Okay, so I was curious to see what progress had been made since the last post here of about 360k, and found that the whole petitiononline.com site shut down in 2014, redirecting people to change.org, so the old petition is lost, and searching change.org finds no matching petition (probably for reasons I'll get into below).
As to the whole 'illegality' of this petition ("It infringes on Boll's freedom of speech" "well you're infringing on MY freedom of speech by making/signing this petition" "nuh-uh" "uh-huh"...ad nauseam): he's allowed to do what he wants, and you're allowed to say what you want about that...with the understanding that he's NOT beholden to LISTEN to you, public statements notwithstanding. If you HAD got the one million names, that's cool, but there's nothing saying that his remark wasn't just an offhand joke that he had no intention of following though with.
BUUUUUT, guess what? Looks like all you haters get your wish (but not for reasons you'd hope):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/37787337/uwe-boll-director-of-the-worst-film-ever-says-hes-retiring
Essentially, his target market of Direct-to-DVD movies is drying up with the rise of Netflix, Hulu, and other digital distribution providers, so he's going to stop.
This kind of puts the whole 'I do this because I love cinema' claim of his to be specious; clearly he's showing that he's been doing this to make money.
Also a skeptic might ask "why doesn't he just redirect his efforts for 'Direct-to-Netflix' films (I've seen tons on there that could NOT have EVER had a theatrical release), and then would wonder if he's simply getting older and tiring of doing the same thing for so long...and might wonder if all the wonderful tax incentives and write-offs that the German government were giving his productions have been shut down in these years of economic frugality...but down that way lies tinfoil hats...
So to all those who were genuinely putting hope in an online petition actually DOING SOMETHING to change the actions of a single private entrepreneur, maybe the fact that after FIVE YEARS there was only a little over a THIRD of the signatures required says something about the effectiveness of 'wishing on a star'...
...while all those people who posted here saying "Naw, boy - vote with your MONEY; if you don't want him to make any more crap films, stop paying to see them" turned out to be quite accurate in hindsight, didn't they? Props to all of you, and I'm wondering if any of you have any ideas for lottery numbers... ;)
Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music." - George Carlin
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