“On Borderlands, nearly everything that could go wrong did go wrong: it sat on the shelf for “On Borderlands, nearly everything that could go wrong did go wrong: it sat on the shelf for too long during the pandemic, and reshoots and rising interest rates took it outside the safety zone of our usual strict financial models,” Feltheimer said. With a budget of around $120 million, Borderlands stands to lose the studio a lot of money. Although Lionsgate did mitigate some of the risks by selling foreign rights, sources told Deadline that Borderlands could still lose as much as $30 million. “The success of our financial models doesn’t take the place of also getting the creative right,” Feltheimer added long during the pandemic, and reshoots and rising interest rates took it outside the safety zone of our usual strict financial models,” Feltheimer said. With a budget of around $120 million, Borderlands stands to lose the studio a lot of money. Although Lionsgate did mitigate some of the risks by selling foreign rights, sources told Deadline that Borderlands could still lose as much as $30 million. “The success of our financial models doesn’t take the place of also getting the creative right,” Feltheimer added
As a gamer, I can say for certain that most gamers were not looking for a Borderlands game to be made. There are SO many better games that could have a movie made out of them. An RPG stuck on rails is not going to surprise or delight anybody.
That quote is very mangled.
“Accountant uses numbers to explain why creative work was bad”
I think it would be much more interesting to hear from the writers/directors/actors on why it was bad.
Whenever they say “the studio mitigated it’s losses”, that just means they sold the rights to others who then lost money because the movie bombed, it’s not like the studio conjured it out of thin air, and all the foreign rights deals are with partner companies the studio will be looking to sell other rights to other movies to in the future, won’t those rights partners look for a discount after taking the rights to failures and finding them less than worthless, lots of moving parts
Movies based on video games are a tricky proposition and are usually hit or miss with audiences. You may have a built-in crowd with those familiar with the game, but the you’re introducing yourself to everyone else.
Next, you have to tell a story that makes sense and works within the allotted time.
Direction is important. If it’s a tech-heavy project, you need someone that can handle action, effects, and stunts.
Ideally you cast those who not only can act, but are also believable in their roles.
Unfortunately this movie falters on all the above. The story doesn’t quite work. The actors are miscast. There’s multiple directors on this one, as there were reshoots years later.
Reshoots are not necessarily a bad thing, as you can go in and fix issues. It’s unclear what was changed and if it was for the better. There are some bad scenes.
Borderlands is a movie where you possibly question how it got made at all. It’s a bit of a mess.
The casting killed it before anything else could.
