Despite a dedicated fanbase of the wildly popular video game series, the film adaptation “Borderlands” is in a perilous position to crash and burn at the box office. The action comedy with a star-studded cast had a rough start after raking in less than 1% of the production budget from Thursday night previews.
The feature film, is based on a wildly popular video game and directed by Eli Roth. The studio Lionsgate had been working on the film for years. The action comedy was plagued with several delays before hitting theaters on August 9, 2024. However, despite fan anticipation, early projections suggested the Borderlands is up for a bumpy ride at the box office.
According to Deadline’s early box office numbers, Borderlands only earned about $1.32 million in its Thursday previews, which is less than a per cent of its estimated $100 million budget. Furthermore, after the abysmal start, Borderlands is now on track to earn between $10M and $18M at the domestic box office in the opening weekend.
This does not bode well for the film, which has an A-list cast that includes Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Oscar-winner Jamie Lee Curtis. Borderlands needs to make at least $200-300 million to be considered a box office success, at least doubling its staggering $100M production budget.
Borderlands garnered some of the worst reviews this year for a big-budget film, including Madame Web. Borderlands debuted at a 0% ranking on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, which has picked up since its theatrical release.
The film now stands at 9%, with the New York Post SLamming the film, saying,” There’s hardly any character development or dramatic peaks and valleys in “Borderlands” to hold the viewer’s interest, even for such a brief runtime.”
Meanwhile, Madame Web, which debuted with a 13% score, also recorded low opening numbers at the box office. Sony’s Spider-Man-based movie, with a production budget of $80M, opened with $15 million in its first three days.
At the end of its theatrical run, Madame Web raked in $43.8M domestically and $56.4M overseas for a worldwide cume of $100M.
The future for Lionsgate film looks grim as Borderlands is tracking similar opening weekend numbers as Madame Web.
Note: Box office numbers are based on estimates and various sources. Numbers have not been independently verified by Koimoi.
