Zurich: Funded with $27 million (Dh99.1 million) of Fifa money, the film United Passions is acquiring almost mythical status in football circles.
Mythical in the sense that the film, which was shown at the Zurich Film Festival on Sunday, has not been seen by many, and its relationship to documentary truth about Fifa’s troubled recent history is loose.
In industry circles, United Passions would easily be defined as a box office flop - even with star power from Gerard Depardieu, Sam Neill and Tim Roth.
But even in a World Cup year, a film telling the governing body’s historical story is a tough sell when it carries the toxic tag The Fifa Movie.
Suspicion it is a vanity project with script approval for President Sepp Blatter, portrayed by Academy Award-nominated Roth, is fueled by on-screen lines like one spoken in 1998, soon after his first election in what was widely reported as a ballot bought by some of his supporters.
“The slightest breach of ethics will be severely punished,” Roth-as-Blatter tells Fifa marketing executives.
The one-off screening in Fifa’s home city on Sunday was introduced by a festival staffer with thanks to Fifa for making this Swiss premiere happen.
It was watched by about 120 people in a 500-capacity theater at the Arena multiplex. At a top price of 22 Swiss francs (Dh83.7) per ticket, including the one bought by this agency, the take would be about 2,400 Swiss francs.
That should boost the international box office takings to between $150,000 and $200,000, according to figures supplied by film industry data analyst Rentrak.
Switzerland became only the seventh country to screen United Passions since its world premiere at Cannes in May, according to Rentrak, which monitors screenings and earnings in 70 countries.
Depardieu and Blatter attended the Cannes launch. But it was only in Ukraine, which had a June 5 release, that the film could be seen before the 2014 World Cup kicked off in Brazil on June 12.
Host nation distributors passed on it, even with a starring role for Neill as Joao Havelange, the most powerful Brazilian in Fifa’s 110-year history. He resigned last year as honorary president to avoid sanctions for taking million-dollar kickbacks from World Cup deals.
France also passed on the French production, albeit in English, which stars one of its most celebrated actors in Depardieu playing Jules Rimet, who founded the World Cup. In France, it went straight to DVD in July.
Russia was the main market with box office earnings topping 5.7 million rubles (Dh525,455), according to Rentrak. The 2018 World Cup host had 162 screens showing United Passions on its July 3 release. As word of mouth spread, 73 screens showed it the second week. It then closed.
A two-week run in Portugal reaped €5,300 (Dh24,458) three weeks in Serbia brought in 254,000 dinar (Dh9,838) box office returns for releases in Slovenia and Hungary were not available to Rentrak.
The clear pattern of failure for United Passions does not mean it is the travesty Fifa critics hoped for. It is dull rather than offensive.
Fifa did, however, encourage skeptics by handling the project like a guilty secret.
Some members of Blatter’s executive committee - with clean reputations and no reason to fear the story - said they had no idea Fifa’s money was spent this way.
Only in June did Fifa finance director Markus Kattner confirm that Fifa paid 90 percent of the film’s budget using cash approved in a vaguely worded 2009 financial report entry.
Fifa had wanted to fund a movie for its centenary in 2004, and revived the plan when French producers approached.
“Fifa then agreed to contribute,” the governing body said in June, “considering this to be a unique opportunity to raise awareness of the breadth of Fifa’s work to develop football globally.”
