Military Film Starring Shia LaBeouf Takes Just £7 At UK Box Office

'Man Down', Shia LaBeouf’s latest war film, took in just £7 at the UK box office in its opening weekend. 

That's the approximate price of one ticket... Unless you live in London when it is about half the cost. 

The film was only given one showing in one venue, the Reel Cinema in Burnley, and only one member of the public was in the audience.

A possible explanation for the UK box office flop is that the film was simultaneously released on digital platforms.

'Man Down' follows the story of a US Marine looking for his family in a post-apocalyptic America.

Gabriel, played by LaBeouf, and his best friend Devin, are making their way through an abandoned city trying to track down Gabriel's wife, and more importantly, his son, after returning from conflict overseas.

The film explores the mindset and the determination of the military mind. 

It also credits an established cast with Gary Oldman, Kate Mara and Jai Courtney all starring alongside LeBeouf.

The production of the film started in September 2014, and its world premiere was at the Venice Film Festival a year later.

'Man Down' was then released in the US in December 2016, grossing approximately $450,000.

It could be said that the lack of box office success isn't surprising due to its largely negative reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes giving it a critics’ score of 15%.

However, IMDB did give the film a more acceptable score of 5.9/10.

And our very own film critic and former Royal Marine, Cassidy Little, really liked the film.

He said:

"Shia LaBoef was really good and Gary Oldman really complimented the cast. The film kept the audience guessing. The military stuff was fairly accurate and it highlighted a subject that needs looking at, PTSD and battle stress."

But could all this talk of its terrible opening weekend boost future sales? 

What is that saying, no publicity is bad publicity?

Cassidy certainly thinks that is the case:

"A poor opening weekend is the best thing that could have happened because now it's made the headlines awareness might go through the roof."

For more of Cassidy's reviews tune in to 'The Little Film Show' this Friday at 19:30 (BST) on Forces TV.