenzie-Smith’s musical documentary Getting It Back: The Story Of Cymande in 11 locations. The SXSW premiere tells the story of a ‘70s British funk band who were long overlooked for their impact on the genre.
Nikolaj Arcel’s Danish biopic The Promised Land is also in cinemas for Icon Film Distributon. Mads Mikkelsen stars as Danish officer Ludvig Kahlen who rises the ranks in the 1700s. It world premiered at Venice and was Denmark’s entry for international feature at the Oscars.
Other releases this weekend include fantasy drama Eureka starring Viggo Mortensen for Sovereign Film Distribution and Indian romcom Premalu for Yash Raj Films. Park Circus has the 30th anniversary release of Interview With The Vampire as well as Francis Ford Coppola’s musical romance One From The Heart.
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