Despite reviews in the local and national press, a huge amount of publicity due to the controversy surrounding it and £380,000 of Screen WM investment, the taxpayer-funded movie 1 Day still only grossed a meagre £44k on its opening weekend at 80 cinemas nationwide.
So far, this doesn’t exactly look like a great investment for West Midlands taxpayers who’ll now just be hoping that the film breaks even, and nor does 1 Day and it’s subject matter act as much of a tourist lure for the region – quite the opposite by all accounts. Worse still, people in Birmingham haven’t even had access to this film as all of the city’s cinemas chose not to screen it after a warning from the West Midlands Police that it may provoke clashes between rival gangs. Great stuff.
Possibly even more lamentable than the enormous backing this turkey has received is the ineptitude of Screen WM’s publicity people, who clearly didn’t feel up to defending the performance of this project, their ineffectiveness perhaps indicative of how the whole operation is run.
According to the Birmingham Mail:
Answering a Birmingham Mail query about its box office performance, Screen WM’s marketing and communications manager Sarah Arnesen said: “Unfortunately there is no-one in the office able to make a comment on 1 Day on behalf of Screen WM.”
Erm…you’re the marketing and communicationas manager Sarah, what on earth else do you do to earn your salary?
If this is the best this organisation have to offer then we’ve every right to despair.