The well-known German director and producer Uwe Boll would very much like to realize a film sequel to the video game adaptation Postal from 2007. The money was supposed to come through a crowdfunding campaign, which unfortunately had to be ended after just a few days.
What do I need to know about Postal? The video game series from Running with Scissors started in 1997 and made a name for itself, especially due to its depiction of violence and anarchic humor. Postal 2 from 2003 is still indexed in Germany today.
In October 2007, the video game adaptation Postal premiered in theaters. Responsible for the film was a certain Uwe Boll, who had already attempted various other game adaptations at that time – such as “House of the Dead,” “Alone in the Dark,” or “BloodRayne.”
The cast included Zack Ward, Ralf Moeller, Michael Paré, J. K. Simmons, and Uwe Boll himself. The reward for their efforts: The Golden Raspberry in 2009 for “Worst Director” and a collection of poor reviews, including 0.5 out of 5 stars from the colleagues at Filmstarts. Nevertheless, Postal is certainly one of the better films from the life of the German director in retrospect.
If you want to see a good video game adaptation in film or series form, check this out:
Crowdfunding for Postal 2
What was planned for Postal 2? Although the last video game adaptation by Uwe Boll (Schwerter des Königs – Die letzte Mission from 2014) is already several years old, it is not because the director has lost interest in the genre. In the meantime, he even held the rights for Fear Effect and Baldur’s Gate, but ultimately, nothing came of these two projects.
A few days ago, the director tried a different approach: He launched a crowdfunding campaign for Postal 2 via his podcast and filming partner Gary Otto on indiegogo.com. The goal: 2.255 million euros. However, what Boll apparently did not have were the rights for the film adaptation.
Vince Desiderio, CEO of Running with Scissors, commented on the campaign via X as follows: “The official position of RWS is that we do NOT support this crowdfunding. I don’t even have the faintest idea who Gary Otto is.”
Desiderio was not only upset that RWS was not contacted beforehand. He also criticized the fine print in the crowdfunding campaign.
Boll and Otto stated that they would use the donated money for the realization of “California Fried Movie” (a sequel to Boll’s first film “German Fried Movie” from 1991) if the final amount was not reached or if another unforeseen obstacle arose.
As the cherry on top, Uwe Boll stated on X that the 2.2 million euros for the realization of Postal 2 would actually not be enough. After the successful campaign, he would raise another 2.2 million euros to ensure the film could be done properly. However, the director did not explain where the money would come from.
What is the current status of the campaign? The responsible people at RWS likely reacted in the background accordingly. After just a few days, Gary Otto published a statement that they would officially switch from Postal 2 to “California Fried Movie.” Shortly after, the campaign was completely shut down and its name changed to “Cancelled all pledges refunded we had no choice.”
The 767 euros that had been raised so far will reportedly be refunded to the 16 supporters, according to Otto. Apparently, there was also criticism of the whole action on social media afterwards. Both Gary Otto’s X account and the X account of Boll and Otto’s podcast project are no longer accessible.
Uwe Boll commented on this on YouTube as follows: “We had to shut down the campaign, it’s just not worth it. I think, especially on Twitter, some people should apologize to Gary Otto, who did everything he had to do based on my instructions to him. […] Now it’s just me on Twitter.”
Finally, Uwe Boll states that despite this setback, he would still like to make Postal 2. This fits with a concluding sentence from Vince Desiderio: “For the record, I like Uwe and look forward to the day our fans can see a new Postal film, but not financed this way.”
Would you be interested in a sequel for Postal? Let us know in the comments! Not long ago, Uwe Boll himself was the one who looked down with some scorn at a failed video game adaptation: German trash director looks with schadenfreude at Borderlands film: “Now you wish I had directed”
