Uwe Boll’s name has become synonymous with “awful” in the movie world. So awful, that when positive reviews start coming out about one or two of his films, most people can’t believe it (A lot of respectable critics I know are hailing Boll’s new movie “Postal”). But that’s the price you pay when all the other films you’ve put out have been horrible.
This past weekend Boll released his new film “In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale” opened, and only managed to come in 14th place on the box office boards, pulling in a measly $3.4 million. This is heartbreaking for Boll, because I know for a fact that he really believed in this one.
Coming in at #2 at the box office this weekend was another opening film “First Sunday” which made $19 million. And as hard as it is to believe… the Uwe Boll movie is BETTER (not that it’s good… but In The Name Of The Kind was indeed a better movie than First Sunday). And Uwe is beside himself. Listen to his rant:
Uwe Boll: Now a few days before IN THE NAME OF THE KING gets out in USA I have to tell whats going on in the film industry. If you don’t get out with a MAJOR company the exhibitors and the TV and radio stations are not supporting you. This is the reason that independent movies are like self-fulfilling prophecies and they almost bomb all. Our competitor in USA FIRST SUNDAY with Ice Cube is a piece of shit and for NOBODY nearly so interesting as IN THE NAME OF THE KING. We have a better movie and a bigger movie with a better script, better cast and we proved in Europe that our movie has the power to stay 3 weeks in the TOP TEN and that we can get at least 50% good reviews. FIRST SUNDAY is a direct to DVD title in Europe but in USA Sony puts 40 mill. $ in advertising to win that weekend. And this is completely absurd. Sony will not even recoup the advertising costs with that movie. The MAJORS own the TV Stations and the Radio Stations and they use that for free advertising and so the wide audience believes at one point that FIRST SUNDAY is the movie of that weekend – and they go and buy a ticket.
Now, being sour aside, Uwe does bring up a good point. All other things being equal, there is no way for a film with limited ad dollars to compete with a film that the studio is putting $40 million behind in advertising alone. And sadly, most of the movie going demographic bases their viewing choices on how many commercials they’ve seen for a movie.
But sorry Uwe, it’s not just the lack of marketing that you have to fight against… you also have to fight against your own reputation that, unfortunately, you’ve built for yourself. (Source: Movieweb)
