Has Jodie Comer saved UK cinema? Screenings of the star’s one-woman play Prima Facie revives box office sales as the highest-grossing release since cinemas closed in March 2020

• Jodie Comer, 29, stars as young barrister Tessa who is sexually assaulted 
• The play was projected onto the big screen after selling out audiences 
• It took £1.4million on opening day with cinemas putting on extra showings

Jodie Comer may have revived the UK cinema slump after the big-screen showing of her one-woman play smashed the box office.

Figures show the cinema release of her one-woman play Prima Facie is the highest grossing production since the start of the pandemic. 

The play, written by Suzie Miller and directed by Justin Butler, took £1.4m in the UK box office on its first day of release – although the true number is likely to be much higher as several sites had not reported their takings when figures were collected.

Screen Daily reports cinemas are even putting on extra showings of the play to keep up with demand. 

Jodie Comer (pictured as Tessa in Prima Facie) has taken the UK box office by storm after a huge slump since the beginning of the pandemic

Comer, 29, stars in Suzie Miller’s one-woman show as Tessa, a young lawyer who defends men accused of sexual assault – until she is assaulted herself

The figure makes the National Theatre release the highest-grossing title in UK and Ireland cinemas since they first closed for the Covid lockdown in March 2020.

Critics lauded Comer’s performance in her West End debut about a young barrister named Tessa who defends men accused of sexual assault, until she is assaulted herself. 

Although the lawyer is the protagonist, the Liverpudlian actress, 29, assumes the role of every character in the plot.

The play first debuted in Australia in 2019 before Comer took the reins at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London in 2022.

After the show sold out audiences, the National Theatre announced it would release the play in cinemas for a 12 week run, which will continue until October.

Comer, pictured at the BAFTAs 2022, has two BAFTAs and an Emmy to her name 

The Liverpudlian actress’s success echoes that of her friend Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who wrote the first series of Killing Eve

Screendaily compared the success of Comer’s one-woman show to that of another well-respected actress and writer, Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

Phoebe, who wrote the first series of Killing Eve in which Comer made her name, also starred on stage in a one-woman production of her hit TV series Fleabag.

After the success of the stage show in 2019, NTLive also decided to release it in cinemas – and the production grossed just shy of £2million in its first three days.

It is perhaps no surprise the formidable women are taking the box office by storm, with Waller-Bridge boasting 11 awards in total while Comer has two BAFTAs and an Emmy to her name.

As the pair each make names for themselves in Hollywood, they told Grazia magazine they will not forget their British roots. 

Speaking in 2020, Comer said: ‘Phoebe’s an amazing friend.

‘I love that we can share these experiences together – especially being out here in LA, as the two new kids on the block. 

I love LA, but it’s sprawling and can often be overwhelming, so it’s comforting having Phoebe here and being in the same boat.’ 

She added that while both actresses love LA, they could never live there permanently due to the ‘lack of pubs.’  

Source: Read Full Article