Borderlands Co-Creator Has A Surprising Response To The Movie's Failure

One of the co-creators of the "Borderlands" franchise has weighed in on the failure of the recently-released movie based on the series of beloved video games. The response is certainly a little bit surprising, leaving much to discuss. Randy Pitchford, the CEO of Gearbox Software, the developer behind the games, took to Twitter over the weekend after director Eli Roth's film was met with universally terrible reviews en route to bombing at the box office. Pitchford indirectly shared his thoughts on the matter, in a way.

So what you're saying is: You like what my friends and I do with our Borderlands video games even more than you like what some of the biggest and best cast and crew of film makers on the planet have done. I'm super flattered! We're working extra hard four you on what's next....

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) August 10, 2024

"So what you're saying is: You like what my friends and I do with our Borderlands video games even more than you like what some of the biggest and best cast and crew of film makers on the planet have done. I'm super flattered! We're working extra hard four you on what's next...." Pitchford said on Twitter. 

There's a lot to unpack there, but let's start with the first chunk. Pitchford, who is credited as an executive producer on the movie, is acknowledging the dreadful response to "Borderlands," choosing to interpret that as people loving the games rather than hating the movie. Pitchford is also respectfully acknowledging the movie's stacked cast, which includes Oscar winners Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis, alongside the likes of Kevin Hart and Jack Black. He also, not so subtly, is hinting at the long-rumored "Borderlands 4" video game.

Pitchford has little choice but to try and take it all in stride. The "Borderlands" movie was in development for nearly a decade before Lionsgate finally got it off the ground. Unfortunately, as it exists, the project is a trainwreck. Critics and audiences alike have roundly rejected Roth's interpretation of the treasured source material, resulting in arguably the biggest box office bomb of 2024 thus far.

The film carries a $115 million production budget, which does not account for marketing expenses. It made less than $17 million worldwide on opening weekend. With precisely zero hope of anything resembling positive word of mouth developing in the coming weeks, it's only going to get worse from here. Pitchford previously indicated this film was intended to be "the first of the Borderlands Cinematic Universe."

The series of games from 2K and Gearbox are remarkably well-loved, ranking as one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time. There was plenty of source material for Roth and the writers to work with. It's worth noting that one of the main writers, Craig Mazin ("The Last of Us"), fought to have his name removed from the film. That's never a good sign.

As it exists, the film centers on a bounty hunter named Lilith (Blanchett) who reluctantly returns to her chaotic home planet, Pandora. She's tasked with finding the missing daughter of the powerful Atlas (Edgar Ramírez). Lilith forms an alliance with a ragtag team of outsiders who must battle their way across Pandora to uncover one of the planet's biggest secrets.

One assumes Lionsgate, Roth, and a lot of other folks associated with the production are having a rough go of it right now. Pitchford appears to be doing his best to take it all in stride. Is now the right time to be making such comments publicly? Saying nothing at all would have been the more tactful move, but for better or worse, the executive famously has no filter and historically speaks his mind. For him, tact be damned — this movie's failure can't be ignored, so it'll be interesting to see if Pitchford will be able to somehow spin that into more anticipation for the next game in this series.

"Borderlands" is in theaters now.