The Borderlands movie limps out of theaters with a reported $115 million loss after a run of just $30 million

Sep. 12, 2024

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The Borderlands movie has finally limped out of theaters, culminating in total box office takings that barely covered its marketing costs.

Borderlands spent a month in cinemas, where its box office takings (viaBox Office Mojo) eventually creeped up to around $31 million after a disappointing opening weekend that saw the film earn less than $9 million. That fourth week is seven days longer than some expected,after reports that Borderlands would be giving up on theaters after just three weeks, but it’s likely to have barely scratched the surface of the film’s financial black hole.

Varietyreports that Borderlands had a production budget of $115 million, and that distributor Lionsgate added an extra $30 million to that figure in marketing and distribution costs. That means that Borderlands just barely made back its advertising spend, suggesting that its entire box office run amounted to an astounding $114 million loss against its $145 million budget. Suffice to say we’re not likely to see a second Borderlands movie.

That’s made for a dizzying summer forGearbox CEO Randy Pitchford, who was very much posting through the film’s opening weekend flop, but was then able to revealBorderlands 4barelytwo weeks later in what’s been called his ultimate “big brain move.” There was even some (sort of) good news about the movie itself,which spent a few hours as ‘not the worst-reviewed film of the summer’when The Crow came out. It even made director Uwe Boll look very sillyafter he clowned on it before having to shutter his own game adaptation crowdfunder over a lack of interest.

As the Borderlands movie slides into oblivion and Risk of Rain 2’s new DLC burns, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford compares himself to The Beatles, who he says only “had a 25% hit rate.”

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I’m GamesRadar’s news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I’ve run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam’s latest indie hit.

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