Borderlands Flop Addressed by Lionsgate: ‘Nearly Everything That Could Go Wrong Did Go Wrong’

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Borderlands Flop Addressed by Lionsgate: ‘Nearly Everything That Could Go Wrong Did Go Wrong’

Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer has addressed Borderlands‘ recent box office flop.

Borderlands was released in United States theaters in August 2024. Directed by Eli Roth, the feature film adaptation of the popular video game only made around $33 million at the global box office off an estimated $110-120 million budget. It also recieved negative reviews from many fans and critics.

Speaking to analysts after Lionsgate released its second quarter finanical results on Thursday, November 7, 2024, per The Hollywood Reporter, Feltheimer reflected on how pretty much everything went wrong with Borderland’s release.

What did Lionsgate’s CEO say about Borderlands?

“Nearly everything that could go wrong did go wrong: it sat on the shelf for too long during the pandemic, and reshoots and rising interest rates took it outside the safety zone of our usual strict financial models,” Feltheimer said. “Several of our other releases in the quarter, though cushioned by financial models that worked as intended, didn’t live up to either our standards or our projections.”

It was officially announced that Roth had signed on to direct the Borderlands movie in February 2020; however, production didn’t begin until April 2021 in Budapest, Hungary, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In January 2023, it was announced that two weeks of reshoots were needed for Borderlands. Roth was busy working on 2023’s Thanksgiving at the time, as Deadpool and Terminator: Dark Fate’s Tim Miller handled them instead. Craig Mazin was originally attached as a writer on the movie, though he removed his name from the project in June 2023.

Borderlands stars Cate Blanchett as Lilith, Kevin Hart as Roland Greaves, Edgar Ramírez as Deukalian Atlas, Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina, Florian Munteanu as Krieg, Gina Gershon as Mad Moxxi, Jamie Lee Curtis as Patricia Tannis, and Jack Black as the voice of Claptrap.

Borderlands is now available to rent or purchase on digital platforms such as Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, and more.