After reporting a successful opening weekend at the Irish Box Office of half a million Euro following it’s release on July 8th, John Michael McDonagh’s directorial debut feature film ‘The Guard’ has continued to perform well at the Irish box office taking over €2 million to date, making it the biggest Irish release since ‘The Wind that Shakes the Barley’.
Speaking on this success, Chris Clark from Reprisal Films said he is ” absolutely delighted with the response to The Guard from Irish audiences and thanks to everyone for their incredible support. We can only hope the film connects in such an enthusiastic way in America, the UK and beyond!"
Chief Executive of The Irish Film Board, James Hickey also commented on the film’s success saying “for an independently produced film to breakout at the Irish box office, overtaking a string of Hollywood hits and Oscar nominated films (True Grit, Black Swan, The Fighter) that have the weight of a US studio marketing budget behind them, is a remarkable achievement. We are delighted to be able to support projects such as ‘The Guard’, which is a uniquely Irish film with a broad appeal and has connected with audiences right across Ireland.”
‘The Guard’ is an Irish/UK co-production between Element Pictures and Reprisal Films in the UK. It is backed by the Irish Film Board and Section 481 as well as international financiers. It is produced by Chris Clark and Flora Fernandez Marengo for Reprisal Films and Ed Guiney (Garage) and Andrew Lowe (The Wind that Shakes the Barley) for Element Pictures.
‘The Guard’ is a comedy thriller starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle as an unlikely pairing of the middle aged eccentric Garda and American FBI agent who join forces to uncover a drug smuggling operation on the West Coast of Ireland. It is showing in 71 cinemas in the North and the Republic. A full list can be found here: www.theguard.ie/where-to-watch.
’The Guard’ will be released in the US on July 29th and in the UK on August 18th.
