Baku, July 8 AZERTAC

Amy, the acclaimed film about the late singer, Amy Winehouse, has broken a UK box office record over its opening weekend.

The feature-length documentary from Asif Kapadia (the BAFTA-winning director of Senna), has earned £519,000 in UK cinemas since opening on Friday (3rd July), making it the best ever opening weekend total for a British documentary film and the second best opening weekend total for a documentary film ever.

Amy played in a total of 133 cinemas across the UK and Ireland this weekend – and is set to storm over 200 more this coming weekend beginning Friday, 10th July. The documentary is also enjoying success abroad, earning an impressive $222,000 in the US at the six cinemas that screened it.

Hamish Moseley – speaking on behalf of the film's distributors, Altitude – expressed his delight at the documentary's success in the following statement:

"We are thrilled that audiences have come out en masse during a period of exceptionally fine weather to see Amy. It is testament to not only an incredible film, from some of the UK's leading film-makers, but also to the unique talent and enormous lasting appeal of Amy Winehouse. We are delighted that audiences have chosen to celebrate the life of this truly talented musical icon."

Despite it's success, the film has received some backlash from the singer's father, Mitch Winehouse, who described it as "nonsense," and claimed that his comments throughout the documentary were "misrepresented."

The music producer Mark Ronson – who famously collaborated with Winehouse on the hit song, 'Valerie' – has backed the film however, stating that though it was obviously a tough watch, he loved "the way shows lyrics to make sure you read every word and understand the genius of them."