Borderlands Is A Flop After Disastrous Opening Weekend

According to a new report by Variety, the anticipated live-action Borderlands film adaptation earned just $16.5 million globally during its opening weekend.

These earnings fare poorly against the film’s reported budget of $115 million. Variety also mentions that marketing and distribution costs ran another $30 million.

Citing studio sources, Variety mentions that “nearly 60% of production costs for ‘Borderlands’ were covered by international presales.” However, the Borderlands movie still fell behind expectations.

From Lionsgate and director Eli Roth, the film opened August 9, 2024. It performed best domestically, but it still earned a mere $8.8 million from 3,125 theaters.

Borderlands’ poor opening weekend performance follows a series of negative reviews from critics and fans alike. The day before its premiere, its Rotten Tomatoes score among critics sank to a staggering 0 score.

In February 2024, the studios announced plans for a Borderlands cinematic universe. Those plans are likely in serious jeopardy after the first movie fell so far behind expectations at the box office. Some fans and casual viewers still praised the cast, such as Cate Blanchett’s performance.

There are still plenty of video game movie adaptations on the way, based on other IP. Most recently, Story Kitchen announced plans to adapt the history-bending game Kingmakers into a movie. It revealed this movie deal before the source material even confirmed a release date.

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