Cinema owners snub filmmaker's 9/11 comedy

By Carl DiOrio

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Controversial German filmmaker Uwe Boll says "political correctness" among the big cinema chains has doomed his new black comedy about the September 11 attacks.

Originally targeted for up to 1,500 cinemas, "Postal" will likely open Friday in just 13-15 venues, with distribution limited to New York, Los Angeles and a half-dozen or so other markets.

"This is for me very disappointing, to be honest," Boll said Wednesday. "They don't like the political content. This is my personal feeling after trying for four or five weeks to get the distributors to book it. It's a ruthless comedy and makes jokes about September 11 and all kinds of stuff, but at the same time I feel like it's my best-received movie so far."

A spokesman for the AMC cinema chain said, "We carefully evaluate the movies that we choose to play in our theatres and elected not to put this film in our theatres because we feel is does not have potential for commercial success in the U.S."

To date, Boll has been identified mostly with horror films, such as the "Bloodrayne" series, disparaged for low production values and high gore content. The Vancouver resident said he was pleased with the audience reaction to "Postal" at screenings at festivals in Toronto, Montreal, San Francisco and elsewhere.

"People were laughing their asses off," said Boll, who will distribute the movie himself. "It works very well for the young male audience. It's a Monty Python kind of comedy, and I think that kind of product is missing right now because of political correctness."

Actual reviews of the film are quite another matter, however, with RottenTomatoes.com listing the film with just 33% positive reviews to date.

Of course, there will be at least one new title opening in wide release this session, a little adventure film titled "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull." The Indy sequel -- which had no problem securing dates with Regal, AMC and other major circuits -- started rolling out across North America after midnight Thursday.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter