Amy breaks box office records

'Amy', the acclaimed film about the late Amy Winehouse, has broken a UK/Irish box office record over its opening weekend to become the most successful debut of any UK documentary ever and the second-biggest documentary opening of all time. Only Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 earned more in UK and Irish cinemas over its opening weekend back in 2004.

The feature-length documentary from Asif Kapadia, the BAFTA-winning director of Senna, played in a total of 133 cinemas across the UK and Ireland and despite the good weather, the film has earned £519k (€732k / $808k) since opening on Friday last.

Speaking to Screen International, Hamish Moseley, head of distribution at Altitude Film Distribution said: “It was a risk putting the film out in the high summer to mix it with the studio blockbusters but we always believed Amy to have significant potential outside of a fashionable event cinema release for a doc.”

“We applied that large scale thinking to all areas of the campaign from early teaser materials (with worldwide impact), to a wide-reaching nationwide marketing campaign cemented with a series of magnificent events at Glastonbury, Secret Cinema, Edinburgh and Hackney film festivals, a live broadcast gala premiere and regional Q&As. We’re delighted with the result!”

Asif Kapadia’s previous film Senna opened with $584,000 (£375,173) and went on to take $4.9m (£3.17m), a total that is well within the reach of Amy as It is now scheduled to play in over 200 UK and Irish cinemas this coming weekend beginning Friday, July 10.

The film also enjoyed a successful opening weekend in the US, earning an impressive $222k (£142k / €201k) from just six cinemas. It is expected to expand into a greater number of US cinemas in the coming weeks.

Amy continues to screen in cinemas across Ireland this week.