Based on the shooter series of the same name, the Borderlands film now has an official release date: August 9th, 2024. The action-comedy adaptation wrapped principal shooting in 2021, but it’s been somewhat stuck in post-production limbo ever since with several rounds of reshoots pushing out the release further than expected.
This comes after reports that co-writer Craig Mazin – best known as the showrunner behind HBO’s The Last Of Us and Chornobyl – removed his name from the project in favour of a pseudonym. More recently, Mazin confirmed to Variety that the pen name reports were false and he’s instead “not a credited writer” on Borderlands at all anymore. Mazin is instead focusing on The Last Of Us’ second season.
The Borderlands was mostly directed by Eli Roth, known for his work on the Hostel films and Cabin Fever. Roth was reportedly busy during reshoots, however, so studio Lionsgate enlisted the help of Tim Miller, the director behind Deadpool, to helm the project for a few weeks.
The cast includes Oscar winners Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis, alongside Kevin Hart, Ariana Greenblatt, and Jack Black as Claptrap. The film follows Blanchett’s take on vault hunter Lilith, who returns to Pandora and accepts a mission from Atlas, the powerful arms manufacturer.
I’ve always found the Borderlands main games to be a little grindy and/or grating, but Tales From The Borderland (not the sequel) was a surprise treat in the money-hungry universe. Also Blanchett makes even the sloppiest slop fun to watch, at least, so I’m expecting a few good laughs and maybe a cool action scene or two.
We’ll see whether the Borderlands film looks good, bad, or so bad it’s good soonish, then.
