Can the ‘Borderlands’ movie break the streak of bad game adaptations?

Film and television are constantly looking for the next big thing. For years they’ve been trying to adapt popular video games into movies, but often with very little success.

The World of Warcraft movie was a flop, a lot of people don’t even know that there’s an Assassin’s Creed movie, and the list of mediocre to downright terrible video game to movie adaptations goes on. (Don’t make us remind you about the Super Mario movie.)

Recently there’s been more success on game adaptations. Most notably, Netflix’s The Witcher series was a serious hit for people who play the games and those who don’t. Although, technically the Netflix series is adapted from the book series. So it doesn’t fully break the streak. We’re currently pinning our hopes and dreams on Borderlands. The game series is very popular – and with good reason. Here’s what we know about the movie adaptation so far.

About Borderlands

The Borderlands games are developed by the company Gearbox (except for Tales from the Borderlands which was created by Telltale Games). The games are FPS games in a dystopian futuristic space western setting. The characters are great and the art style is unique & fun to look at.

If you like story driven first person shooters with bleak humor we wholeheartedly recommend the games if you’ve never tried them before.

Movie development

The Borderlands movie adaptation has been in the works since around 2009, so it’s been quite a while. There have even been new installments of the game since then.

The movie is set to be directed by Eli Roth who has directed other movies such as Cabin Fever, Death Wish, and The House with a Clock in its Walls. The CEO of Gearbox, Randy Pitchford, is also set to be an executive producer to the film which potentially bodes well for the movie to feel like it actually belongs to the same universe as the games.

New casting news

The latest news we’ve received about the Borderlands movie is that they’ve cast Kevin Hart in the role of Roland. Hart likely wasn’t the first person anyone expected to see tapped for this role, but we’re interested to see his take on the character anyway.

Hart is more often known for his wacky comedic roles & standup – something Roland doesn’t quite fit into. The character is a former soldier and is a leader of raiders in Borderlands 2. Overall, this character is a lot more serious than what Kevin Hart usually takes on, though we’re sure there will be time for a little bit of comedy since Borderlands does have a dry wit to it.

Cate Blanchett

Back in May of 2020 we also learned that Cate Blanchett (who has worked with director Eli Roth previously on The House with a Clock in its Walls) has been cast in the role of Lilith.

Blanchett makes a little more sense for her role – we all know she can take on any bad*ss lady character she sets her mind to – and that’s exactly what Lilith is. The character is one of a handful of sirens who possess immense power and is a popular character in the game franchise.

Cautious optimism

So far, the casting for the Borderlands movie has our attention & curiosity. We’re also extraordinarily anxious to see who gets cast as Handsome Jack.

We’re rather fond of the games so we’re holding out hope for a good movie – or perhaps even a series of movies if all goes well. We’d do things to see Rhys in a live action movie, but he likely wouldn’t be brought into the franchise until a later installment. So, we’re going to need a sequel if the first film isn’t complete hot garbage.

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What are you thinking? Are you excited for the Borderlands movie? Who are you wanting to see play Handsome Jack? Let us know in the comments below!