'Black 47' has smashed a box office record on its opening weekend and become the highest-grossing Irish movie of the year so far.
The revenge Western, starring Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea and James Frecheville, made an impressive €444 thousand across the island of Ireland, picking up an average of €5,000 per cinema shown with €392 thousand pulled from cinemas in the Republic of Ireland alone. In a statement delivered to media, Wildcard Distribution chief Patrick O'Neill said that he was "thrilled" with the results, and praised director Lance Daly and the filmmakers who "worked incredibly hard on the making of this brilliant film."
"It's very rewarding to see audiences from everywhere in Ireland turning out in such numbers to experience Black 47 on the big screen. The results for Black 47 are a fine example of what can be achieved with a shared vision between filmmaker and distributor, and close co-operation from an early stage in the filmmaking process.”
Meanwhile, Screen Ireland chief James Hickey said that that they "are absolutely delighted to see Irish audiences coming out to watch this film in cinemas right across Ireland."
"Black 47 has received support from Screen Ireland over a number of years from early script stage, right through to production, demonstrating our long-term commitment to investing in talent and developing important Irish stories for the big screen," said Hickey. The news comes as the movie is due to make its North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival and will receive a limited release in the US from September 28th.
'Black 47' is currently in cinemas now and you can read our four-star review here.
