Credit: LionsgateDoes anyone remember Borderlands? It’s the highly popular video game that was being turned into a new film, with arguably one of the biggest casts. However, the film that stars Kevin Hart and Jack Black appears to be in turmoil.
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Borderlands was first announced in 2015, which excited many fans, as the series has been one of the biggest draws in the video game community. Slowly, we began to hear more details about the film, including horror aficionado Eli Roth was set to direct. That news was followed by the cast filling out.
Kevin Hart was cast as Roland, Jack Black as Claptrap, Cate Blanchett as Dr. Patricia Tannis, Cate Blanchett as Lillith, Gina Gershon as Mad Moxxi, and so many more. All these excellent actors were placed in roles of beloved characters from the video game series, making the anticipation seem far more palpable.
Even stranger is that production began in April 2021, with shooting ending in June 2021. Was three months not enough to nail down the aesthetic and humor the Borderlands film attempted to go for? That could be the case, as additional news was reshoots happened earlier this year without Roth’s involvement. This isn’t the only troubling news for the adaptation.
‘Borderlands‘ Loses Craig Mazin
The #Borderlands film appears to be in trouble
• Writer Craig Mazin has removed his name from the project
• 10 writers have now worked on the script including Sam Levinson
• Reshoots without director Eli Roth happened earlier this year
The film stars Cate Blanchett,… pic.twitter.com/IuYUjqj7V2
— Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) July 11, 2023
In the most recent news highlighting the potential that Borderlands could be canceled, writer Craig Mazin has removed his name from the writer’s credits on the film. While that might not seem like it could be huge news, writers don’t just drop off projects, especially those they have been with from the beginning.
Even more odd is that the above tweet indicates ten writers, including Sam Levinson, have touched the script for this feature. Levinson famously worked on X, Euphoria, and The Idol. Although Levinson joining the fray should be exciting, having ten writers touch one script is never good. Everyone has differing styles and ways to write any story, and adding many voices could make for a messy finished product.
To make matters worse, the Borderlands Twitter page even indicated that it wrapped filming back in June 2021, and the film has not been promoted since. We did receive the above Twitter photo, showcasing the cast in their silhouetted costumes, but that was not coupled with anything else.
Kevin Hart and Jack Black are two of the most involved people on social media, and if Borderlands were set to release, we would have certainly heard about it from them. Sadly, there has been no movement on the film’s release, and Mazin bailing out of credit might signal that the adaptation could be dead.
It was also revealed in January that Eli Roth handed over directorial duties to Tim Miller of Deadpool fame, as Miller would be handling the reshoots. Roth had been called away to work on his Thanksgiving horror movie, which is a film based on a fake trailer shown in the Grindhouse double-feature from Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez.
It sounds odd that Roth would be keen to leave behind a potential blockbuster to work on something more indie. Granted, that is typically Roth’s style, as his horror films have been far more underground. Still, it’s odd he would leave behind Borderlands in its most desperate hour.
This is just speculation, but when a film has been wrapped for two years, and there has been no movement in alerting fans when we might even see a trailer. The Borderlands movie has a style and a cast that could produce a hit film, but it looks like the world might be dealing with a Batgirl situation.
Lionsgate Studios is not generally one to cancel its films, but waiting two years to announce any movement apart from Miller taking over reshoots does not bode well for the film’s potential. One would think that the Borderlands film would also want to capitalize on the wave of successful video game adaptations.
Although it’s not animated like the Super Mario Bros. Movie, there has been success on the live-action front with adaptations like Uncharted. That film took the core idea of the video game but played around with the central story to involve Tom Holland as a much younger Nathan Drake. Despite what critics may have said about it, it made $407 million at the worldwide box office.
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We could easily see the same thing happening with this adaptation if it’s still going to be released. Help us out, Lionsgate.
Do you think Borderlands will ever be released? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!