FIFA has scored an embarrassing own goal as widely derided vanity film "United Passions" collected just $607 in its first two days released in the United States.
The film's release had coincided with an avalanche of corruption claims and bribery allegations following the indictment of 14 football figures by the FBI ahead of the FIFA presidency election May 28.
Considering the plot paints Sepp Blatter -- who resigned as FIFA president in the aftermath of the arrests in Zurich -- as an upstanding moral leader as it chronicles the history of the world football governing body, Frederic Auburtin's directorial effort has been ridiculed for the timing of its release date in the United States..
"United Passions" is reported to have had a budget of $22 million and included renowned actors such as Tim Roth (as Sepp Blatter), Sam Neill (as former FIFA president Joao Havelange) and Gerard Depardieu (as World Cup founder Jules Rimet).
However, its Hollywood stars have not helped its approval ratings and the film has been branded "proof of corporate insanity" by The Guardian, a "squirm-inducing heap of propaganda" by Los Angeles Times and "one of the most unwatchable films in recent memory" by The New York Times.
The appalling word-of-mouth that has followed the movie since it debuted at Cannes Film Festival last year led to it opening in only 10 theaters in the U.S. and it failed to even break the $1,000 mark in tickets sold Friday and Saturday.
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