Uwe Boll is here to stay. So, this is a good thing, right?

Uwe Boll, notorious German b-film director and pugilist (he beat the crap out his fiercest critic), is now a landed immigrant according to Playback Magazine.

Commercially he's been BrightLight Pictures strongest asset, making them one of Canada's most successful production companies (he's made six pictures with them).

Boll is prolific - ten films since 1991, six more in development, plus multiple video games - hugely successful, and rich (he has his own German film fund worth over $40 million). House of the Dead (2003) reportedly made $120 million worldwide (according to his publicist), and despite BloodRayne's (2005) disastrous failure at the box office (3.6 million worldwide gross, $25-million budget), he's been able to deliver what few directors working in this country have ever been able to - a mass audience.

Now that he's here to stay, love him or hate him, Vancouver and Brightlights can only benefit from his success, and if that success creeps back into the Canadian domestic film industry, more young Canadian filmmakers will reap the benefits.

Whether you agree with his film choices, that's a matter of opinion.

[via Playback Magazine] [Edit: Playback Magazine's site is a slug]