It’s true: We’re going out of our minds waiting for more info on the upcoming Borderlands film adaptation that’s slated for 2024. A rich post-apocalyptic world that’s inherently cinematic in its design, it’s one of those games that we can’t believe hasn’t made it to the big screen yet.
Though we’ve got, oh, about nine months until the film is finally in front of our eyeballs, IGN got the scoop on how director Eli Roth is approaching this take on Pandora directly from the man himself. In a recent interview ahead of his next film, Thanksgiving, Roth told me just how close the movie will be to the first game, with the film adaptation featuring the same cast of characters.
“There are certain things that we kept very, very close, but I really worked with [Gearbox Software CEO] Randy Pitchford, and he goes, ‘Think of it like Marvel, where the comics are their own canon and the movies are their own canon, and you don't have to be married to it. The games are going to be the games and the movie's, the movie, and if they continue it, great,’ ” the Cabin Fever filmmaker explained.
“So we could use certain things, but I didn't want to have to be too slavish," he continued. "I didn't just want to film the game. We wanted to tell a great story on its own, but of course it's loaded with Easter eggs for the fans. It's a big movie."
He added that it was "crazy making that in COVID," before saying "I'm going to shut up about it because we're not supposed to talk about it until next year.” Fair enough.
Back in January, Roth passed the reins to Deadpool’s Tim Miller to direct two weeks of reshoots while the horror filmmaker moved on to shoot his long-awaited slasher Thanksgiving, which arrives in theaters next week. Deadline reported at the time, though, that it was "amicable handling of the baton" as Roth moved on to work on the other project.
Borderlands boasts a star-studded cast including the likes of Cate Blanchett as Lilith, Kevin Hart as Roland, Jack Black as Claptop, and Jamie Lee Curtis as Dr. Patricia Tannis, as well as other famous faces like Gina Gershon, Ariana Greenblatt, Edgar Ramirez, Bobby Lee, and Cheyenne Jackson. The film is produced by Avi Arad — who was just announced to be producing the Legend Of Zelda live-action film with Nintendo — and Erik Feig.
Lionsgate will be releasing Borderlands in theaters on Aug. 9, 2024 — and stay tuned for our full interview with Eli Roth arriving next week, delving more into Thanksgiving.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
