“BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE” DANCES PAST THE COVETED GLOBAL BOX OFFICE MILESTONE OF $100m IN JUST 10 DAYS!

THE BIG PICTURE

Bob Marley: One Love surpasses $100 million at the global box office, outperforming superhero movies like Madame Web .
Strong audience support for the music biopic is reflected in an A CinemaScore and 92% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Despite audience acclaim, critics have given One Love a more muted reception with a 42% score

In what might be the simplest representation of how audience tastes have changed in the post-pandemic era, a music biopic on the life of reggae icon Bob Marley is handily outperforming a Spider-Man-adjacent superhero movie. Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green and starring Kingsley Ben-Adir, Bob Marley: One Love debuted on Valentine’s Day, and in just 10 days of release, has passed a coveted milestone at the global box office.

On Thursday, One Love passed the $100 million milestone globally. The film’s stateside total now stands at $61 million, while it has earned a further $39 million from 59 overseas markets. One Love has grossed a total of $101 million worldwide, and will now set its sights on passing the lifetime hauls of recent music biopics such as Rocketman (just under $200 million globally), and Elvis (over $280 million worldwide). The current record-holder in the genre is the controversial Bohemian Rhapsody, which grossed over $900 million worldwide.

One Love debuted with $14 million last Tuesday, setting the record for the biggest mid-week Valentine’s Day debut, and easily out-performing Sony’s Madame Web. The film added $28 million in its traditional three-day weekend at the domestic box office and is expected to retain the top spot with $13 million this weekend. It did, however, surrender the number one spot for the first time in its run to this week’s debutante, Demon Slayer: To The Hashira Training, which grossed $5.5 million on Friday.

One Love has also been performing exceedingly well overseas, having set opening-day records for a music biopic in the U.K., France, and several other countries, as well as an all-time record opening in Jamaica. Its popularity with audiences is reflected in the A CinemaScore that it earned from opening day crowds and the 92% audience rating that it holds on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. By contrast, critical reception has been more muted, with the film earning a “rotten” 42% score on RT. In his review, Collider’s Nate Richard appreciated Ben-Adir’s central performance but was critical of the storytelling.

Produced on a reported budget of $70 million, One Love also stars Lashana Lynch as Rita Marley, alongside James Norton, Tosin Cole, and Michael Gandolfini. All eyes will now be on the upcoming Back to Black, the biopic of the late jazz-pop icon Amy Winehouse. Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, the film will be released domestically in May. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.