£20million FIFA movie United Passions flops at box office taking just £397
It's also slammed by critics
An ego-massaging movie about football’s governing body FIFA has flopped dramatically at the US box office raking in just £397 from its £20million budget.
90% funded by FIFA themselves; the movie paints the football organisation in an overwhelmingly positive light and stars Tim Roth as Sepp Blatter and Gérard Depardieu as Jules Rimet.
The movie was filmed before the corruption charges were brought against 14 of its officials in May by the FBI and Sepp Blatter’s ensuing resignation.
It made its debut at 10 cinemas in the United States on Friday with one cinema in Phoenix, Arizona taking just $9 – meaning only one solitary person bought a ticket.
As well as being a flop at the box office, the film has been savaged by critics with The Guardian calling it “cinematic excrement”, The Hollywood Reporter dubbed it a "cringeworthy, self-aggrandizing affair”, while the New York Post described it as “hilariously ill-timed.”
On film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes it has a 0% rating based on 10 reviews and on Metacritic it has a rating of 1 out of 100.
Somewhat tellingly, only one of the film’s stars, Gérard Depardieu, attended United Passions’ premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
Check out the trailer here: