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December 12, 2013updated 13 Dec 2013 3:14pm

Cumberbatch knew flop Guardian film was not going to be box office success

By Rachel Banning-Lover

Hollywood heart-throb Benedict Cumberbatch said he knew his film about The Guardian's WikiLeaks exclusive was not going to be a box office success.

The film has been one of the biggest flops of the year.

Cumberbatch, who played Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate told GQ magazine: “Well I always thought that Disney and Dreamworks were odd bedfellows for such a specialist topic, really.

“The parallel is The Social Network, but everyone uses Facebook, not everyone is au fait with WikiLeaks. This was never going to be a popcorn multiplex film.”

According to Forbes, the film which cost $28 million to make and lost more money as a proportion of its production costs than any other major movie this year.

The Sherlock star insisted he was proud of his role in the film, his first lead film role, saying that the response to his performance “had done him huge favours”.

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