‘YOU’RE FIRED’

Controversial Trump Biopic ‘The Apprentice’ Bombs at the Box Office

With Sebastian Stan as Trump, “The Apprentice” has won mostly positive critical reviews, but on the business front it’s performing more like Trump’s various companies.

The controversial biopic about former president Donald Trump’s business career in New York real estate flopped at the box office this weekend. The Ali Abbasi-directed The Apprentice—which Trump’s lawyer’s tried to block from release earlier this year—was on track to earn just $1.58 million, according to industry estimates. World of Reel noted the film, which cost $16 million to make and showed on a not inconsiderable 1,750 screens this weekend, made a paltry $150,000 on Thursday. With Sebastian Stan as Trump and Jeremy Strong as Republican fixer Roy Cohn, The Apprentice has won mostly positive critical reviews—including from The Daily Beast—and production company Briarcliff Entertainment has been angling the film for awards season. On the business front, however, it’s performing more like Trump’s various companies, which have declared bankruptcy six times.