As of this writing, Eli Roth’s new action-comedy “Borderlands,” which is based on the popular video game series, has grossed just over $24 million at the box office. That’s a pretty disappointing number, considering that the film cost an estimated $120 million to make. It’s a little early to call it one of the biggest box office bombs of all time, but it’s certainly one of the biggest bombs of the year. Given that it was based on a beloved video game property, the failure of “Borderlands” was especially obvious to a mass audience, fueling a long-standing prejudice against game adaptations. There are very few great movies based on video games, and “Borderlands” is certainly not one of them.
“Borderlands” was poorly received, with a mere 10% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 151 reviews. /Film’s own Bill Brea praised the film’s colorful visuals, and enjoyed watching cast members Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis play dangerous sci-fi warriors, but said “Borderlands” lacked personality and its humor was bland. Carlos Aguilar, Writing for the Los Angeles Timescalled it “a dull mix of generic genre metaphors”, and Brian Tallerico, writing for RogerEbert.com, said, gave it a starHe wrote that the film was “ugly, boring and a truly inept piece of filmmaking, a movie that was mostly shot years ago and should have been shelved for much longer. Maybe forever.”
“Borderlands” will be released on Aug. 9, 2024. Perhaps to hide the fact that the film was released and closed so quickly, anyone will be able to rent or buy “Borderlands” on Aug. 30. That’s just three weeks from its theatrical debut to its home video release. The windows between theaters and streaming have been shrinking for years, but this feels like a rush job.
Three weeks from theaters to streaming for Borderlands
“Borderlands” takes place in the distant future on a planet called Pandora. However, this Pandora is unlike the Edenic Pandora of “Avatar,” filled with trash and filled with damage done by looters. Lilith (Blanchett) is hired to find and bring back Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), the daughter of the wealthy tycoon Deucalion Atlas (Edgar Ramirez). She teams up with an old, scruffy robot named Claptrap (Jack Black), and eventually forms an alliance with rogue soldier Roland (Kevin Hart), Tina’s masked bodyguard Krieg (Florian Munteanu) and jaded scientist Dr. Tannis (Curtis). This group of mismatched people will fight off aliens and look for treasure on Pandora.
According to the press release, “Borderlands” will be available for digital purchase starting August 30 at a price of $24.99. It can also be rented for $19.99 for a 48-hour period. It will be available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, Fandango at Home, “and more.” Note that “Borderlands” is still playing in some theaters.
The production of “Borderlands” was a bit confusing. Eli Roth filmed “Borderlands” in 2021, but the reshoots had to be handed over to “Deadpool” director Tim Miller, as Roth was already working on his next feature film, “Thanksgiving.” New script pages were also written for the reshoots, and the name of the film’s original writer, Craig Mazin, was removed from the credits. After all the reshoots and delays, “Borderlands” didn’t release until this year. “Thanksgiving” released in 2023.
One might want to watch “Borderlands” to find out what all the fuss (or lack thereof) was about. There’s certainly an interesting story behind one of the biggest bombs of the year. At the very least, it’ll be fun for viewers to do their own autopsy.
