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 £9.5m in 2018 for Disney (formerly Fox).
