Was Uwe Boll’s ‘Postal’ Actually a Box Office Hit?

The notorious director, Uwe Boll, has never had anything even close to resembling a decent track record with both critics and at the box office. So it came as no surprise when his latest film to hit US theaters, Postal, managed an opening weekend of just $1,800 this past May and then quietly disappeared from theaters… or did it?

Contradicting previous reports, Uwe Boll’s production company just released numbers that show Postal making nearly $300,000 on its opening weekend from just 13 screens. Then, the ‘R’ rated film showed strong legs while expanding into semi-wide release in June and finishing in the top 10 three weeks in a row. If these numbers are in fact accurate, then the politically incorrect comedy finished with $17.9 million domestically making it by far the highest grossing film in Uwe Boll’s career. The full breakdown of Postal‘s box office is on imdb.

I watched quite a few films in theaters over the summer and I don’t recall ever seeing Postal playing on any screen at any theater I went to so this makes me wonder how the hell it actually made it into wide release and even more impressively exhibit staying power. Uwe Boll’s films actually have a good track record from DVD sales and rentals, but it’s a completely different story at the box office. Boll’s last film, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, made only $4.5 million in total earlier this year, but it had the advantage of a much more popular cast, a more reliable genre, and a ‘PG-13’ rating.

 

There is a strong likelihood that these reports are bogus or it could merely be an error on imdb’s part. (The latter is not nearly as likely since the breakdown is so detalied.) Boll manages his own production company that self-finances and self-distributes all of his films so the accounting team may not be very well staffed (or paid), especially compared to the larger production studios. However, if these reports are true, then Boll could eventually prove to become a reliable box office draw.

 

I can’t believe I just said that.

.

Related articles:

• Return of the ‘R’ Rating to Summer Cinema

Box Office Data Source: The Numbers