Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
Lionsgate, Gearbox, and Eli Roth’s Borderlands film hit theaters this last weekend, and the result has been disastrous. On top of scathing criticisms leading to one of the worst ratings of all time for a film, Borderlands only earned back a fraction of what it cost to make. While the production budget alone was around $115 million, Borderlands only reached $16.5 at the box office in its opening weekend.
Stats on Borderlands’ box office flop were reported this week via Variety in an article detailing last week’s new release theater sales. According to the stats, Borderlands began with $8.8 million in domestic ticket sales. Unfortunately, the global box office didn’t fare much better. Borderlands scooped up $7.7 million overseas, making for a total of $16.5 million in its opening weekend. Lionsgate and Gearbox allegedly put around $115 million into the production cost of Borderlands, and that doesn’t include another reported $30 million that was said to have gone to marketing and distribution expenses.
Borderlands had a lot of resources behind it. The cast was star-studded, featuring talents like Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Ariana Greenblatt. The film took quite a while to bring together, having been first unveiled in 2020, but one of the only signs of issues came when Eli Roth couldn’t return for reshoots due to scheduling issues, for which Tim Miller stepped up in Roth’s stead. Unfortunately, it seems it wasn’t enough to salvage the film.
Borderlands currently sits at a 9 percent critic rating and 50 percent audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Sometimes these films find new life out of theaters on video and demand, but it will remain to be seen if the Borderlands film has that kind of life in it post-theater release. Stay tuned for more updates.