Best known for his role as Sam Witwicky in the Transformers franchise, Shia LaBeouf is a versatile Hollywood A-lister who can seemingly do it all. Be it Louis Stevens in Even Stevens, Kale Brecht in Disturbia, Chas Kramer in Constantine, or even Henry Walton Jones III (aka Mutt Williams) in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, LaBeouf is quite the seasoned actor.
As for his iconic role in Transformers, the film was a success at the box office, with the critics being all praise for LaBeouf’s performance at the time of the film’s release. He reprised the role in the two subsequent Transformers sequels, both of which too were box-office successes. He has also directed several short films, and in 2019, he wrote and directed the film Honey Boy, which is loosely based on his life.
The one badly battered feather in LaBeouf’s cap
Man Down, starring Shia LaBeouf, was released in 2015 and had a pretty disappointing opening weekend in the UK, selling only one ticket in a single theater. The film stars LaBeouf as a Marine who returns from Afghanistan and has difficulty readjusting to civilian life, was released on demand and in a single theater in Burnley, England. The average movie ticket price in the UK is £7.21, so the film’s £7 gross is equivalent to selling just one ticket. However, BBC News also later reported that four more tickets were sold after the film’s opening weekend.
The film also stars Gary Oldman, Jai Courtney, and Kate Mara. Despite the film’s poor box office performance, it did receive some positive reviews. The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 6, 2015, and was later screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. Lionsgate Premiere was the distributor for the movie, which was then released in the United States on December 2, 2016. The film had a limited release in the United Kingdom, playing in a single theater in Burnley, Lancashire. The film’s cinema revenue in the UK was only £7, equivalent to one ticket sale.
Read more: Indiana Jones Star Shia LaBeouf’s 2015 Film With Oscar Winner Gary Oldman Sold Just a Single Ticket
He also bid adieu to the beloved Sam Witwicky
LaBeouf played Sam Witwicky in the first three Transformers films. Directed by Michael Bay, all three installments of the franchise were major box-office successes, but LaBeouf has said that he did not enjoy his experience working on them. He has criticized Bay’s directing style, and he has said that he felt like he was being exploited. Additionally, Megan Fox, his co-star from the first two films of the Transformers franchise, had previously made some controversial comments comparing Michael Bay to Hitler, essentially calling him tyrannical; before ultimately being fired from the franchise. Similarly, LaBeouf did not appear in the fourth film, Transformers: Age of Extinction, and he has said that he has no interest in returning to the franchise. However, his character, Sam Witwicky, is still mentioned in the later films.
As for Man Down, the film’s poor box office performance in the UK is likely due to a number of these factors, including its limited release and its mixed reviews. It was also released simultaneously on video-on-demand with its theatrical release. This contributed to the film’s poor box office performance, as some viewers may have opted to watch the film at home rather than going to the theater.
Source: Far Out
