Box office Worldwide The 114-minute
director's cut of
Postal premiered at
Montreal's
Fantasia Festival on July 21, 2007. The film made its way along several more United States and European film festivals until finally receiving a
limited release in Germany on October 18. It opened at #27 in the German box office, taking in $79,353 from 48 screens and banked $142,761 in its entire run. In Italy, it ended its box office run after two weeks with $3,980. As of August 31, 2008, it has grossed a total of $146,741 worldwide.
North America Despite Boll's announcement that
Postal would be given a
wide release on October 12, 2007, it was delayed until May 23, 2008. Additionally, on 16 May, theater distributors pulled out of their deal for a wide release of 1,500 screens to a limited release of only four screens. Said Boll of the change, "Theatrical distributors are boycotting
Postal because of its political content. We were prepared to open on 1,500 screens all across America on May 23rd. Any multiplex in the U.S. should have space for us, but they're afraid... We have even tried to buy a few screens in
New York City and
Los Angeles, and they won't let us even rent the theaters! I urge independent exhibitors to contact us and book 'Postal'! Audiences have been expecting the film and I don't think exhibitors should censor what gets played in U.S. theaters." On May 20, the screen count increased to 12 screens. By release, it had grown to 21.
Postal opened one day after
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which led to video promotions from Boll, jokingly claiming that his film would "destroy" the other film at the box office. A number of Internet promos were made featuring Troyer dressed as Indiana Jones, proclaiming
Postal superiority.
Home media Postal received its North American
DVD release on August 26, 2008, in both 102-minute unrated and 100-minute rated versions, as well as a 102-minute unrated
Blu-ray release. Both versions feature the film's trailer, a promotional spot featuring Verne Troyer's
Indiana Jones, a featurette detailing the filming of the Little Germany scene, footage of Boll's infamous
"Raging Boll" boxing matches and an
audio commentary by Boll. Some editions come with the full version of
Postal 2 (
Share the Pain edition) on a bonus disc. The 118-minute
director's cut was released on September 26, 2008, in Germany. It was planned for a North American release on Blu-ray for November 25, 2008, and on DVD for January 6, 2009, however this did not eventuate for another 16 years. The director's cut is cropped from the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio into 2.35:1. On March 12, 2024,
Postal was re-released as a 4K UHD Blu-ray with a bonus Blu-ray disc. The 4k Blu-ray contains just the theatrical cut, while the Blu-ray contains both the theatrical and director's cuts and extensive special features.
Postal has been released in Australia as an 89-minute cut with no special features, bearing an
MA15+ rating.
Critical reception On
Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average score of . The site's critics consensus reads: "An attempt at political satire that lacks any wit or relevance,
Postal is nonetheless one of Uwe Boll's more successful films – for what it's worth." Jeremy Knox of
Film Threat gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and stated, "It's such an insanely fun ride that most of its flaws are forgivable." Peter Hartlaub of the
San Francisco Chronicle gave the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and called it "not only less than horrible, but actually occasionally enjoyable."
Nathan Rabin of
The A.V. Club gave the film 2 out of 5 stars and called it "a provocation first, an insult second, a publicity stunt third, and a film a distant fourth."
Dennis Harvey of
Variety gave the film 2 out of 5 stars and stated, "This anything-goes exercise isn't dull -- one just wishes the outrageousness were more consistently funny."
Maitland McDonagh of
TV Guide gave the film 2 out of 5 stars and stated, "
Postals touches of wit are lost in the flying body parts, gross-out gags, and the full frontal spectacle of Foley's no-longer-private parts."
Michael Harris of
The Globe and Mail gave the film 1 star out of 5 and stated, "What Boll gives us is a boring beating over the head."
Aaron Hillis of
The Village Voice gave the film 1 out of 5 stars, saying that it "manages to be as toothless as [Boll] is tasteless. Poorly framed, tone-deaf, and nonsensical (yet still Boll's best!)" Nathan Lee of
The New York Times gave the film 0.5 out of 5 stars, calling it "infantile, irreverent and boorish to the max," and stating that it "explodes with bad attitude and lousy filmmaking." Elizabeth Weitzman of the
Daily News gave the film 0 out of 5 stars and stated, "Where Boll's movies were once amusingly atrocious,
Postal is so aggressively tasteless and knowingly idiotic, there's just no fun to be had."
Accolades The film was nominated for three
Golden Raspberry Awards:
Worst Supporting Actor (Boll as himself), Worst Supporting Actor (Troyer as himself), and
Worst Director (Boll). The film ended up winning Worst Director.
Postal won two awards at the
Hoboken International Film Festival: Best Director and the festival's top prize, Best of Festival. ==Cancelled sequel==