Stride Gives Uwe Boll Something To Chew On (Haw Haw)
I simply cannot stop laughing about this entire situation. The petition to stop Uwe Boll from producing any more films is not only funny, but snowballing into some internet meme powerhouse. Lets face it, he's never produced a video game movie that was really worth the $10 it costs to buy the ticket. I'd rather watch a video of someone playing the game.
Not only has the internet forsaken him, now Stride gum has jumped on the band wagon. Stride is offering a free pack of gum to all who sign the petition if one million signatures are reached by May 14th, 5PM EDT.
"Since gamers are one of our most supportive groups, we have been looking for ways to return the favor," said Gary Osifchin, Stride North American Marketing Director. "And what better way is there to get gamers' backs than by helping them rescue their cherished videogames from the clutches of Uwe Boll?"
Why are they behind us? Probably because it's cheap marketing, but cooperate backing is not only funny but a massive slap in the face to Mr. Boll. I applaud you Stride. Wish us all sweet, minty success.
The Makers of Stride, The Ridiculously Long Lasting Gum(R), Offer A Total of One Million Packs of Gum to Signers of the Anti-Uwe Boll Petition*PARSIPPANY, N.J., May 7 /PRNewswire/ -- In an effort to protect the childhood dreams of millions of video gamers everywhere, the makers of Stride gum announced today that they are launching a special campaign supporting the efforts of StopUweBoll.org in their attempt to convince famed film director Uwe Boll to stop making video game-based films.
For years, Boll has piqued the ire of the gaming community by adapting many of their favorite games into universally panned films (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/uwe_boll/). On April 4, 2008, Boll remarked to legendary horror site FearNet that he'd consider acquiescing to his critics and abandoning making films in this genre if an online petition reached one million signatures. As of press time, the petition is just about 234,000 names, which is why Stride has decided to jump in.
"Since gamers are one of our most supportive groups, we have been looking for ways to return the favor," said Gary Osifchin, Stride North American Marketing Director. "And what better way is there to get gamers' backs than by helping them rescue their cherished videogames from the clutches of Uwe Boll?"
In an effort to help boost signings, the makers of Stride have put out a special bounty. If the petition reaches the required 1 million signatures by May 14 at 5pm EDT, each signer will receive a digital coupon* for a pack of gum, downloadable on May 23, 2008, a day that could really use some long-lasting refreshment, particularly as it will see the debut of his latest videogame-based film.
"Look, it's nothing personal against the guy. Maybe his non videogame-based films are unbelievable! But we have seen such intense passion for this cause that we couldn't help but get involved," said Osifchin. "Let the signing continue."
- Stride will provide a downloadable coupon (good for one pack of gum) to each petition signer that will be downloadable on May 23, 2008, if the target of one million signatures is reached between May 7 and 14, 2008. Additional details will be forthcoming.
Asterick
Posted to Video Games on 7 May 2008
· Comments (11)
Other stuff like this: gum, marketing at his expense, million signatures, petition, stride, uwe boll
It is NOT funny or amusing to crush someone else's dreams - even if they are Uwe Boll's.
As gays we should KNOW this instinctively.
So Boll makes average / below average movies, but to laugh at some pointless petition that is, in essence, trying to stifle his creative dreams. That's just wrong.
It might be a joke and it might be cool to jump on the bandwagon, but it's really not funny.
Boll might be a bit crazy, but who has the right to stop him making movies? That's, in essence, the worst kind of censorship. Who are we to tell anyone else how to live their lives.
If you don't like Boll's movies, then just ignore them.
Maybe this is an extreme issue, but this kind of intolerance is something homosexuals should know only too well and finding it funny, well, that's just sad.
I disagree, I think it's 6/10 on the amusing scale.
Don't make this into an OMGGAYSHAVEBEENTHROUGHTHISTOO issue, when really it isn't anything like that.
One group gets stoned to death in Iran, persecuted and hated on for thousands of years, the other makes shite films and is a twat.
Yeah, I totally see the similarities.
Those gays will want the vote soon.
Umm I want to stop him making movies so he cant scam money out of the German government anymore.
He is taking that money for retarded reasons that could be put to ALOT better use then shitty Game-to-Movie Films.
For me it has nothing to do with dreams it has to do with a jackass exploiting a system.
He doesnt try to make good movies, he's said that before. He is just exploting money again and again wherever he can.
Hey, he agreed to the petition, it's his own fault. Besides, as a gay person I know it to be true that stupid people who do bad things deserve to have their license as a person taken away from them.
For those trying to bend this to find a similarity between homosexuality and game to movie conversions: STOP.
I'm tired of hearing that YET ANOTHER game that I might've liked in the past is being made into a movie that doesn't even make sense, compared to the original plot.
What's next? Duke Nukem Forever: The Movie?
The point is, the public at large would like to see that the money he's going to waste on a movie that is going to end up on DVD a month after it hits theaters NOT be wasted.
If he wants to blow the cash so bad, do something humanitarian with it. Feed the homeless in the USA, help survivors of the latest Great Catastrophe get on their feet in Mukmukistania. SOMETHING useful.
I don't mind if he keeps making movies, I'd just rather he didn't have to drag potentially good video game series renditions down with him. Like... uhhhh... well, I am sure in Ang Lee's hands, Bloodrayne might have been a-ok. If anything, I think the petition should be more for the people who SELL him these rights.
I would normally agree with Karis on the tenants of freedom of speech and all that liberal goodness, but his productions defy normal market forces and causes harm to our subculture.
Boll's creative rights would have more respect if he had a vested interest in the success of his creative works, as any real artist would. Unfortunately, he does not because he gets paid regardless of success or failure.
Normal market forces would have forced him to abandon this career or sacrifice his life for it. However normal market forces haven't done so because of a German tax shelter (which I didn't know until it was mentioned here... I just thought he was really good at selling his films to investors). He has found continued funding because his backers face little to no risk:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_41/b3954085.htm
So, the result is that these unprofitable movies create profit for the people who make them--a perversion of psuedo-Darwinian capitalism. Is that so bad? Yes, tax shelters are "paid" by someone.
Fortunately, apparently Boll can no longer make big budget films because the government teat he has been sucking on has dried up:
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=40961
So what's the harm now? For every movie adaptation of a video game that Boll makes, it adds to general aversion of Hollywood exec's to making movies of this fledgling genre. Unless you're a gamer that is adamantly resistant to making gaming even more mainstream, then you know the harm that Boll is doing.
And just as pet owners were outraged and lobbied the government into action when it came out that pet food was tainted and making our pets sick, gamers and movie aficionados will mobilize to stop Mr. Boll from making more movies.
All right, I can go one more about the collective psychological need to punish rule breakers and making the argument that subcultures, like gamers, are social organisms, but I'm going to step off my soap box and return you all to your regularly scheduled program, all ready in progress.
Hi guys. What - exactly - is wrong with the whole whole Germany money thing? If it was anyone else or any other country the internet would be proclaiming it a great thing that the Tax system works in this way, but it's just another method of attacking Boll.
He doesn't do that any more (as the Tax law has changed) and makes his movies from investor funding. He got the 60 million for Dungeon Siege that way and not from 'corrupt Nazi gold' - which was a joke he himself propogated.
I do personally know Boll and I do think he's gone off the rails a bit lately (with the Michael Bay fight), but all this publicity is doing one thing: it's pushed the sales of his DVDs through the roof.
Which, I guess, means the last laugh is with Boll, as his movies generally bomb at the box office, but do well on video.
In closing, I'll say it one final time: regardless of sexuality, asking for Boll to stop making movies is cruel and thoughtless. We should be more tolerant. Or we should at least form our own opinions instead of leaping on the internet bandwagon.
There's room enough for everyone in the world, even bad movie makers.
Have the decency to stand by what you said in your first post.
Why did you intrinsically link it to the gay fight in one post then dismiss it in the next?
I just want to know your reasoning as to why it's similar to the gay struggle to be allowed to exist in equal terms.
It isn't free speech related, it isn't free actions related it isn't liberty at stake, there are no laws, there is no ism, I just want to know your reasoning as to why yo feel it's similar, and why we as gays must defend this guys rights to make terrible films.
It really doesn't matter if the petition reaches a million signatures or not, I doubt Boll will stop making movies, but hey, we can then call him a liar as well as a bad video game movie maker if that ever does come to pass.