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#IrishBoxOffice: Beauty and the Beast breaks three-day opening weekend Box Office record

Disney’s live-action remake of their 1991 animated classic, Beauty and the Beast, has smashed the Irish box office record for a three-day opening weekend, grossing €2.2m in just those 3 days. To put that figure into context, only 13 films in total in 2016 broke the €2m barrier.

In the US the film broke or bested 5 box-office records; Top domestic opening of all time for a film rated PG, 7th highest launch of all time for any movie, Biggest debut of all time for a female-fueled film, Biggest US opening in almost a year (since Marvel/Disney’s Captain America: Civil War), and Biggest opening for a live-action adaptation of an animated film (beating Alice in Wonderland).

In the UK it currently stands at £19.7m, making it the fifth biggest Fri-Sun opening of all time there, behind Spectre’s £19.98m, and the eighth-biggest overall opening. It also became the highest-grossing Fri-Sun opening for a PG film in the UJ, as well as the biggest ever March opening weekend of all time and the biggest ever opening for a musical, beating Les Misérables.

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is a live-action adaptation of the studio’s animated classic which refashions the classic characters from the tale as old as time for a contemporary audience, staying true to the original music while updating the score with several new songs. Beauty and the Beast is the fantastic journey of Belle, a bright, beautiful and independent young woman who is taken prisoner by a beast in his castle. Despite her fears, she befriends the castle’s enchanted staff and learns to look beyond the Beast’s hideous exterior and realise the kind heart and soul of the true Prince within.

The film stars: Emma Watson as Belle; Dan Stevens as the Beast; Luke Evans as Gaston, the handsome, but shallow villager who woos Belle; Oscar® winner Kevin Kline as Maurice, Belle’s eccentric, but lovable father; Josh Gad as Le Fou, Gaston’s long-suffering aide-de-camp; Golden Globe® nominee Ewan McGregor as Lumière, the candelabra; Oscar nominee Stanley Tucci as Cadenza, the harpsichord; Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette, the feather duster; six-time Tony Award® winner Audra McDonald as Madame De Garderobe, the wardrobe; Hattie Morahan as Agathe, the enchantress; Nathan Mack as Chip, the teacup; Oscar nominee Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, the mantel clock; and two-time Academy Award® winner Emma Thompson as the teapot, Mrs. Potts.

Beauty and the Beast continues in Irish cinemas now.