Quiver Distribution has acquired worldwide rights to Armie Hammer’s controversial comeback film Citizen Vigilante, excluding the UK, German-speaking countries, South Korea and Taiwan.
The distribution company, led by co-presidents Jeff Sackman and Berry Meyerowitz, already holds the North American rights and released the action thriller in North America on June 19th.
The deal came after dramatic intervention by Elon Musk. Musk posted the film on his X account, which has 240 million followers, and made the entire film available for free download for 48 hours from Thursday to Saturday.
The film’s German director, Uwe Boll, said in an interview with Variety on Monday that before Musk submitted the film to X, he contacted the production team behind Boll’s U.S. podcast, Uwe Boll Raw, which he co-hosts with Gary Otto.
“He contacted me on my US podcast, but he didn’t contact me directly, he said something like, ‘I got a message from Elon Musk,'” he explained. “I thought it had to be a parody account…I mean, I didn’t expect him to contact me, but he did.
“But I didn’t really chat with him or talk to him. It was very fast. I don’t know what this guy does every day, but I think his attention span was very fast. So I also felt that if we didn’t agree in some way, he would just move on.” When asked if Musk actually asked for permission to put the film on X, Boll said, “Basically yes.”
Giving away movies for free may have hurt a movie’s earning potential, but it also gave the movie a boost in publicity that an independent distributor like Quiver could never have.
“Of course, there are good and bad sides to X’s post,” Boll said. “The question we have to evaluate is, does it end up bringing in more money or does it cost a lot of money? You know, you get a lot of PR, but you don’t get as much money. So we’re going to figure that out over the next four to six weeks.”
Boll added that given the “political power” the film unleashed, “even though it was only released in the US and Canada at the time, I felt a little bit like, ‘No, we should release this movie to the world, at least for a short period of time.'” He went on to explain that the film received very little reviews, as it had not yet been reviewed in the UK, was rejected for review in Germany, and was unlikely to be reviewed in other regions aside from South Korea and Taiwan. “So, that’s the problem. You think, ‘Why not?’ I’m like, let’s just give it a try.”
In North America, the film is available on iTunes, Amazon, Fandango, and Google Play, and Boll estimates it has grossed about $600,000 to date. His estimated budget is about $2 million, but he still has a ways to go before he can recoup his budget and generate enough money for a sequel to “Citizen Vigilante,” which he hopes to release next year.
“When you make a successful movie, you always hope there’s a second one. It makes sense to send[Hammer’s vigilante Sanders]to England or to America. And we go from there.”
He says he has several ideas for a sequel, but no script yet. When asked if Hammer would return for the sequel, he said, “I think he would be happy to do it.” Variety has reached out to Hammer’s representatives to confirm whether he would reprise the role, but has not yet received a response.
In Variety’s review of Citizen Vigilante, Boll said it was a “violent, incoherent and morally bankrupt depiction of exploitation,” but the writer-director remained unfazed by the damning verdict. “I personally like exploitation movies,” he said, adding that he is a fan of John Carpenter and George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead and Death Wish films. “So I’m not against this kind of film in general, and I don’t think it’s an insult. I’m not trying to be Tarkovsky.”
He claimed that many of the negative reviews came from writers with opposing political positions to his own, adding: “They cannot bear to face political reality.”
But Boll has at least one notable fan within the industry. Screenwriter and director Roger Avary, who won an Oscar with Quentin Tarantino for his screenplay for Pulp Fiction, posted a praising review of the film from the National Conservative Party website on his Bol reposted this, saying, “Roger Avary likes it,” and said in an accompanying video, “Thank you, Roger Avary. You’re not shit like all the others who are shy to speak up.” Avary responded: “‘You’re not a cat’ will be inscribed on my tombstone. Thank you, Uwe!”
