Rich Peppiatt’s Kneecap has crossed the €1 million mark at the Box Office across the island of Ireland, and is officially the top grossing Irish film of the year.
Peppiatt’s film, released in Ireland by Wildcard, is the first Irish film to pass the €1 million mark since the release of The Banshees of Inisherin in 2022.
Kneecap joins the ranks of other modern Irish films such as Black 47, The Young Offenders, Brooklyn, An Cáilín Ciúin/The Quiet Girl and The Guard to pass this Irish Box Office milestone.
Speaking about the success of the film, Wildcard Founder and Managing Director, and the film’s Co-Producer Patrick O’Neill said:
“It’s incredible to see Kneecap connect with Irish audiences in such a way. We are hearing of sold-out screenings, rounds of applause, standing ovations and sing-alongs in cinemas all over Ireland. Word of mouth is really strong, helping the film to continuously remain in the Top 5 in the Box Office chart in the last three weeks – alongside Hollywood hits It Ends With Us and Deadpool and Wolverine.”
Kneecap was released in Irish cinemas on 8th August with the widest ever opening of an Irish film in cinemas in Ireland, opening in 109 screens across the island. It achieved the biggest opening for an Irish film at the Irish Box Office since The Banshees of Inisherin and the biggest box office opening for an Irish language feature film ever.
The film is now heading into its 4th week of release and will be showing in over 84 cinemas across Ireland and Northern Ireland this weekend.
Written and directed by Rich Peppiatt (One Rogue Reporter), Kneecap stars the members of the West Belfast rap trio Kneecap (Móglaí Bap, Mo Chara and DJ Próvaí) alongside an ensemble cast including Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender, Simone Kirby, Josie Walker, Fionnuala Flaherty, Jessica Reynolds and Adam Best.
Kneecap was produced by Trevor Birney and Jack Tarling for Fine Point Films and Mother Tongues Films, with Patrick O'Neill at Wildcard acting as Co-Producer. Funding for the film was provided by Northern Ireland Screen, the Irish Language Broadcast Fund, Fís Éireann / Screen Ireland, the BFI (awarding National Lottery funding), Coimisiún na Meán and TG4, Dias Feld and Kamila Serkebaeva, with backing from Great Point Media.
The Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) recently announced that the Irish language feature was selected to represent Ireland in the Oscar® International Feature Film category at the upcoming 97th annual Academy Awards.
