Amy Winehouse Biopic Back To Black Is Off To A Good Start At The Box Office

It may not be hitting theaters in North America until next month, but the Amy Winehouse biopic "Back to Black" is off to a solid start at the box office overseas. The film opened in the U.K. and Ireland this past weekend, and it managed to top the charts in the territory, coming in ahead of Alex Garland's "Civil War," which topped the domestic charts with a $26 million debut, as well as "Kung Fu Panda 4." It's an impressive start, but how will the film fare when it arrives in the U.S. in May?

Director Sam Taylor-Johnson's "Back to Black" topped the U.K./Ireland charts with $3.36 million (£2.7m). That was above "Kung Fu Panda 4," which was in its third weekend in the territory, while "Civil War" had to settle for third place. Given that Winehouse is a London-born artist, it's not necessarily a shock that her native country embraced the biopic out of the gate. The film, which is being distributed by StudioCanal in the U.K. and Focus Features in the U.S., opened on 719 screens. That makes it the widest release of the year so far in England. That speaks volumes about how high those moviegoers are on the film.

The numbers are not quite as big as the opening for this year's "Bob Marley: One Love," which opened to more than $5 million in the U.K./Ireland back in February, before topping out with $177 million worldwide to date. It also broke records in the U.S. when it opened over Valentine's Day. That having been said, "One Love" cost a pretty hefty $70 million to produce. While the budget has not been revealed for "Back to Black," there is no universe in which it was that expensive. So it probably doesn't need to make quite as much to be a hit. Hence, this is still an encouraging start for the film's theatrical run.

The film tells the tale of Amy Winehouse, the Grammy-winning artist who passed away in 2011 at the age of 27. It traces her journey from the streets of Camden that she called home to her ascension to global superstardom, as well as her struggles that followed. The movie takes its title from the artist's famed album of the same name, which has since been regarded as one of the greatest of all time. Marisa Abela ('Barbie") is playing Winehouse in the film, with a supporting cast that includes Jack O'Connell ("Ferrari"), Eddie Marsan ("The World's End"), and Lesley Manville ("Phantom Thread").

Naturally, the high, attainable bar for a movie like this is 2022's "Elvis," which pulled in an incredible $288 million worldwide. The lower end of expectations would be last year's "Priscilla" from A24, which topped out at $33 million worldwide. On the completely unattainable end is 2018's "Bohemian Rhapsody," which made more than $900 million and remains a ridiculous anomaly in the music biopic space. So yes, there is a wide range that these sorts of films can fall into, depending on how things shake out.

It's difficult to say what the level of appeal will be in North America next month. The film will be opening against the family-friendly "If," as well as Lionsgate's horror flick "The Strangers: Chapter 1." Plus, "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" is opening the weekend before, with "The Garfield Movie" and "Furiosa" due out the following weekend. Also of note; critics have not been particularly kind to the biopic, as it currently boasts a mere 47% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. So it will have some hurdles to clear, to be certain.

"Back to Black" hits theaters on May 17, 2024, in the U.S.