Data shows that the “Borderland” movie failed miserably at the box office during its first weekend, debuting in fourth place behind “Twister.”
The Borderlands movie just premiered on screens a few days ago, and the response hasn’t been great. The film currently has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 9%, based on nearly 100 reviews. This makes it the second worst movie of the year. Based on an audience score of 50%, this is the third worst movie.
Now, the financial numbers are out, giving us an idea of how poorly the movie performed. According to Variety, “Borderland” only grossed $8.8 million at the domestic box office in its opening weekend. Another US$7.7 million came from overseas, bringing the film’s global box office total to an “embarrassing” US$16.5 million. To be fair, it did have to contend with some big hits, including the long tail of Deadpool and Wolverine , which took in another $54.2 million in its third week.
By comparison, 2018’s “Tomb Raider” adaptation grossed just over $23 million in its opening weekend, while 2021’s “Mortal Kombat” also grossed just over $23 million. The 2022 “Uncharted” movie grossed $44 million at the box office.
The Borderlands movie had a production budget of $115 million, with an additional $30 million in marketing expenses. Lionsgate says the good news for Borderlands is that 60% of its production costs were covered by international ticket pre-sales. That still leaves a lot of money to recoup, though, and with such a poor opening weekend, there’s a good chance Borderlands will struggle to break even, let alone turn a profit.
If there’s a silver lining, it’s that Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford seems to be hinting that the next Borderlands will indeed be a mainline title. In a lengthy series of rants on What it’s saying: You like my stuff My friends and I love the Borderlands video games even more than the cast and crew of some of the biggest and best filmmakers on the planet I am so flattered by what the staff has done! We’re working extra hard on what’s next, you four…”
Using “four” instead of “for” seems to strongly imply that the next Borderlands game will be a direct follow-up to Borderlands 3.
