Borderlands boss feels "vindicated" by the success of other video game adaptations: "It’s a candy store for filmmaking"
Jul. 31, 2024Exclusive: Randy Pitchford talks the pressure of creating a successful video game adaptation
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Gearboxfounder and CEO Randy Pitchford didn’t extra feel pressure to create a successful film in light of other big video game adaptations when making Lionsgate’s upcomingBorderlandsmovie – in fact, he felt quite the opposite.
“Sometimes the inspiration for that formula, you can invent it. But if you can’t, if you can trust because it’s already proven to work in another medium, like a video game, well, then the investment and the risks and people’s love and time and energy and talent can all go into something like this,” Pitchford explains. “And it’s unbelievable – it’s a miracle that any movie of this scale gets made, you know, the cost involved. And the amount of talent is just a miracle. And to do that you need to have something that people can have confidence and believe in. And I think that what we’re learning is that there’s a reason why video games are successful and reach people. Not just the gameplay, but the characters and the stories and the universes.”
The pic centers on Lilith (Cate Blanchett), a bounty hunter with a mysterious past, who is tasked with returning to her home planet and locating Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), the daughter of a powerful supervillain named Atlas (Edgar Ramirez). Gearbox released the first Borderlands game, a role-playing first-person looter shooter, in 2009 with the franchise going on to spawn multiple games and garner over $1 billion – making it one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time. In past few years, other successful video game franchises, such asFalloutandThe Last of Us, have become critically acclaimed television shows, paving the way for more studios to greenlight even more adaptations.
“For game for games like Borderlands that have these unbelievable storylines in these universes that are so rich, and so far out from anything you’d get in any other medium, it’s a candy store for filmmaking, and for filmmakers. And so it’s just been a joy to collide the worlds. So I think all the success that we’ve seen with other great adaptations has just been validating and made our process actually easier rather than scary.”
Borderlands hits theaters on August 9. For more, check out the ever-growing list ofupcming video game movies, or check out our other chat withRandy Pitchford about a potential sequel to the upcoming film.
Sign up for the Total Film Newsletter
Bringing all the latest movie news, features, and reviews to your inbox
Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent’s Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will have many post-credit scenes, and fans are already predicting which characters will show up
New trailer for Snow White live-action remake teases a twist to the classic Disney fairy tale as star Rachel Zegler sings an original song
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 first reactions are in, and they’re glowing: “It’s the closest Hollywood has made to a Dragon Ball movie”
