Summary
- The Borderlands film faced delays and uncertainty in its production, with potential for more reshoots and re-edits.
- The film combines post-apocalyptic elements with a Star Wars-like setting and a unique comic book-inspired art style, catering to a niche audience.
- The numerous delays and production issues raise concerns about the film’s coherence and the studio’s faith in its potential success. The fate of the Borderlands IP as a movie franchise hangs in the balance.
How well do video games translate from one medium to another? In the case of the tentatively titled Borderlands film, we’ll have to wait to see … again. We’ll probably find out in August if the producers don’t find another reason to delay it. While we have certainly been bullish on the prospect of video game-to-film adaptations, and audiences have taken well to The Last of Us and the Super Mario film, there still is a lot of trepidation when it comes to the plan to strip mine the PC and console back catalog for unexplored film IP. It’s important to note that Borderlands is far more niche than either of those properties and depends on a particular type of low-brow humor and distinct comic-book-inspired, cel-shaded art style. It’s got personality in spades, but not exactly what you’d call name recognition outside of the gaming community.
Director Eli Roth was enthusiastic back in 2021 when first asked about the prospects of the film’s chances and his approach to getting the looter-shooter to work in theaters. Slowly inching toward a release date since 2015, Borderlands wrapped shooting in 2021 but is stuck in post-production for reasons that the studio has not fully elucidated, leading insiders, and those of us on the outside, to assume the worst.
The action-comedy production has managed to drag on for nearly a decade, accomplishing a rare feat. Just not the kind you want to be part of. Now hitting nine years in the tinkering stage, the film can no longer be said to be troubled or merely on pause as it approaches a scheduled August release. That is if it is not subjected to another round of reshoots with Tim Miller and re-edits.
Borderlands Is Like Mad Max in Space
We have a fairly good grasp of what has transpired concerning the production, but what do we know about the film? A lot less; this is both by design and a general lack of information. Even the writers didn’t seem too sure what the plan was, based on the reshoots and revolving door of script-doctors. But judging from the leaks and the game’s background, it will likely combine elements of the post-apocalyptic genre with the setting and vibe reminiscent of the cantina scene on the planet Tatooine from Star Wars.
However, the first bad omen was when Roth said he was working closely with the video game developer Gearbox, renowned in the gaming sphere for mind-bogglingly-long delays. In a sit down with Deadline in 2021, Roth described the movie as more substantial than any ordinary game adaptation, calling it “my own kind of Star Wars or Fifth Element, something that’s totally bonkers and fun that has the insanity of Mad Max, and a bit of Escape from New York in there.”
Despite all the drama Hollywood experienced from COVID-19, Roth bragged Borderlands never shut down production while every other movie succumbed to delays in 2020-2021. This is important as films that get delayed cost more, and studios take out loans to pay for films. Roth tried to make this as cheap as possible and on time.
From the beginning, it was clear that this was a different kind of film from the other movies Roth has directed, not just in his estimation but going by the level of talent and budget that Lionsgate was securing. Topping the star-crammed cast is Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett as the main character, Lilith. The sci-fi adventure comedy will take place on the faraway planet of Pandora (the game came out the same year as Avatar, so that’s just a coincidence, we assure you), with a smattering of other high-profile actors slated to voice various human and robotic characters, including Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, and comedian Bobby Lee.
An Unclear Vision Only Gets Murkier for Borderlands
Filming for Borderlands was reportedly completed in 2021, but the movie was far from finished. What has taken so long to get the film back on track? Lionsgate has been less than forthcoming with concrete answers. In January 2023, Lionsgate announced that the film had hit the next round of speed bumps as the film needed two weeks of additional footage. If anyone was still confident after Roth bid farewell, the project was subject to another seismic shift; the film was retooled yet again.
Initial rumors of Roth’s firing were proven false, but already some fans were panicking as the film rattled once again in its attempt to cross the finish line, ten writers rumored to have worked on it at some point in the long ordeal. In the film world, this is a terrible indicator of a movie lacking a coherent plan or central driving force.
That two-year pause saw Eli Roth depart, no longer attached to direct the reshoots, moving on to other obligations. Tim Miller filled the director’s chair. Though his sense of humor (directing the Deadpool movies) fits the atmosphere of the goofy Borderlands series, bringing in the guy who made the franchise-ending Terminator: Dark Fate, which was one of the better films in the Terminator franchise according to Rotten Tomatoes, but a massive box office bomb, should not fill anyone with relief.
Reshoots, sometimes referred to as “pick-ups” within the industry, are hardly rare, but when in conjunction with delays, staff changes, and rewrites to the script, it is a big red flag that an idea has fallen victim to the sunk-cost fallacy. When a studio devotes so much press, money, star power, and time to a film, the pressure to get it right only intensifies. So does the scrutiny.
It’s unfair and reflects poorly on the studio and all involved, but it is a natural consequence of the hype machine. The longer a film spins its wheels and the more time a studio spends trying to assure everyone that everything is fine, naturally, the more curious we all get to see what all the trouble was for. Morbid curiosity is irresistible.
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Could Eli Roth’s Borderlands Still Work?
Rewrites and reshoots aren’t necessarily the death knell of a project, but it doesn’t bode well. The Marvels, The Justice League, and The Last Jedi all went through extensive rewrites for various reasons, and the final results are anything but spectacular. The Marvels also required reshoots with a new director filling in to complete the missing and reworked shots, as the disjointed plot was hammered into something more coherent at the last second.
Often undertaken for the sake of maintaining continuity, it’s different for each film. We do not yet know why it occurred with Roth’s Borderlands. We can only hope this turns out better. But the fact is, the studios wouldn’t spend so much money on these if they didn’t think the reshoots were essential. That said, all the focus test groups and reshoots in the world couldn’t save the Aquaman sequel, which looks to be another DCEU box office flop, illustrating the fickle nature of audiences who smell a whiff of desperation. Miscalculations like that keep movie producers awake at night.
Pushing back the release for test screenings screams a lack of faith in the material, ability to withstand summer box office competition, or all of the above. Cold feet about dumping so many chips on the roulette table, especially when video-game adaptations have had such a spotty record, is understandable. There’s a pervasive feeling that Lionsgate longs to unload this as soon as possible and take their chances, as every movie seems to be bombing left and right.
Are Video Game Movies Still Cursed?
Video game movies have a terrible history of lackluster adaptations, such as Hitman and Warcraft. Thankfully, things are starting to look better.
If Borderlands succeeds, hats off to Roth and Miller for making a tough endeavor pay off, a true test of their professionalism. They can’t be blamed for lack of effort. If it fails, it shouldn’t come as any surprise in light of the checklist of warning signs we’ve enumerated. Already established in the horror and action genres, Roth and Miller will survive to make more films irrespective of how this film fares, but if it does fail to break even, the Borderlands IP will be dead as a movie franchise, and Claptrap fans will be waiting a long time for a second chance at a live-action movie.
It’s not a big deal for movie studios who are used to absorbing hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, but it’s a different story for video game companies looking to pitch their games as the next summer blockbuster and get a cut of Marvel-level money. Borderlands is currently scheduled to hit theaters on Aug. 9, 2024, though a delay wouldn’t be surprising.
