SAIPAN has crossed the €500k mark at the Irish box office in its first week on release, grossing €523k to date and becoming the No. 1 new release in Ireland, as well as the biggest Irish film since Small Things Like These starring Cillian Murphy. Directed by Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa, the film has opened to strong critical and audience responses, with a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and positive word-of-mouth contributing to a standout opening across cinemas nationwide.
Wildcard founder and managing director Patrick O’Neill, whose previous releases include Kneecap, The Young Offenders and Black ’47, described SAIPAN as “the film everyone is talking about” and noted that it is one of the best-performing Irish titles in recent years at the Irish box office, with sold-out screenings reported around the country. Now heading into its second week of release, SAIPAN is scheduled to play in over 80 cinemas across Ireland this weekend.
SAIPAN dramatises the story of Republic of Ireland captain Roy Keane (Éanna Hardwicke) and national team manager Mick McCarthy (Steve Coogan) and the events leading up to Ireland’s 2002 World Cup campaign, focusing on the fallout from their now infamous Saipan confrontation. The film presents the rivalry between the two men as a conflict that extended beyond football, centring on questions of standards, pride and identity, and framing the episode as one of the most contentious fallings-out in modern sport.
Directed by Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn (Good Vibrations, Ordinary Love), SAIPAN is based on an original script by Paul Fraser (Heartlands, A Room for Romeo Brass) and stars BAFTA-nominee Éanna Hardwicke (Lakelands, The Sixth Commandment) as Roy Keane and two-time Academy Award nominee Steve Coogan (Philomena, The Reckoning) as Mick McCarthy. The supporting cast includes Alice Lowe (Sightseers), Jamie Beamish (Derry Girls), Alex Murphy (The Young Offenders), Harriet Cains (Bridgerton), and Peter McDonald (The Batman).
The film is produced by Macdara Kelleher and John Keville for Wild Atlantic Pictures (Evil Dead Rise, Cocaine Bear, Black ’47) alongside Trevor Birney and Oliver Butler for Fine Point Films (Kneecap, No Stone Unturned), with Patrick O’Neill, Rachael O’Kane, Rupert Preston and Ed Caffrey serving as executive producers. SAIPAN was made in association with Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland and Northern Ireland Screen, with additional funding from BFI Global Screen, Coimisiún na Meán and RTÉ.