Borderlands producer Randy Pitchford reveals that the film adaption of the bestselling video game series is more than halfway done filming.
Borderlands producer and Gearbox founder Randy Pitchford provided new updates on the upcoming Lionsgate film. The film adaption of the bestselling video game series with the same name started production in April.
Directed by Cabin Fever’s Eli Roth, Borderlands follows Lilith (Cate Blanchett), an outlaw who attempts to find a missing girl on her home planet of Pandora. The tattooed superhuman joins forces with former elite mercenary Roland (Kevin Hart), pre-teen demolitionist Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), Dr. Patricia Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), and Claptrap (Jack Black). Craig Mazin, who recently wrote HBO’s Emmy Award-winning miniseries Chernobyl, penned the film’s script.
Pitchford, who also serves as an executive producer of the Borderlands video game franchise, revealed that the film is more than halfway done filming. “It’s pretty amazing. So we’re about, we’re more than halfway done with the shooting. We’re about two-thirds of the way done,” said Pitchford during IGN’s Gearbox E3 2021 Showcase Livestream. Pitchford also spoke with Roth, who asserted that Borderlands features the best cast he’s ever worked with. The filmmaker notably worked with Black and Blanchett on the 2018 family comedy The House With a Clock in Its Walls. “I don’t want to say what we’re filming, but it’s lots of blood, lots of guts, it’s totally bonkers but also very Borderlands,” noted Roth, while adding, “We don’t just want to make a great video game adaptation. We want it to be a great sci-fi movie period.”
Created by Gearbox Software, the first-person shooter game was published by 2K Games in 2009. The Borderlands franchise currently consists of four games and has surpassed 66 million units sold worldwide. Borderlands 2 is the most successful game in the series with 24 million copies sold, while the most recent title, 2019’s Borderlands 3, has sold over 11 million units. The franchise, which primarily takes place on the planet Pandora, has received praise for its sense of humor and multiplayer co-op gameplay.
Borderlands is one of several video game movie adaptations in the works. Earlier this year, Simon McQuoid’s Mortal Kombat was released in theatres and on HBO Max. Despite receiving a 55% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes, the martial arts blockbuster has grossed almost $100 million worldwide and is by far the most successful Mortal Kombat film. McQuoid recently teased that the fans will decide if there should be a second Mortal Kombat film or not, although cast member Joe Taslim has stated that he is already contracted for multiple movies.
Meanwhile, Ruben Fleischer’s Uncharted is scheduled to be released in theatres in early 2022. The film is considered a prequel to the Uncharted game series and will center on a younger version of Nathan Drake. The cast includes Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg, Sophia Ali, and Tati Gabrielle. Holland previously teased that the film is a cross between Indiana Jones and James Bond.
Borderlands currently doesn’t have an official premiere date.
Source: IGN
