Initially Four Lions was released on 115 screens across Britain, but it grossed £2,932,366 in total at the box office. It was rejected by BBC and Channel 4 for its sensitive subject matter but later found funding from Film 4 Productions and Warp Films after the operation 'Funding Mentalism' in which Chris Morris e-mailed fans of the show, asking for £25-100 in return for being an extra in the film.
The inspiration came to him after reading about a failed terrorist plot to attack a US warship. A radical cell filled a boat with explosives and pushed it into the water. "It sank. I laughed. I wasn't expecting that."
The metascore of Four Lions is 68/100, based on 28 online reviews, which are highly varied. Time's Richard Corliss gave it 100/100, stating "Stranded without the usual moral compass, the audience is left on its own to decide what's funny or awful, or awful funny". Justin Chang of Variety magazine said in his 50/100 review: "While exaggeration can be a legitimate tool for the humorist, the men's broadly overplayed idiocy simply doesn't gel with the pic's would-be-convincing portrait of the jihadist's everyday mindset."
Proper Barry!!
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