Why it matters: The Borderlands movie reminded us that while feature films based on video games have come a long way since the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie, they can still be about as enjoyable as nailing one's feet to the floor. Take-Two, owner of series developer Gearbox, has admitted that the Cate Blanchett-starring movie was "disappointing," but claims it has caused an uptick in sales of the games.
Confidence in the Borderlands movie was far from high when its first trailer arrived in February 2024, with many questioning the casting choices and whether Eli Roth, best known for grindhouse and horror flicks such as Hostel, Cabin Fever, Planet Terror, and The Green Inferno, was the best choice to helm a light-hearted action-comedy with a PG-13 rating.
Unsurprisingly, the Borderlands movie arrived to scathing reviews from critics and viewers alike. It opened to a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which has since risen to 10%, got a digital release just three weeks after arriving in theaters, and grossed a mere $33 million worldwide. Considering it cost $115 million to make and had marketing and distribution costs of $30 million, that's a loss of around $112 million.
The 15 highest-grossing movies based on video games
| Rank | Title | Worldwide Gross | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Super Mario Bros. Movie | $1,360,000,000 | 2023 |
| 2 | Warcraft | $439,000,000 | 2016 |
| 3 | Pokémon Detective Pikachu | $433,000,000 | 2019 |
| 4 | Rampage | $428,000,000 | 2018 |
| 5 | Sonic the Hedgehog 2 | $405,000,000 | 2022 |
| 6 | Uncharted | $401,000,000 | 2022 |
| 7 | Sonic the Hedgehog | $319,000,000 | 2020 |
| 8 | The Angry Birds Movie | $352,000,000 | 2016 |
| 9 | Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | $336,000,000 | 2010 |
| 10 | Resident Evil: The Final Chapter | $314,000,000 | 2016 |
| 11 | Resident Evil: Afterlife | $300,000,000 | 2010 |
| 12 | Lara Croft: Tomb Raider | $274,000,000 | 2001 |
| 13 | Pokémon: The First Movie | $172,000,000 | 1998 |
| 14 | Assassin's Creed | $240,000,000 | 2016 |
| 15 | Monster Hunter | $44,000,000 | 2020 |
During Take-Two's quarterly earnings call yesterday (via VGC), CEO Strauss Zelnick was asked to break down the contribution from the film and whether its release benefitted the company's game sales. He was also asked if Take-Two planned to license more of its IPs for film and TV adaptations.
"With regard to Borderlands, we don't really need to break out the contribution from the film, because while it was economically positive, it wasn't material to our results," Zelnick responded. "Even though the film was disappointing, it actually benefited our catalogue sales, so that is a sign that making a movie or a television show based on our very high-quality IP can drive catalogue sales, and that can be a good thing."
Zelnick added that Take-Two was "really selective" about licensing its IPs, and while it would prefer that everything that came out that was part of its brand was successful, it couldn't guarantee that would be the case, especially when it's out of the company's hands. "So, we have licensed other titles, we will continue selectively to do so."
"We all make choices, but in the end our choices make us."
– Netflix Geeked (@NetflixGeeked) February 15, 2022
Netflix + BioShock. Would you kindly stay tuned? pic.twitter.com/Ke1oJQileX
Take-Two's next IP adaptation will likely be Netflix's live-action movie version of BioShock. It's being directed by Francis Law Lawrence, who was behind the camera for The Hunger Games series, I Am Legend, and Constantine. That sounds promising, but producer Roy Lee recently admitted that the film's budget had been cut by Netflix, meaning it would be "a more personal point of view, as opposed to a grander, big project."