one is the loneliest number

Shia LaBeouf’s Latest Film Sold Exactly One Ticket at the U.K. Box Office

No one was in a rush to see Man Down on the big screen.
Image may contain Face Human Person Head Skin and Janusz Gol
Shia LaBeouf in Man Down, 2015.From Lionsgate Premiere/Evertt Collection.

Shia LaBeouf’s U.K. fans better take a good, hard look at themselves. The actor-slash-performance artist’s latest film, Man Down, was released in exactly one movie theater in England (the heroic Reel Cinema in Burnley) over the weekend—where it sold exactly one ticket, per Variety. One. Ticket. The price was the equivalent of $8.70, which means the film has grossed exactly that much at the U.K. box office.

The film, thankfully, was simultaneously released on demand, so maybe it’ll rustle up a bit more in sales that way. There’s also a silver lining to this story: we may have just found the most loyal Shia LaBeouf fan in the U.K., perhaps in the world. Remember when Selena Gomez held that title? Let us remind you of that time her friends surprised the future Instagram priestess with a LaBeouf meet and greet, and Gomez was so excited that she cried. “He’s so handsome,” she gushed later in her dressing room. Really, the whole video is good and pure.

Man Down is, we assume, not so good and pure. The drama revolves around a U.S. marine (LaBeouf) who returns to his troubled home after a tour in Afghanistan. It also stars Jai Courtney and Kate Mara. Critics have trashed the drama as “uniquely unpleasant” (Entertainment Weekly) and “shameless in its caricatures and clichés” (The New York Times).

Man Down was helmed and co-written by Dito Montiel, who previously directed a pre-superstardom LaBeouf in the rough coming-of-age drama A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints.

With his blockbuster Transformers days far behind him, LaBeouf has put an emphasis on making challenging avant-garde films. In the last few years, he’s starred in the sublime American Honey and Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac double feature, projects that have earned critical acclaim but not a lot of box-office love. (There have also been flat-out duds, like Charlie Countryman.) He’s also pivoted toward performance art, recently creating an anti-Trump live stream titled He Will Not Divide Us with his artistic partners Säde Rönkkö, and Luke Turner. The live stream has been a lightning rod for controversy in the last few weeks, and was recently moved overseas after heated clashes at its stateside locations. The installation is now stationed at the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology in Liverpool, England . . . which, according to Google Maps, is only about an hour drive from the Reel Cinema in Burnley. You know what to do, loyal LaBeouf fan. Godspeed.