A new update regarding the Borderlands movie and its incoming reviews has some worried about the long-awaited film.
Originally announced as an adaptation of Gearbox Software's uber-popular looter shooter video game back in 2015, the road toward the Borderlands film has been a long and arduous one.
Originally directed by Hostels Eli Roth, the movie underwent several spurts of extensive reshoots, with Deadpool director Tim Miller stepping in to finish up the movie in Roth's stead.
However, it should finally hit theater screens on Friday, August 9, taking fans on this R-rated romp through the wasteland.
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Borderlands Movie Reviews Are Not Looking Good
According to some recently surfaced information, things may not be looking good when it comes to Borderlands movie reviews.
As posted by review aggregator Metacritic on X (formerly Twitter) fans should not expect to see reviews for the upcoming video game adaptation until after its release date.
More specifically, reviews are reportedly set to go live after Thursday previews for the film have been screened at 3 p.m. ET on Thursday, August 8.
While not a surefire sign of the movie's quality, such a late review embargo usually signifies a lack of confidence in a product by the studio.
Typically movie reviews usually drop anywhere from as far out as two weeks to a handful of days before release. Usually, if a studio knows it has a hit on its hands, it will want the press to talk about the movie as much as possible in the lead-up to its release date.
At least for the Borderlands movie, that does not look to be the case.
Previous to this, movies like Madame Web and Five Nights at Freddy's shared a similarly delayed review-to-release timeline.
While Five Nights at Freddy's (FNAF) found an audience thanks to the viral nature of its source material, both of those films flopped critically, with Madame Web earning 57% and FNAF 32% on Rotten Tomatoes.
This does not bode well for the highly anticipated video game adaptation, especially after fans waited for nearly a decade since its announcement for the movie to see the light of day.
As of writing, the film is tracking to make somewhere between $10-$15 million domestically during its opening weekend, which would be disastrous seeing as the film is reportedly carrying a sizeable $120 million budget (per Puck).
Is Borderlands In Trouble?
Again, it is worth noting that the quality of the Borderlands movie is still yet to be determined.
It could turn out to be a massive hit despite its delayed review release date; however, all signs are pointing to the contrary.
As mentioned above, the movie has had plenty of ups and downs since its initial announcement.
The biggest of these troubles came in January 2023, when extensive reshoots were ordered for the project, nearly two years after it had finished principal photography.
And seeing as the film's original director, Eli Roth, was busy at the time working on the holiday-themed horror film, Thanksgiving, Deadpool filmmaker Tim Miller was brought in to finish the project.
Usually, this passing of the director's chair at any point in production is not a good sign, but the fact that it happened as late as it did, could spell signs of the studio hoping to Frankenstein together a hit after it has been shot.
This director switcheroo was not the only major creative shake-up the film had on its way to release.
One of the movie's original writers has since disowned the project after being brought on to help pen this film's first draft.
The Last of Us showrunner Craig Mazin was first attached to the Borderlands movie in 2020 when it was announced Roth would take on directing duties.
However, as time has gone on, and the movie has seemingly gone through massive changes, Mazin has removed his credit from the title, telling Variety in July 2023 that he "cannot claim any kind of authorship of Borderlands:"
"I am not a credited writer on the film, so I cannot claim any kind of authorship of 'Borderlands,' much less 'co-writing.' I did see the report about the pseudonym, which is false. I did not use a pseudonym. If the name in question is indeed a pseudonym, all I can say is… it’s not mine."
All this could make for a dangerous concoction of creative misfortune, potentially making Borderlands a disappointing effort for longtime fans.
Borderlands comes to theaters on Friday, August 9.
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