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Motherhood, a $5 million Hollywood comedy in which Uma Thurman played a stressed-out mother trying to organise her daughter’s sixth birthday party, was withdrawn from distribution in Britain after its disastrous opening weekend (26^th - 28^th March) when it attracted just 11 filmgoers nationwide, and earned a mere £88.00 in box office receipts.   On one day, just a single person paid £9 for the privilege of watching the film in splendid isolation.

Jana Edelbaum, the film’s producer, was astonished when she heard the news: ‘You’re kidding?’ she exclaimed.   ‘We must have broken a new record for grosses.’  Speaking to The Guardian, Edelbaum said, ‘Think about how much crap succeeds at the cinema.   Motherhood is not bad. It's a very decent movie. I've seen movies that are not half as good.’

The film appeared to be the victim of a poor marketing strategy which saw it screened exclusively at Picadilly Circus in London with the expectation that positive word of mouth would generate public interest.   In America, the film earned an embarrassing $50,000 on its opening weekend in October 2009.

Incredibly, Motherhood’s abysmal performance at the box office did not make it the country’s biggest flop.   That dubious accolade was reserved for a small independent film called My Nikifor, about Polish artist Nikifor Krynicki, which earned just £7 upon its release in 2007.

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