The Borderlands movie may finally be exiting its development hell. Lionsgate revealed, after debuting the project in 2015, that the film will enter production later this year and will be directed by Eli Roth, who is best known for directing the horror film Hostel.
The Borderlands movie, as stated by Variety, is still being produced by Avi Arad and his son Ari Avad, who have worked on comic book movie franchises like Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, and more. Craig Mazin, whose career spans from films like the last two Hangover movies and HBO’s Chernobyl, has written the last draft of the script. Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford and Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick will also be executive producers on the project. Hopefully, Lionsgate won’t let Pitchford handle any USB sticks.
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There are reasons to be both hesitant and cautiously optimistic for a Borderlands movie. Video game movies aren’t usually good and Borderlands, much like its stereotypical desert setting, has a pretty dry story. It’s there but it’s hard to care about, even if it is constantly screaming at you.
However, video game movies are getting better, as evidenced by the recent Detective Pikachu and Sonic movies. Also, while it is easy to discount a story-heavy Borderlands‘ spin-off, Tales From the Borderlands was easily one of Telltale’s best and most well-received games.
