Infamous video game movie director Uwe Boll retires from filmmaking

Notorious German filmmaker Uwe Boll - best known for his oft derided video game movie adaptations like Alone in the Dark, BloodRayne, House of the Dead, Far Cry, Postal, and In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale - is retiring from filmmaking.

As reported by the Toronto Metro, Boll has chosen to retire from the film industry as he was no longer making money from it. In fact, he claims that he was losing capital by financing his movies himself.

"The market is dead," Boll said. "You don't make any money anymore on movies because the DVD and Blu Ray market worldwide has dropped 80 per cent in the last three years. That is the real reason; I just cannot afford to make movies."

"I can't go back to student filmmaking because I have made so many movies in my life, and I can't make cheaper and cheaper movies at my age," he added. "It's a shame. I would be happy to make movies but it is just not financially profitable."

Boll explained that his films made in the last decade were all self-financed and that he only made his video game adaptations to raise the funds for his passion projects.

"I've been using my money since 2005 and if I hadn't made the stupid video game based movies I would never have amalgamated the capital so I could say, 'Let's make the Darfur movie,'" Boll stated. "I don't need a Ferrari, I don't need a yacht. I invested in my own movies and I lost money."

As such, Boll's upcoming film, Rampage: President Down, will be his final directorial effort. He doesn't seem particularly optimistic about its impact, however.

"Rampage 3 will be watched on Netflix, DVD or iTunes or whatever," Boll said of his swan song. "With streaming everywhere there is just a big wave of movies flooding around and you have no impact."

Boll's distinct reputation expanded beyond simply making lousy films. He's also notorious for staunchly defending his artistic merits via trial by combat as Boll actually challenged his worst critics to a boxing match. Most declined the opportunity, but five critics accepted the offer only to have the "Raging Boll" punch their lights out.

He also had some colourful words for folks who didn't back his failed crowdfunding campaign for Rampage 3, the film that would go on to be his final directorial effort.

Back in 2006 we interviewed Boll about his films and reputation. He didn't seem to care for our former deputy editor Ellie Gibson, based on her profession, leading to a bizarrely hostile interview.

It's not all bad news for Boll, as these days he runs a restaurant in Vancouver BC called Bauhaus, which is apparently praised by critics. Yelp users seem to like it too. Glad he finally found his calling.