Cork cocaine caper The Young Offenders has passed the €1m mark at the box office, the fastest Irish film to reach that milestone this year.
Going on its recent takings, the Peter Foott-directed movie, which stars Cork newcomers Alex Murphy and Chris Walley alongside Hilary Rose and PJ Gallagher, will become the highest grossing Irish-made film of 2016 in the next week.
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Writer-director Foott, who cut his teeth on RTÉ2's Republic of Telly, said he and his team were "incredibly grateful" to audiences for supporting the comedy.
"It is the first feature film that myself and most of the cast and crew have made. We all dreamed of getting a cinema release, but getting a million in the box-office is just unbelievable," he added.
In September, Foott told RTÉ Entertainment that there have been discussions about a follow-up to his hit debut.
"There's a lot of talk about future projects with The Young Offenders and with the characters that we have," he said. "Let's just say there's a good reason why some of the characters survive this journey..."
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The Young Offenders received its international debut at the famous Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas in September and had its UK premiere at the London Film Festival earlier this month.
Among those who have championed The Young Offenders away from home is talk show host Graham Norton, who advised punters to "sell all your cocaine and buy a ticket". "It captures everything that makes Ireland so special - it's very funny, outrageous, and full of heart," he said.
"The film goes through Bandon and there's a scene in it where Alex, who plays Conor, puts an ice cream down his pants - that actually happens in Bandon around the corner from where Graham grew up," Foot explained to RTÉ Entertainment.
"Graham watched it and then we didn't hear back from him so we were kind of like, 'Oh well, wonder if he liked it?'. And then just out of nowhere a couple of weeks later it was like a present: he gave us these beautiful quotes and said, 'I hope this helps with your film. Best of luck. I loved it'."
