Asif Kapadia's Amy Winehouse documentary breaks box office records with big opening weekend

Asif Kapadia's documentary on late Amy Winehouse has secured the biggest ever opening weekend for a British documentary in the UK as well as second biggest of all time. Amy follows the singer's life and death in 2011 from alcohol poisoning.

Amy, which has earned five-star reviews and picked up strong word-of-mouth since its premiere at Cannes in May, is now chasing the $12 million target set by Michael Moore's 2004 polemic, Fahrenheit 9/11, reported the Guardian.

The film opened over a remarkably sunny UK weekend in 133 cinemas and will expand to over 200 in the coming weeks. The documentary had a $222,015 opening across six sites, with a location average of $37,002 , which is $10,000 more than what Fahrenheit 9/11 managed on its first weekend.

The biopic, first shown at the Cannes Film Festival in May, drew criticism from her father Mitch Winehouse who has called it misleading. Its makers disagree, saying they conducted around 100 interviews for it.

Londoner Winehouse, hailed by many as one of the most talented singers of her generation before she died at the age of 27, was mostly associated with the northern district of Camden, where she lived.

Winehouse, known for hits like "Rehab" and "Back to Black", was seen as one of the most talented musicians of her generation. She struggled with drinking and drug problems throughout much of her career.

With inputs from Reuters and ANI.