Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (2025) Blu-ray

[MifuneFan]

Universal will be releasing Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, the fourth film in the Bridget Jones series, on Blu-ray on May 13th. Universal nonsensically decided to only release the film on Peacock in the US, despite it being a huge box office hit in the UK, and elsewhere, so I'm glad to see it's at least getting a BD release here, albeit through MOD distribution.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F46FJX2Y/ (not live yet)

https://www.moviezyng.com/bridget-jo...r/840418325612

Two-time Academy Award winner Renee Zellweger returns to the role that established a romantic-comedy heroine for the ages, as Bridget, now a widowed single mother, must juggle work, parenthood and romance. With the help of her loyal friends, Bridget navigates encounters with a younger man and a series of awkward interactions with her son's science teacher as she strives to forge a new path toward life and love


Special Features:

• Deleted Scenes
• Back to Bridget
• Bridget 4.0
• Mad About the Boys

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy | Official Trailer - YouTube

[akaun6899]

Loved this one, so I’ll definitely grab it.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Universal nonsensically decided to only release the film on Peacock in the US, despite it being a huge box office hit in the UK, and elsewhere, so I'm glad to see it's at least getting a BD release here, albeit through MOD distribution.

I'm not sure it was nonsensical, I read a couple of articles that said each film in the franchise has done a bigger and bigger portion of its business outside the US.

The last global theatrical release, Bridget Jones's Baby, did $188 million overseas and only $24 million domestic. That's a truly shocking disparity. Usually domestic and overseas numbers are somewhere near equal. A domestic gross that low isn't even worth the P&A spend.

This new one might have done better in the US, but it was a gamble Universal wasn't willing to take. The films just don't have any mass audience appeal here anymore, sadly.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

I'm not sure it was nonsensical, I read a couple of articles that said each film in the franchise has done a bigger and bigger portion of its business outside the US.

The last global theatrical release, Bridget Jones's Baby, did $188 million overseas and only $24 million domestic. That's a truly shocking disparity. Usually domestic and overseas numbers are somewhere near equal. A domestic gross that low isn't even worth the P&A spend.

This new one might have done better in the US, but it was a gamble Universal wasn't willing to take. The films just don't have any mass audience appeal here anymore, sadly.

It was Valentine's Day weekend, and they literally had no competition for that demographic. Even if the numbers aren't as big as earlier entries, it's highly unlikely they made more putting it on Peacock than what they would have made putting it in theaters. The fact remains that Peacock has been a business failure for Universal to date, and they're desperately trying to keep it relevant by putting movies like this on there instead of in theaters where they belong.

[critterdvd]

I have to admit the decision had nothing to do with quality. It was awesome catching up with the characters and there are several literal LOL moments mixed in with some real emotional ones. It would have played great with an audience Valentines weekend, but I kinda get universals decision to not do the marketing blast here.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

It was Valentine's Day weekend, and they literally had no competition for that demographic. Even if the numbers aren't as big as earlier entries, it's highly unlikely they made more putting it on Peacock than what they would have made putting it in theaters. The fact remains that Peacock has been a business failure for Universal to date, and they're desperately trying to keep it relevant by putting movies like this on there instead of in theaters where they belong.

The issue isn't making more though, it's gambling less. A wide domestic theatrical release from a studio has a minimum for how much they feel they need to spend on marketing, and clearly they thought the theatrical gross, based on the last one, would still be below that floor, and they'd be throwing away money.

I agree, I'd have loved to have seen this one in a theater here, and I agree, theaters here need feature films, which don't deserve to be repurposed as TV movies.

I'm just saying, with the trajectory of the franchise in the US, this made sense on a business level, they knew the real money was overseas. The last did nearly 90% of its business overseas, that's almost unheard-of.

Given that, they clearly decided to just skip US marketing and ride the film's worldwide press to gain some eyeballs on their streaming service.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

The issue isn't making more though, it's gambling less. A wide domestic theatrical release from a studio has a minimum for how much they feel they need to spend on marketing, and clearly they thought the theatrical gross, based on the last one, would still be below that floor, and they'd be throwing away money.

I agree, I'd have loved to have seen this one in a theater here, and I agree, theaters here need feature films, which don't deserve to be repurposed as TV movies.

I'm just saying, with the trajectory of the franchise in the US, this made sense on a business level, they knew the real money was overseas. The last did nearly 90% of its business overseas, that's almost unheard-of.

Given that, they clearly decided to just skip US marketing and ride the film's worldwide press to gain some eyeballs on their streaming service.

Yeah, I suppose you could be right. I personally feel it would have done stronger numbers here given the factors I mentioned. A Valentine's Day weekend date night movie is not something any of the previous releases had to compare with. But I get that the suits at Universal want to play it safe, especially considering the best thing they can say about Peacock is that it's losing less now than it was a couple years back. I have a close female friend in Canada that had heard about the film coming out, and was excited to see it Valentine's Day weekend. I had to break the news to her that it was only going to be available via streaming, and she was really upset about that. I'm sure there are many many more out there that felt the same. I would say that anecdote fueled my disdain for their decision more than other things, and could very well be biasing me too.

[James Luckard]

I'm definitely gonna check it out on BD, although the complete lack of Richard Curtis has my expectations somewhat in check.

I think the first film, that he wrote and was heavily involved with, is a pop masterpiece.

The second film had much less involvement from him, and I liked it less, and he wasn't involved at all in the 3rd film, which I wasn't a huge fan of.

[danny24]

I literally had no idea they even made this movie till I saw this thread. Very poorly marketed.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by danny24

I literally had no idea they even made this movie till I saw this thread. Very poorly marketed.

It was marketed well overseas and was a big hit. The studio made the financial choice not to theatrically release or market it in the US, as described above, because the franchise historically does almost all its business overseas.

[McCrutchy]

I'm surprised and disappointed that Universal haven't announced an international 4K UHD for this one.

[sfmarine]

Still amazes me that there's no 4K for the first film in the UK.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by sfmarine

Still amazes me that there's no 4K for the first film in the UK.

That's the truly bizarre thing.

The French StudioCanal UHD video master could literally be ported over by Universal in the UK, the UK and France share the same cut of the first film, it's not like the US cut, which is different.

Even more bizarrely, the making-of doc on the SC UHD was clearly produced for the English-speaking market. It's all in English, with English title cards even, and just has French subs.

[danny24]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

It was marketed well overseas and was a big hit. The studio made the financial choice not to theatrically release or market it in the US, as described above, because the franchise historically does almost all its business overseas.

I see that. Glad it did well overseas. Obviously if you live in the USA it was not marketed well at all since it went straight to streaming.

[GeoffOliver]

My parents are huge fans of Bridget Jones (mostly the first though) and had no idea this one existed until I told them about it a couple weeks ago. I myself have seen that film plenty of times; I even watched it with my mom as a kid (she didn't care too much for censoring stuff from me). It's absolutely hilarious. I've never seen the sequel, but I did work at a cinema when we played the third film, and I remember some parts being funny.

I also had no idea the first film had different cuts in the US and UK. I know they have different distributors (Miramax/Paramount has it here).

No surprise about the lack of 4K for this. The others don't have 4Ks and comedy films in general rarely seem to get them. We're lucky to even get this on Blu-ray.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by GeoffOliver

My parents are huge fans of Bridget Jones (mostly the first though) and had no idea this one existed until I told them about it a couple weeks ago. I myself have seen that film plenty of times; I even watched it with my mom as a kid (she didn't care too much for censoring stuff from me). It's absolutely hilarious. I've never seen the sequel, but I did work at a cinema when we played the third film, and I remember some parts being funny.

I also had no idea the first film had different cuts in the US and UK. I know they have different distributors (Miramax/Paramount has it here).

The first film has an alternate American version. It has a different end credits sequence. The UK/international cut has interview footage with the various characters over the end credits. The US version has an old home movie of the scene Bridget and Mark reference multiple times, as kids in the kiddie pool. The US ending is actually the one in the shooting script, the UK ending seems to have been a reshoot. The US version also has some changed pop songs. Richard Curtis tends to create alternate versions of his films for the US, usually just changing pop songs. He changed pop songs in Love Actually and Notting Hill too. Bridget is the only one of his films that has actual alternate material.

Curtis was much less involved in the sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and he had no involvement with the second sequel, Bridget Jones's Baby.

[MifuneFan]

MovieZyng pre-order: https://www.moviezyng.com/bridget-jo...r/840418325612

Special Features:

• Deleted Scenes
• Back to Bridget
• Bridget 4.0
• Mad About the Boys

[KyahCA]

Hoping for a box set with all 4 films at some point.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by KyahCA

Hoping for a box set with all 4 films at some point.

It's possible/likely in the UK, where Universal has them all, but in the US, Paramount now has the first one, since it was Miramax here.

[akaun6899]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

It's possible/likely in the UK, where Universal has them all, but in the US, Paramount now has the first one, since it was Miramax here.

I’d take a 3-pack of the sequels to go along with my copy of the first movie.