The Borderlands movie has ended its ill-fated run at theaters having made just $31 million.
The Eli Roth-directed action flick is a live-action adaptation of Gearbox’s phenomenally popular looter shooter video game series, and stars the likes of Cate Blanchett as Lilith, Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina, Gina Gershon as Mad Moxxi, Jamie Lee Curtis as Dr. Patricia Tannis, Kevin Hart as Roland, and Jack Black as Claptrap.
Despite its star-studded cast, Borderlands crashed and burned at the box office off the back of negative reviews and poor fan reception. IGN’s Borderlands review returned a 3/10. We said: “Borderlands is a catastrophic disappointment that plays like hacked-to-pieces studio slop, betraying everything fans adore about Gearbox Software’s franchise in derivative, regrettable fashion.”
According to The Numbers, Borderlands’ last day in cinemas was September 5, and as of that date, it had made a paltry $31 million at the worldwide box office, with $15.4 million in the U.S. and $15.4 million internationally.
Variety has reported that Borderlands had a production budget of $115 million, with marketing and distribution costs at $30 million. That means Lionsgate has made a loss over at least $115 million on the movie. Indeed, Borderlands was such a disaster that its digital release came less than a month after it premiered in theaters.
Lionsgate revealed plans to bring Borderlands to theaters all the way back in 2015. What followed was a nine-year development cycle that saw the project slowly accumulating A-list talent that confused core fans of the video games. While big names had players intrigued, many questioned whether some of the casting choices lined up with the characters each actor would be playing. Those concerns grew when fans got a glimpse of a suited-up cast and learned that writer Craig Mazin’s name was removed from the film’s credits.
The Borderlands movie then went on to open to less-than-positive reviews from critics. Reception was so disappointing that Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick felt compelled to ask fans to “give the film a chance.” Clearly, few did.
The franchise’s future in film remains unclear, but we do know its gaming story will eventually continue with Borderlands 4, which has received a much warmer reception.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/disastrous-borderlands-movie-ends-its-theater-run-with-just-31-million