Schlock filmmaker Uwe Boll has called on Warner Bros. to rename Dwayne Johnson’s Rampage, claiming the movie infringes on the brand he established with his own film of the same title. Released in 2009, Boll’s Rampage concerns a man building a suit of armor and going on a bloody revenge spree. The director would create two sequels, 2014’s Rampage: Capital Punishment and 2016’s Rampage: President Down. Though Boll has a reputation as the worst director in the world, critics actually gave him some love on Rampage, calling it maybe his only good film.
As anyone can see, Boll’s three Rampage movies have nothing whatsoever in common plot-wise with Dwayne Johnson’s Rampage. Based on the 1980s video game, Johnson’s Rampage is a monster movie about a trio of animals who turn into gigantic, city-destroying mutants. Johnson plays a primatologist who forms a bond with one of the animals before science turns it into a freak. Rampage marks Johnson’s second collaboration with director Brad Peyton, after the two worked together on the smash hit San Andreas.
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Though no one could possibly confuse Johnson’s Rampage with Boll’s Rampage, Boll believes the new film damages his brand. On his website Uwe Boll Raw, the filmmaker claims he will pursue legal action against Warner Bros., the studio behind Johnson’s Rampage. Boll then launches into a rant against the state of modern movies that has to be read to be believed:
We are living now in a world where Independent Movies are dead and the big players only are making all the money. That they then use developed brands and ideas from established series such as my Rampage films in order to make even more money is unfair but typical. The new RAMPAGE movie will shrink my brand and my revenues I can make in the future with my RAMPAGE movies. It also confuses the audience! I want that WARNERS change the title, especially because the new movie has nothing to do with a RAMPAGE and looks more like Jumanji 2 and is one of those typical feelgood, popcorn bulls–t movies that the studios use to brainwash America even more!
Again, Boll’s Rampage bears no resemblance whatsoever to Warners’ Rampage in terms of subject matter. Furthermore, the Warners film is based on a video game that was released in arcades decades before Uwe Boll’s Rampage movie. Nevertheless, Boll has convinced himself that Warners somehow pilfered from his “established brand” and that their movie will somehow take money out of his pocket. As to his charge that a new Rampage movie will confuse audiences? That would only make sense if the general public had any interest in Boll’s films, which they clearly do not. Audiences who head out to see Dwayne Johnson’s Rampage will know exactly what they’re getting: a Dwayne Johnson movie with giant monsters.
Of course, Uwe Boll saying and doing crazy things is nothing new. The filmmaker has long made a habit of whipping up controversy in order to publicize his schlocky movies and himself. Boll’s latest rant looks like one more typical example of Uwe Boll trying to get attention. Boll claimed in 2016 that he had retired from making movies, but it appears he hasn’t retired from being totally nuts.
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Source: Uwe Boll Raw
- Rampage release date: Apr 13, 2018
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