Being one of the most popular faces in Hollywood, Shia LaBeouf’s career has seen several ups and downs. Popular for starring as Sam Witwicky in the Transformers series, he soon rose to become one of the most celebrated stars in the industry. However, things did not go down the right path for the actor after he was accused of abuse and suffered from alcoholism.
The allegations not only impacted his reputation and image among the audience, but they also had adverse effects on his films’ performance at the box office. And this was very much seen in the box office collection of his 2015 film, which managed to gross only as much as a single ticket.
The Shia LaBeouf Feature That Failed Miserably
Shia LaBeouf starred in Dito Montiel’s 2015 thriller drama Man Down alongside the Oscar-winning actor Gary Oldman. It follows a marine, Gabriel Drummer, who returns to his home only to find his hometown devastated and his family missing.
The film was not very well received by critics, who gave it a 16% critic score at Rotten Tomatoes and said that the film was “even worse than it originally [appeared.]” After its world premiere at
Toronto International Film Festival, the film was released in the UK and played only in one cinema based on a token screening.
At the same time, the film was also released on digital platforms, a practice usually followed by many studios. However, despite all that, it did not have much of an audience to itself. The movie reportedly had a weekend gross of £7, equal to about $8.71 at the time, and the cost of a single ticket.
It was soon the hot topic surrounding the Fury actor, claiming that the movie only sold a single ticket. The film would eventually fail at the box office as well, as it only made $167,085 worldwide with a budget of $3,000,000.
Man Down Was the Most Difficult Project For Shia LaBeouf
The 2015 film reunited Shia LaBeouf with Dito Montiel, with whom he worked on a 2006 documentary, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. Talking about working with the filmmaker again, LaBeouf said that the 2006 documentary was one of his favorite projects that he ever worked on.
He shared that she he received the offer for Man Down, he was at a very low place. The Tax Collector actor also claimed that it was one of the most difficult things he worked on. “This is definitely the most difficult thing I’ve ever worked on, emotionally, with anyone, which is why I had to do it with him,” he shared.
While the film did not receive very positive reviews, critics did praise LaBeouf for his performance in the movie, saying, “Shia LaBeouf delivers a superb performance in a film that is otherwise misjudged on almost every level.”
Man Down is available on Prime Video.
Source: Far Out Magazine
