Borderlands Movie Digital Release Date Announced Less Than a Month After It Hit Theaters
The Borderlands movie has set a digital release date of August 30, 2024, less than one month after it premiered in theaters. Viewers who opted out of the theater experience can purchase the film for $24.99 and rent for a 48-hour period for $19.99 on platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, and Fandango at Home.
The Borderlands movie has set a digital release date of August 30, 2024, less than one month after it premiered in theaters.
Lionsgate announced the premium video and on-demand release plans today, revealing plans to bring the video game-to-movie adaptation to homes three weeks after its August 9 release. It’s a quick turnaround for the Borderlands movie, which features prominent Hollywood faces like Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Jamie Lee Curtis, Florian Munteanu, and Ariana Greenblatt.
Viewers who opted out of the theater experience can purchase the film for $24.99 and rent for a 48-hour period for $19.99 on platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, and Fandango at Home. Physical copies are also available to preorder at Amazon, in steelbook and standard editions.
Lionsgate revealed plans to bring Borderlands to theaters all the way back in 2015. What followed was a nine-year development cycle that saw the project slowly accumulating A-list talent that both confused and excited fans of the video game series created by Gearbox Software. While big names had players intrigued, many questioned whether some of the casting choices lined up with the characters each actor would be playing. Those concerns grew when fans got a glimpse of a suited-up cast and when they learned that writer Craig Mazin’s name was removed from the film’s credits.
The Borderlands movie then went on to open to less-than-positive reviews from critics. Reception was so disappointing that Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick felt compelled to ask fans to “give the film a chance.” Despite the team’s efforts, Borderlands opened to a global total of $16.5 million, accounting for only a small portion of its $115 million budget and $30 million marketing and distribution costs. According to Box Office Mojo, its worldwide total now stands at $24,259,061 ahead of its launch on digital platforms this Friday.
While fans and newcomers both walked away from the Borderlands movie unimpressed, we also weren’t the biggest fans of how director Eli Roth chose to bring the world of Pandora to the big screen. In our 3/10 review, we called the film “a catastrophic disappointment that plays like hacked-to-pieces studio slop, betraying everything fans adore about Gearbox Software’s franchise in derivative, regrettable fashion.”
The franchise’s future in film remains unclear, but we do know that its gaming story will eventually continue with Borderlands 4, which has received a much warmer reception.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.
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