Martin McDonagh’s feature film debut ‘In Bruges’, starring Colin Farrell (Phonebooth, Miami Vice) and Brendan Gleeson (Beowulf, The Tiger’s Tail), reached number one in the Irish box office at its opening weekend.
Released at 70 theatres across Ireland on Friday 7th March, the dark comedy grossed €456,176 in total, with a cinema average of €6,516.
McDonagh, whose award winning plays include ‘The Beauty Queen of Leenane’, ‘The Lonesome West’ and ‘The Lieutenant of Inishmore’, wrote and directed the feature. He previously won an Oscar and Irish Film & Television Award for his short film ‘Six Shooter’ which also starred Brendan Gleeson.
Distributed by Universal Pictures International, the film drew a bigger audience than ‘Vantage Point’, directed by Irish helmer Pete Travis, which reached number two in its opening weekend box office with €227,000 and ‘There Will Be Blood’, placed number three with a second weekend gross of €135,000.
The black crime comedy, produced by Graham Broadbent and Peter Czernin, also stars Brit actor Ralph Fiennes (The Constant Gardener). The film tells the story of two hitmen, Ray and Ken (Farrell and Gleeson), who are forced by their boss Harry (Fiennes) to take a holiday in Bruges after they mess up an assignment. Once in the Belgian city, their plans begin to unravel.
‘In Bruges’ is executive produced by Tessa Ross, Jeff Abberley and Julia Blackman.
