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 (via Box 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.
Variety reports 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 for Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford, who was very much posting through the film’s opening weekend flop, but was then able to reveal Borderlands 4 barely two 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 silly after he clowned on it before having to shutter his own game adaptation crowdfunder over a lack of interest.
The good news for Gearbox is that Borderlands 4 is likely to make the studio quite a bit more money than the movie did, and while we’ll have to wait until next year for that to release, it’s likely to improve Randy Pitchford’s mood somewhat.
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