Overview
- This week director Eli Roth told Variety that the Borderlands film suffered from studio risk aversion and creative compromises that left it without a clear audience.
- The movie has been widely panned by reviewers and holds roughly a 10% Rotten Tomatoes score while grossing about $33 million worldwide against a reported $115–120 million production budget.
- Roth and reporting say studio executives demanded cuts to secure a PG-13 rating, which reduced the series' trademark violence and irreverent tone and produced a muddled final product.
- Critics described the film as bland and poorly executed despite a high-profile cast that includes Cate Blanchett, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Ariana Greenblatt.
- The failure is now being framed as a cautionary example for video-game adaptations and could make studios more reluctant to greenlight faithful, adult-rated takes on Borderlands and similar properties.