Bridget Jones fans were delighted this week when they finally got a good look at the fourth and final instalment of the film franchise, which stars Renee Zellweger.
A highly-anticipated trailer for Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy dropped on Tuesday and showed the loveable character living life as a widowed mother-of-two, following the death of husband Mark Darcy (played by Colin Firth), and attempting to date again – with Tinder even getting a mention.
However, viewers were not impressed with the fact that the movie – which stars One Day actor Leo Woodall – will go straight to streaming on Peacock, instead of hitting movie theaters on February 13 next year, and they were quick to share their frustrations online.
Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, one person posted: ‘The latest Bridget Jones movie going straight to streaming is such a recession indicator… do they not realize how many white women would make this their Galentine’s Day date night in theaters.’
One person replied and argued: ‘That’s not a recession indicator. It’s just bad decision making,’ while someone else questioned: ‘The Bridget Jones series going from making hundreds of millions at the box office to being dumped unceremoniously on streaming????’
Renee Zellweger returns as Bridget Jones in the fourth and final instalment of the much-loved film franchise
Leo Woodall stars in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy as one of her new love interests
A fourth wrote: ‘Also insane this is going to streaming in the US like, Bridget Jones’s Baby made like $200+ million and its going to streaming?? It better be coming to cinemas here I want to see it while half cut on overpriced cinema wine.’
Someone else posted: ‘Not really into the BRIDGET JONES films. Probably saw the first one. Not even sure how many there are now. But the fact that this is going straight to streaming is utterly insane.
‘Watching the trailer I have little interest but I totally see how this would do well in theaters,’ they added.
And another person said: ‘On Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy going to streaming: There are those who haven’t seen the trailer/read the book who don’t get it. There are those who’ve done both and totally get why it’s a Peacock exclusive. Still could have tried to put this in theaters as well…’
However, a different person pointed out: ‘I think it’s just a us distribution thing, because it’s getting a cinema release basically everywhere else.’
And someone else claimed: ‘It’s getting a theatrical release everywhere else. It’s only going straight to streaming in the US because the last two movies flopped in America.’
The first movie Bridget Jones’s Diary, which stars Hugh Grant and Jim Broadbent, was released in April 2001 and pulled in $71,543,427 at the US and Canada box office.
The second film, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, was released in the US and Canada in November 2004 and grossed $40,226,215 at the box office.
One fan moaned that the movie was being ‘dumped unceremoniously’ on Peacock
Someone else described the decision as ‘insane’ and questioned why it was going straight to streaming in the US
A different user on X suggested it was a ‘recession indicator’
Meanwhile, the third instalment Bridget Jones’s Baby was released in movie theaters in the US and Canada in September 2016 and grossed just $24,252,420.
That movie featured Bridget finding out she was pregnant and it ended with her marrying Mark, the high-flying lawyer who she’d had on and off feelings for across the three movies, and revealed that he was the father of her child.
However, in the fourth instalment Mad About The Boy, Mark tragically dies while working abroad as a human rights lawyer, leaving Bridget a widow and the book follows her as she battles motherhood alone.
She also quits her job working in television to do the school run, with comical scenes expected as she struggles to keep up with the Yummy Mummies.
