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‘Borderlands’ Bombs With $8.8 Million Weekend, A Fourth Place Debut

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2024/08/11/borderlands-bombs-with-88-million-weekend-a-fourth-place-debut/

The Borderlands movie tried to split the difference between a PG-13 rating and original story appealing to a more general audience. But they were not interested

The Borderlands movie tried to split the difference between a PG-13 rating and original story appealing to a more general audience. But they were not interested

59 comments

restingboredface

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If they wanted to make this movie a success they should have had ONE PERSON from the writing, directing and (most importantly) casting team sit down and play the games.

Fredselfish

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And funny fucking Deadpool is kicking its ass with an R rated movie. When these assholes going to learn. Mostly adults go to movies and we are fucking adults we don't want pg13 bullshit. If I am going go to a 30 dollar movie better be damn good. Save your piss ass movies for direct to streaming. I'm sure Netflix or someone would of gave them 10 million for exclusive rights. That made them extra 2 million not counting all the marketing and cost of distribution.

MotoAsh

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I'd argue it's not the rating but the writing.

Sure, it's easier to write a good story when only the overtly "gross" is off limits, but there are plenty of great stories where all the horror of its setting or events are only implied. It's all about how the story is told.

Hollywood does have a very full history of dumbing things down to the point of boredom even outaide of ratings, so I'm not surprised what so ever that this movie flopped.

It would've either took excellent writing exploring the story the games present further than the games ever did, or an R rating so the spectacle could be, "Mad Max with scifi".

Hollywood had no chance of either with a pg-13, though that's because bean counters HATE paying for good story tellers.

Toribor

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I usually try to remind people that The Dark Knight is PG-13 and it's arguably a pretty great action movie that doesn't feel like the violence is toned down.

I mean the Joker stabs a guy in the skull with a pencil. It's fast and brutal but it doesn't need a lot of blood or gore to sell the moment.

aasatru

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I guess PG-13 here means that creative control was taken by a board of suits, as its unlikely a fan of the games would have voluntarily opted for PG-13. So in that sense it's a red flag, even though I agree the ranking itself is not the problem.

WarlordSdocy

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It probably comes from an attitude that video games are for kids so they can't make the movie R or it won't capture the video game audience. They don't realize that especially for games like this the audience is primarily adults and maybe teenagers.

Illuminostro

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Damn right! They should have let Snyder direct it. He would've made all the dudes all hot, and buff, and sexy. And lots of slo-mo shots of their asses. And none of that Woke Pussy shit. I'll be in my bunk.

angrystego

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There are many people with kids who might be greatful for a decent pg13 movie. But this is not it. Also I think you're right that they didn't assess the target group correctly.

delirious_owl

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$30?!?

Fredselfish

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Yeah at least for two people.

Asafum

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Moneyschmucks: We got the IP! That's literally all that matters! Fuckos will eat this up because of the name! Brands! Oh my brands! The textbook says everyone blindly follows the brand!

... These people are the disease affecting all "major" media. Video games or otherwise. It's why indie devs are making way better games than the "AAA" Arrogant Abusive Asshole dev corporations.

Gerudo

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The second I saw Kevin Hart, I was done. I'm just not a fan.

TheRealKuni

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I don’t dislike Kevin Hart when he’s appropriate for the role. But Roland is not a role that Kevin Hart should play. Unless he was going to perform differently than every other role I’ve seen him in, he’s not the right fit.

potustheplant

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He would also have to grow like >20cm and get a lot more muscular.

BigPotato

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He did perform it differently and it lacks everything that makes Kevin Hart a decent watch.

But, honestly, not the worst part of the movie.

TheBest

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What WAS to you?

BigPotato

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Imagine a neapolitan ice cream. You've got three flavors, strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate. So you dig in and find out that it's dyed shit. Pink shit, white shit, and... Brown shit. It's all shit, right?

Kidding, the script and directing was the worst. Each individual actor could not be the worst because the writing and directing were all of them. All three flavors of shit.

BleatingZombie

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I'm at least happy it wasn't the rock

zipzoopaboop

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He would be a better Roland than Kevin

DragonTypeWyvern

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Man, no. They cut out Brick and Mordecai! The Rock was born to play Brick! You mostly just yell angrily and be big!

BleatingZombie

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I just can't stand him

BruceTwarzen

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No fuck that cunt.

RonnyZittledong

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It was obvious from the casting and trailer that they were more interested in ticking boxes than actually making a good movie

frickineh

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I was talking to my mom about that last night. She's never played the games, but I showed her a couple of pictures of Roland and Lilith and then told her who they cast and even she said, "what the fuck?" Kevin Hart is terrible in pretty much everything, but casting him as Roland made it immediately clear that no one involved in this movie cared at all about the games. And I love Cate Blanchett but she's also about 20 years too old to play Lilith.

I just can't figure out why they thought anyone who didn't love the games would care about the movie, but that seemed to be the audience they tried to attract.

aasatru

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It's also just sad. Roles like these could mean a lot to actors in earlier stages of their career, who might actually fit the roles they are supposed to be playing. Instead it ends up being an embarrassing footnote in the careers of established Hollywood millionaires because the soulless producers wanted to create a cash grab.

I'm happy I don't care about this IP. It must suck for those who do.

taiyang

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I mean, I like the IP but it was clear from the get go it was going to be a typical video game movie. The IP was at it's best with BL2, though. I don't think anyone expected it to be any good.

AlexWIWA

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The costumes and lighting make it look like a bad YouTube fan parody too.

Kyle_The_G

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a movie for everyone is a movie for no one. tell a story and don't apologize.

aasatru

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Except Forrest Gump of course. But I this was never going to be Forrest Gump.

ApollosArrow

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I don’t know how people running these projects aren’t ever fired. It’s an endless dance of lemons.

Angry_Autist

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Wait till you hear how much of hollywood runs on nepotism and backroom favors. There are shit directors pumping out tons of movies and living the high life because they have a list of kids their co-workers have abused.

ApollosArrow

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Which is very unfortunate. It’s not too disimilar from CEOs that jump from company to company with the intent of tanking the place, getting their paycheck and then rinse and repeating.

frankgrimeszz

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They shouldn’t wait for 10+ years to do a movie based on a game.

Dunstabzugshaubitze

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and maybe don't butcher every shot of the movie thats based on a franchise known for somewhat krass humour and mowing through countless hordes of enemies by trying to make it pg-13.

frankgrimeszz

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Imagine a pg13 GTA movie.

normanwall

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Pg13 Doom movie

I also just learnt that there was a Doom movie in 2005 starring The Rock?!

frankgrimeszz

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https://youtu.be/KmN1Xk1SdwQ Thought this scene was neat.

I also liked the end credits, which was a CG tribute to the actual game DooM 3. It was cool. I think that part was outsourced. https://youtu.be/-YOscEArFkE

I just realised they had a NIN song for that. NIN contributed music to Quake as an add-on.

MagnyusG

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the first person part was pretty cool for its time.

Klear

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The nailgun crates even have NIN on them.

shalafi

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Can't say I loved it, but I've watched it many times. Doom guy from the git go, so maybe I'm being extra forgiving.

My only complaint, maybe huge, maybe petty, was making the monsters from freaky DNA experiments rather than literal demons from Hell.

You got mythical demons, you got magic, you got skeletons with shoulder-mounted rocket launchers, obese guys with chaingun arms, flying babies with hornet tails, imps popping up everywhere, all the fun stuff.

Now the bestiary is limited and they have to make a pass at explaining who got changed into what. Instead, we could have had demonic hordes piling out of the portal.

But hey, at least we got a first-person shooter scene vs. a Death Knight. That's worth the price of admission!

systemglitch

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It's a great movie, Ive seen it at least ten times.

Asafum

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I'd love to see Disney/Pixar do a PG Manhunt movie.

PlasticExistence

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Coming soon to Disney+ ~~Manhunt~~ Hide & Seekers! Rated PG

Stovetop

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I don't think that's the problem, though. It was just made by people who clearly don't give a shit and were just trying to cash in on the fact that there are actually some not terrible movie and TV show adaptations of games being made lately.

The Last of Us came out 11 years ago and became a critically-acclaimed TV show. And Sonic and Mario are ancient by video game standards yet made some good movies. Those IPs are still getting new installments which keep them relevant, but so is Borderlands, with Borderlands 3 only turning 5 next month.

But I think the other part of it too, is that Borderlands basically stopped being relevant years ago. It's built on some "you had to be there" Millennial humor that people don't really find funny or original anymore. It's a series that peaked in high school and thought it was too cool to care about long-term goals. When it turns into a movie and tries to stand on story alone, without the unique art style or passable gunplay that serve as the games' few remaining charms, what substance is there?

CaptPretentious

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For borderlands though I'd say it was at its peak popularity with borderlands 2. None of the games after that really made a mark. And the characters are using is directly lifted from that game. And the gameplay loop is basically just a looter shooter with humor. Any serviceable story. In the very least handsome Jack was done well. Using this much of borderlands 2, would have been better when borderlands 2 was still a bigger game. Or just putting in a borderlands setting but with all new characters. And I still need better casting and better writing.

Sonic has been around forever, has had numerous games, TV shows, various other media (toys, shirts, etc.). And the movie used some elements from the games but then hard code itself to the game.

And last of us, is a heavily story-based game. The story that pulls elements that have existed and pop culture for a long time. I mean to be blunt it's just another zombie story.

Annoyed_Crabby

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It's not even timing issue, they can't even tell the story faithfully or have accurate detail. Reading the plot makes me scratch my head. Why is Tina's parent someone from Atlas? Why is Krieg even here? Where's Mordecai and Brick? It's a horrible fanfic, that's why it failed.

frankgrimeszz

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Yeah, they seem to put their worst people in charge of these projects. Set up to fail.

p5yk0t1km1r4ge

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No excuse for this bullshit. They blantantly did everything THEY wanted, not what the FANS wanted. Awful cast, awful character portrayels, sterile corporate "rehash" of the story. This ain't it chief. Shame on pritchford for giving this abomination the green light; not surprised he did, though. This is unacceptable, not when we have FALLOUT and LAST OF US kicking as much ass as they are. Fuck you Eli.

stardust

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They made a movie that appeals to nobody which should have been obvious if they had run some test groups of the cast and concept before they burned a bunch of money on it.

wjrii

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So while it's unlikely based on those box office numbers, has anybody actually seen this thing?

jedibob5

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A friend of mine who hasn't played Borderlands went to see it. According to him, it's not even "so bad it's good," it's just flat and boring.

li10

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I saw someone say it’s not the worst movie they’ve ever seen, it’s average to kinda good…

That being said, it seemed as though they wanted to like it, which kinda cemented to me that it’s actually that bad 😂

emax_gomax

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I did, lol. From the trailers it looked so bad it could be good, you know in that awful cheesy way that some movies are. In the end it wasn't that bad. If you strip away the borderlands wrapper it was a decent comedy sci-fi film. Not gonna win any awards but solid 5/10. Really this should've just done it's own thing, to me it just looked like an excuse for the actors to make money and cosplay XD.

solsangraal

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so... no one's buying a thing that no one asked for? odd...

Coskii

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At the point where the actual game devs can't make a decent sequel, how did they think a movie was ever going to work?

I have my gripes about the franchise from the first game onwards.

Minor other thing.. Why make a pg-13 movie of an M (or pegi 18) rated game series? Even the telltale games version isn't 'kid friendly'.

Wahots

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Maybe I'm living under a rock, but I never heard of it, nor saw anyone even discussing it postively or negatively. That's usually a bad sign, lol.

some_designer_dude

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I see “Jack Black” and know enough to save my money. Dude is poison. Seems like a nice guy, but has the comedy stylings of a low rent party clown.

BruceTwarzen

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I remember watching school of rock and thinking: i like jack black. But pretty much everything else i've seen is extremely unfunny. I have no idea why people like him this much. How many good movies was he in? I don't even think school of rock held up well, but i don't want to rewatch it. A lot of people liked when he was on japanese tv shows or commercials, i just see a guy who does everything for a dollar. Which is fine, but not something likable.

arefx

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For real and he threw Kyle Gass under the bus when you know damn well he agreed with what was said.

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