UK-Ireland box office preview: ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It?’ is widest ever Studiocanal release:

Shekhar Kapur’s cross-cultural romantic comedy What’s Love Got To Do With It? sets a record for widest Studiocanal UK-Ireland opening this weekend, starting its run in 630 locations.

The film, which debuted at Toronto Film Festival in Septemer last year, tops the 607-site opening of Paddington 2 from November 2017.

Set in London, What’s Love Got To Do With It? follows Kazim, a young Pakistani-British man who is having an arranged marriage to a bride from Pakistan; and his childhood friend Zoe, a filmmaker documenting the process.

Shazad Latif and Lily James play the two lead roles, with Emma Thompson, Asim Chaudhry and Sajal Aly also on the cast.

It is a ninth feature film for Indian filmmaker Kapur, and first since 2007’s Elizabeth: The Golden Age (opened: £1.3m; closed: £5.2m). Kapur also previously made 1998’s Elizabeth (£166,174; £5.5m), with lead actress Cate Blanchett receiving Oscar nominations for her roles in both.

What’s Love… will look to harness the romantic genre pedigree of James, who has had hits with Cinderella (£3.9m; £21.3m), Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! (£9.7m; £65.6m) and Yesterday (£2.2m; £14m).

Universal is opening comedy thriller Cocaine Bear, in which a group of police officers, tourists, criminals and teenagers converge on a forest in Georgia, US where a black bear is on a murderous rampage after accidentally ingesting cocaine.

Written by Jimmy Warden, the film is loosely inspired by the story of a bear which ingested a bag full of cocaine in 1985. Keri Russell, O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Alden Ehrenreich lead the cast.

Cocaine Bear is directed by Elizabeth Banks, the US actress-turned-filmmaker who previously directed 2019 reboot Charlie’s Angels (£547,246; £1.1m) and singing sequel Pitch Perfect 2 (£5m; £17.4m).

South Asian titles
Disney is starting Raj Mehta’s action-comedy Selfiee in 95 sites, about a Bollywood superstar who ends up in a misunderstanding when trying to renew his drivers license. Indian superstar Akshay Kumar leads the cast; the film will look to capitalise on the recent success of Indian titles including RRR and Pathaan.

Studio Soho Distribution is opening Saim Sadiq’s Joyland in 85 cinemas, with a further 54 screens picking up the film in its second week. The Cannes Un Certain Regard premiere centres on the youngest son in a traditional Pakistani family, who becomes infatuated with a strong-willed trans woman in a burlesque show.

Joyland was entered as Pakistan’s submission for the international feature award at the 2023 Oscars. The film was then banned from cinemas in Pakistan in early November last year; before a campaign by the country’s Film Producers Association caused the ban to be withdrawn once certain scenes had been cut from the film.

Picturehouse Entertainment is starting Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Broker in 70 cinemas this weekend. The Korean film debuted in Competition at Cannes last year; it revolves around characters associated with baby boxes, which allow infants to be dropped off anonymously to be cared for by others. Parasite star Song Kang-ho won the best actor prize in Cannes for his performance as the film’s patriarch.

BFI Distribution is opening Creature, a film from Oscar-winner Asif Kapadia that fuses cinema with contemporary dance; while Gigantic Pictures has Sheffield Doc/Fest premiere Charm Circle, about an eccentric New York family ahead of their youngest daughter’s polyamorous wedding.

In event cinema, Unique X will play concert Boy George And The Culture Club – One World, One Love in 70 cinemas, with most doing two screenings.

View this article at Screen Daily.