The miracle did not happen, it was actually a crash landing that was announced – and on the second weekend it got even worse…
Just a few years ago, it was generally said that video game adaptations were cursed. It seemed as though every attempt to adapt popular game titles for the big screen failed. Recently, series such as “The Last of Us”, “Arcane” and most recently “Fallout” have proven that things can be done differently, but in the cinema, video game adaptations remain a mixed bag. This is now also being proven „Borderlands“.
The wonderfully over-the-top video game series has been enjoying great popularity since 2009 and actually seems to be perfect for a humorous adaptation: quirky characters, crude humor, a high level of violence and exciting sci-fi worlds make up the franchise. However, the film adaptation was not well received by fans early on, because although horror expert Eli Roth (“Thanksgiving”) took over the direction, “Borderlands” was actually relaxed in terms of age restrictions in order to make it accessible to a larger audience. The aim was apparently to appeal to the masses with stars like Kevin Hart and Cate Blanchett, who were generally considered miscast in their roles by fans.
The first figures from the US box office prove that the supposed calculation backfired. In the USA, “Borderlands” opened on August 9, 2024 (in Germany on August 22), but there was not much demand: Shocking 8.8 million US dollars the film played loudly Box Office Mojo on its first weekend. This meant that it only landed at number 4 in the local box office charts, with half the revenue of “Twisters”, which was already in its third weekend.
On the second weekend, you had to scroll quite a bit in the US box office charts to find “Borderlands”. In the end, it was only enough to Platz 10 – directly behind the Hindi horror comedy “Stree 2”, which was only shown in a fifth of the cinemas compared to the Hollywood film. $2.35 million “Borderlands” earned in its second weekend, which was a Drop of 72.7% a truly significant figure. For comparison: The drama “Just One More Time” with Blake Lively lost only 52% of its sales in week 2, “Trap” lost 48.4% in week 3 (via Box Office Mojo).
The following trailer will tell you whether “Borderlands” might be to your taste:
This is how much money “Borderlands” has to make
A look at the budget of “Borderlands” reveals how bad this flop really is: It is believed that this is around 100 million US dollars (via Screen Rant). Since there are marketing costs to be added and the cinema operators keep a good 50% of the revenue, the film would have to gross 300 million US dollars worldwide just to cover its costs. After such a less than optimal start, that is almost impossible.
Especially since the reactions are unlikely to help: Rotten Tomatoes there is a catastrophic 10% approval from critics. The audience liked the film at least 53%, but since there are currently few reviews from viewers, this number is probably not set in stone. The just 4.3 stars from IMDb suggest that the general public does not have much to gain from “Borderland” either.
This is doubly bitter for fans of the video games. On the one hand, they were given a film adaptation that they obviously don’t like. Since it also flopped, it will probably be several years before someone tries to adapt “Borderlands” again. “Fallout” has just proven that a fun but brutal adaptation can be a huge success. Hopefully Hollywood will at least learn from this that it is not necessarily an advantage to aim for a low age rating; the box office results of “Deadpool & Wolverine” (currently over 1.1 billion US dollars worldwide) is currently proving this as well.
Video game adaptations: Only professionals can pass this quiz with 16 out of 17 points!
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