Bridget Jones had a big opening weekend in international markets, topping out at $29.4 million.
As Deadline reports, “Bridget Jones’s Baby” debuted at number one in 24 overseas markets this weekend, including Australia, Spain, The Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa and Ukraine. The third installment of the franchise set the record for the biggest comedy/romantic comedy opening ever in the U.K. and Ireland.
“The Sharon Maguire-directed return of Renee Zellweger and Colin Firth, along with series newcomer Patrick Dempsey, has played to sold-out shows in the franchise’s native Britain and is dominating the market at 67 percent,”
Deadline writes. “The UK was the top international market on the previous two films with $60.3 million for ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’ in 2001 and $68.2 million for ‘Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason’ in 2004. The UK was also the best market worldwide on ‘BJ2,’ dwarfing the Stateside take of a little over $40 million for the less well-reviewed film.”
Indeed, the stateside take was dwarfed once again, as the film did not do especially well here. ABC News reports that it came in third here in the U.S. with a take of only $8.2 million.
Naturally, as a British story and property, anything Bridget Jones will do better over in the UK. We’re bummed that U.S. audiences didn’t take to it as well, but glad it’s doing so well abroad.
