World soccer’s governing body, FIFA, has taken quite a beating in the past few weeks. Over the past weekend it took a beating at the box office, where “United Passions” opened in the United States to a box office total of $607 in ticket sales, according to Rentrak.
The film, which was completed before the corruption charges against FIFA officials were brought, stars Tim Roth as FIFA head Sepp Blatter and Gerard Depardieu as FIFA’s founder Jules Rimet, opened on just 10 U.S. screens. At the FilmBar theater in Phoenix, gross receipts totaled $9, the cost of a single ticket, according to a report at The Hollywood Reporter. Here is all the bad news:
On Friday, United Passions grossed just $319 from 10 theaters in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Phoenix, Kansas City, Miami, Minneapolis, Houston, Dallas and Philadelphia, followed by an even worse $288 on Saturday. The top-performing theater, as it were, was Laemmle’s NoHo 7 in North Hollywood ($164), followed by the Shirlington 7 in Hagerstown outside of Washington, D.C. ($161). New York City’s Cinema Village 3 reported $112 in ticket sales.
The budget for the movie was estimated at $25 million to $32 million, of which FIFA itself (with the now former-president Blatter in charge) is said to have ponied up 75% of the cost. The BBC said that “the hagiography of football’s [soccer to Americans] governing body has had damning reviews.”
The somewhat-good news for the filmmakers is that the movie was distributed for video-on-demand last Friday, but so far no rental or sales figures are available. Is a $1,000 opening weekend still possible?
The weekend’s top-grossing film, by the way, was Melissa McCarthy’s new comedy, “Spy,” which took in $30 million.
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