Bridget Jones is returning in 2025, but it won’t be on the big screen, as her next feature film will debut exclusively on Peacock. The character was created by author Helen Fielding and debuted in the 1996 novel Bridget Jones’s Diary. In 2001, Renée Zellweger played the title character in the film adaptation of Bridget Jones’s Diary and earned an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal. Zellweger played Bridget Jones again in 2004’s Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and 2016’s Bridget Jones Baby. Now, 24 years after she first played the role, Zellweger will return in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.
Peacock unveiled the first trailer for Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. Adapted from Fielding’s 2013 novel of the same name, the story follows Bridget (Zellweger) as a widow four years after the death of her husband, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). Bridget now must balance being a single mother while also getting back out into the world of dating and is drawn to two unique men: the teacher at her children’s school, Mr. Wallaker (Chiwetel Ejiofor), and a 29-year-old man named Roxster (Leo Woodhall). In addition, Hugh Grant reprises his role as Daniel Cleaver from the first two Bridget Jones movies after sitting out Bridget Jones Baby.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is directed by Michael Morris, who is best known for the Academy Award-nominated To Leslie. Bridget Jones author Helen Fielding co-wrote the script, as she did with the past three entries, and is joined by Bridget Jones Baby co-writer Dan Mazer and newcomer to the franchise Abi Morgan. Despite his character being killed off at the start of the film, Colin Firth is reprising his role as Mark Darcy as a figment of Bridget Jones’ imagination.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy Gets Streaming Trailer
While all three previous films in the Bridget Jones franchise were released theatrically, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy will be released straight to streaming on Peacock on February 14, 2025. Despite Bridget Jones’s Diary being a box office hit, grossing $281 million worldwide, there has been a downward trend in the film’s box office with each entry. By the time Bridget Jones’s Baby hit theaters in 2016, the theatrical marketplace had changed so much it only grossed $24 million domestically, well below the $71 million, and its worldwide box office of $211 million was below the previous two entries. The three films combined have a worldwide box office total of $756 million against a combined budget of only $100 million.
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Hugh Grant is returning for Bridget Jones: Mad About a Boy, and while the third film seemingly killed him off, the book offers clues for his return.
Universal Pictures’ decision not to release the film in theaters likely stems from not wanting to open the same day as Captain America: Brave New World. Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy could have been some great counterprogramming in theaters. 2025 will mark the second time both a Captain America movie and a Bridget Jones movie were released in the same year, as 2016 saw the release of both Captain America: Civil War and Bridget Jones’s Baby. Romantic comedies have found themselves one of the biggest genres to move from theatrical distribution to streaming, with the assumption that audiences won’t rush out to see them in theaters. Even without a theatrical release, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy features a great cast, an exciting director, and a refreshing take on a romance that will likely make it a lovely, pleasant watch at home.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
debuts on Peacock on February 14, 2025.
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