According to a person who has seen box-office data from the 10 theaters the film played in and was granted anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release the figures, The FIFA-financed movie “United Passions” made only about $900 over the weekend. Made for about $30 million and largely bankrolled by FIFA to trumpet the soccer federation’s 111-year history, “United Passions” had no expectations of drawing crowds. But the minuscule result was still a striking repudiation of a high-priced FIFA puff piece starring Tim Roth as the recently resigned FIFA President Sepp Blatter. “United Passions” initially was released in a handful of European markets last summer, timed to the 2014 World Cup. Screen Media, which declined to report the film’s weekend grosses, acquired it for U.S. distribution, focusing on a video-on-demand and digital release. It paid low six-figures for the rights.
