'Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy' Belongs on the Big Screen
On Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy's straight-to-streaming release in the US
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It has been three months since I learned that Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy would have a straight-to-streaming release on Peacock in the United States, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it. I thought about it even when I watched the movie as soon as I could on February 13.
As I cried until I laughed and laughed until I cried, I was disappointed that Bridget’s final chapter, at least for now, wasn’t on the big screen in the US.
Surely, Bridget Jones deserves a theatrical farewell for being a cinematic staple. (In fairness, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is in theaters everywhere else, including the UK.) After all, the character’s adventures and charm in figuring out love and life have been on the big screen since 2001. That’s longer than the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which started with Iron Man in 2008.
A lot has changed for studios and theatrical releases of romantic comedies in the 24 years since Bridget Jones’s Diary was released in 2001.
The ‘90s and early 2000s were filled with A-list stars like Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Julia Roberts, Queen Latifah, and Matthew McConaughey. Pairings like McConaughey and Kate Hudson or Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks would appear in multiple theatrical rom-coms together. Gary Marshall (Runaway Bride, Valentine’s Day) and Nancy Meyers (The Holiday, It’s Complicated) directed rom-coms that have become beloved, if not classics, among fans of the genre.
But everything shifted. Even Nancy Meyers has noticed: “Once superhero movies really became the only movie studios cared about, the experience of making a movie like mine changed. I remember when I finished The Intern, I thought, I think this is it.”
Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Top Gun: Maverick, and Star Wars: The Last Jedi became the highest-grossing blockbusters.
Suddenly, it didn’t seem as relevant that My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) became the highest-grossing rom-com ever when it made $241.4 million domestically. It didn’t help that its sequels didn’t fair as well — My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 made $59.6 million in 2016, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 made $24.6 million in 2023.
Unfortunately, the numbers have also dwindled for Bridget Jones in the US. Bridget Jones’s Diary, where Bridget reinvented her life as a 32-year-old woman and found herself stuck between Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) and Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), made $71 million. The first sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, came in at around $40 million in 2004. Then, Bridget Jones’s Baby made even less, with $24 million in 2016, which I think is absolutely wild — that movie is fun.
Miranda ends up in a ball with Ed Sheeran at Glastonbury. What’s not to love?
Those figures matter to studios, and straight-to-streaming releases have become a (mostly) viable alternative for romantic comedies. From Set It Up to Hot Frosty, Netflix is home to a wide range of rom-coms. Hulu pushed Happiest Season to a straight-to-streaming release to make it accessible during lockdown in 2020. But there’s also a downside to streaming releases; sometimes, movies like Five Blind Dates on Prime Video fall under the radar because of the lack of promotion.
There are undeniably highs and lows to the straight-to-streaming releases, which have impacted more than only Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.
I suppose it comes down to my decades-long love for Bridget and how I wanted more for her doing this final (maybe, possibly) hurrah. It feels personal, as silly as that sounds, because Bridget is personal to those who love her. She feels like a friend, and that’s coming from someone who met Bridget a little later in my life.
Some people have known her as early as 1995, when Helen Fielding created her for a column at The Independent, or 1996, when Bridget Jones’s Diary was published.
A community of people adore her for her mistakes, nuances, and vulnerabilities across the four films. That’s why it feels like such a missed opportunity to not sit in a movie theater with other people whose lives have (or haven’t) paralleled Bridget’s but love her nonetheless — just as she is.
I don’t want to say too much about Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy for those who haven’t watched it yet. All I will say is, even if you’re not a weeper like me, pack plenty of tissues. This one is a doozy in all the best way. The grief and the love come together in such a natural and honest story about community, hope, and perseverance. I feel all three in equal measure for the duration of the movie.
Writing this letter made me realize that a movie theater experience doesn’t make or break that. Every time I watch Bridget Jones’s Diary, I appreciate Bridget for helping me realize I (and everything around me) don’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t matter how I watch it. A “big screen” can be anywhere if it’s the right movie at the right time with the right people. Whether on my TV or projected on a wall at a friend’s place, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy will maintain its charm and emotional resonance for me.
It’s like what Olivia Dean sings while the credits roll with pictures — memories, almost — from Bridget Jones movies that span the last 24 years, “It isn't perfect, but it might be.”
♡ Bookmarked ♡
This interview with Renée Zellweger, Leo Woodall, Chiwetel Ejiofor
“Mad About Bridget Jones” by Erin Carlson for You’ve Got Mail
I want to revisit Renée Zellweger and Hugh Grant’s conversation for British Vogue now that I’ve seen Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.
♡ Queued ♡
Renée Zellweger looking back on 11 looks from her career for British Vogue
The Bridget Jones: Made About the Boy official podcast hosted by Pandora Sykes
This Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy set tour for Architectural Digest
Olivia Dean (!) performing “It Isn’t Perfect But It Might Be,” which she wrote for the movie (!)
Until next time,
💌 Shelby