‘Kneecap’ Getting Irish Re-Release Following BAFTA Nomination Success (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Alex Ritman “Kneecap,” Rich Peppiatt’s acclaimed comedy-biopic about the Belfast rap trio of the same name, is heading back to Irish cinemas this week after landing six BAFTA nominations.

Wildcard Distribution — which also co-produced the film — is re-releasing “Kneecap” across Ireland exactly a year after it became the first Irish-language film to world premiere in Sundance 2024, where it became one of the breakout hits of the festival and was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics.

Telling the wild and semi-fictitious story of how Kneecap came together as a band and their proud use of Irish, “Kneecap” has already broken records on home soil, where last year it had the widest theatrical opening for a non-English language film and, with $1.5 million, earned the biggest box office for an Irish-language film.

There’s hope that its ongoing award season success — and growing optimism that the feature will be nominated for an Oscar later this week — will help it achieve even more in local cinemas. “The Quiet Girl,” which in 2023 became the first ever Irish-language film to make it to the Oscars, earned more than half its Irish box office following its nomination. “We are so excited to be bringing ‘Kneecap’ back to Irish cinemas on the 1-year anniversary of its historic world premiere at Sundance, where this mad campaign began,” said Gillian Cooper, Wildcard’s head of distribution. “Kneecap themselves certainly don’t do things by halves and it’s been exciting to see that energy carried over to the film.