Skip to main content

Eli Roth now set to direct Borderlands movie for Lionsgate

Video game film adaptations have a long history of troubled productions, with many projects never getting off the ground. Lionsgate is looking to buck the trend with their upcoming Borderlands movie, which Eli Roth will now direct.

The Hostel director announced his involvement with the project with a tweet, which included a picture of his head on a Psycho’s body. Production on the film is scheduled to begin later this year with a script by Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin. Avi and Ari Arad, who are currently working on a Metal Gear Solid film, will produce the project.

So excited to be part of the @Borderlands family! Thank you @GearboxOfficial @Lionsgate @DuvalMagic, @picturestart, Arad Productions and everyone for welcoming me in. See you on Pandora! pic.twitter.com/UspqIcoerF

— Eli Roth (@eliroth) February 20, 2020

“I’m so excited to dive into the world of Borderlands, and I could not be doing it with a better script, producing team, and studio,” Roth told Deadline. “Randy Pitchford and everyone at Gearbox have been incredibly supportive of my ideas — it really feels like a perfect storm of creators coming together.”

The announcement comes shortly after Sonic The Hedgehog broke the opening weekend box office record for a video game adaptation, bringing in nearly $70 million over the holiday weekend. With Detective Pikachu’s positive performance last year, it might be time for Hollywood to invest in gaming IPs.

What remains to be seen is whether or not the project will actually happen. Video game movies tend to have a hard time keeping directors. John Woo was infamously slated to direct a Metroid adaptation in 2006 before the project fell apart.

The most recent example comes from Uncharted, a project that has been stuck in development since 2009. The project went through six directors in as much time, including Silver Linings Playbook director David O’Russell and 10 Cloverfield Lane’s Dan Trachtenberg. The film is currently scheduled to start shooting in four weeks, despite having no director attached at the moment.

Still, Lionsgate executives remain optimistic about the Borderlands film. “With Eli’s vision and Craig’s screenplay, we believe we have cracked the code on bringing the anarchic world of Borderlands to the big screen in a big way that will be a fresh, compelling and cinematic event for moviegoers and fans of the game,” says Lionsgate president Nathan Kahane.

The Borderlands movie currently does not have a release date. In the meantime, Borderlands 3 is getting a level cap increase, so players have something to do while waiting to see if the film will ever happen.

Editors' Recommendations

Giovanni Colantonio
Giovanni is a writer and video producer focusing on happenings in the video game industry. He has contributed stories to…
Unity backtracks on its controversial Runtime Fee plan following backlash
Art of Unity

Unity has finally backtracked some of the policies related it the Unity Runtime Fee announced last week following a wave of backlash from game developers. While the Runtime Fee isn't completely going away, changes were made so it's not as aggressive toward smaller developers and games that were already released. 
The Unity Runtime Fee was going to start charging developers up to a $0.20 fee every time someone installed their game. This decision was met with ire by game developers, who hated the short-notice, retroactive application. Devs felt the plan had oversights concerning subscription services, charity bundles, and piracy. In a blog post about the Runtime Fee changes, Unity's Marc Whitten admitted that Unity "should have incorporated more of your feedback before announcing our new Runtime Fee policy."

As for what's changing, the blog post states confirms that there will be no Runtime Fees for games made on Unity Personal or for games that made less than $1 million over the last 12 months. For developers using Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise, the Runtime Fee and applicability of Unity's terms have been adjusted so that it only applies to games made on the next LTS version of Unity. That means games already released or already in development in an older version of Unity won't be subject to the fee. 
Developers who want to circumvent the fee entirely can also choose to just give Unity a 2.5% revenue share if that's a lesser amount than what they would pay with fees. So, while the Runtime Fees aren't going away entirely, it's clear that the strong negative reaction from game developers has forced Unity to change course on what was a widely maligned plan.

Read more
Best gaming PC deals: Powerful gaming rigs starting at $860
young woman playing video games on a PC

Gaming PC deals are important to the gaming community in a way that few outside of it can truly understand.

If you play games on a Nintendo or Playstation, for example, all you have to do is wait for gaming console deals that match your preferences and buy things up quickly. They come around at predictable intervals, though, and once you get a console you can feel confident you'll be able to play every game released for it. If you have a Playstation 5, for instance, you can rest assured that you'll be able to play all of the best Playstation 5 games. It requires a sort of stoic patience, but there is a sense of assuredness at every step of the process.

Read more
Best gaming laptop deals: Save on Alienware, Razer, HP and more
The Corsair Voyager a1600 gaming laptop set up with a monitor and other accessories on a desk.

Many of the best laptops are great for multi-purpose use, but if you’re looking to take on some of the best PC games, you’re going to want to get yourself a gaming laptop. The best gaming laptops offer hardware geared specifically for gameplay action, and many of them offer some savings. That’s certainly the case right now, as there are a lot of gaming laptop deals taking place. Many of the best laptop brands have gaming laptop deals taking place, and the likes of big time gaming brands like Alienware and Razer have models discounted right now as well.
HP Victus 16 — $600, was $900

With the HP Victus 16 you’re getting an incredible gaming laptop. As it’s built for this deal it has specs that are closer to entry-level gaming laptops, but that shouldn’t be any reason to stay away if you’re shopping on a budget. It has a 15.6-inch Full HD display, a 13-generation Intel processor, and 8GB of RAM. It also has a popular mobile graphics card in the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050. The HP Victus 16 comes with Windows 11 preinstalled, and should have you gaming in no time once you get it out of the box.

Read more