The fourth installment in the Bridget Jones movie franchise is ready for release in February, but American audiences will be able to enjoy it on Peacock rather than in theaters.
Bridget Jones is ready for a new life
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy will see an international theatrical release on Wednesday, February 12, but will jump straight to streaming the next day. Peacock will play host to the film in which Renee Zellweger plays the titular character.
According to TV Line, loglines about the film confirm that our hapless British heroine is now a widow as her husband, Mark Darcy, has died.
"Bridget is alone once again, widowed four years ago, when Mark (Colin Firth) was killed on a humanitarian mission in the Sudan," the logline says, per TV Line. "She’s now a single mother to 9-year-old Billy and 4-year-old Mabel, and is stuck in a state of emotional limbo, raising her children with help from her loyal friends and even her former lover, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant)."
You'll see Bridget enter the modern world of single life as she goes back to work and navigates the dating apps. However, she might find herself involved with her son's straight-laced science teacher. Other stars joining Zellweger in this venture include Jim Broadbent as Bridget's dad and Isla Fisher as her neighbor, Rebecca.
Decades of delightful Bridget Jones
Bridget Jones first became a beloved modern-day heroine in 1996 when the novel Bridget Jones's Diary was first published. The Helen Fielding book became an instant international sensation before being turned into a movie in 2001. Starring Zellweger and Colin Firth as Bridget's unexpected knight in shining armor Mr. Darcy, Bridget Jones's Diary was an immediate success.
The success of the first Bridget Jones book and movie gave way for a sequel literary effort by Fielding. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason was published in 1999 and made into a 2004 film. The next two books, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy and Bridget Jones's Baby were published in 2013 and 2016, respectively. However, Hollywood took some liberties and produced Bridget Jones's before finally creating a film version of Mad About the Boy, according to IMDb.
In addition to Zellweger Broadbent, and Fisher, other stars in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy include Shirley Henderson, James Callis, Gemma Jones, and Emma Thompson.
You can catch a sneak peek of the upcoming Peacock offering in the trailer below.