Summary

• Box office challenges for Borderlands stem from negative reviews from both critics and audience .
• Previously poor video game adaptations meant Borderlands had struggles to overcome before reviews were released.
• It is unlikely Borderlands will spawn a franchise or become anything more than a poor box office venture.

Borderlands' talented cast , the film was already off to a rough start concerning winning over game fans.

The Borderlands video game Easter eggs in the movie. Regardless, there were many issues that stopped Borderlands from garnering success among the video game community. Upon the wide release of the film, it seems Borderlands' lack of success carried over to general audiences, raising questions over what happened to the film to warrant a measly $8.8 million opening weekend domestically.

Borderlands' Box Office Was Hurt By Its Very Negative Reviews

The Critical & Audience Reception To The Film Harmed Borderlands' Box Office Performance

Undoubtedly, the biggest hurdle Borderlands had to overcome to perform well commercially was its incredibly negative reviews. When the review embargo for Borderlands was lifted, it debuted on Rotten Tomatoes with a 0% approval rating from critics, meaning not a single positive review was logged. Since then, more reviews have been logged for the film, somewhat improving its abysmal opening critical numbers, though not by much. The movie now sits at a 9% approval rating based on 99 reviews, which is not a score that would instill confidence in general moviegoers to spend hard-earned money on watching Borderlands.

To further compound Borderlands' poor reception from critics, the audience that did see the movie were not glowing about it either. Arguably, the best metric to gauge how general audiences feel about wide releases is CinemaScore. Borderlands has a CinemaScore of D+, the second-lowest rating of any movie from the summer movie period in 2024. Combine the poor critical reception with the bad reviews from viewers, and Borderlands was always going to struggle to be a sure-fire box office hit.

Only Russel Crowe's The Exorcism received a lower CinemaScore than Borderlands in the last few months.

Borderlands Faced A Box Office Challenge Even Without Its Bad Reviews

Video Game Movies Have Never Been Consistent Success Stories

Even if Borderlands had received strong reviews, it would have faced the unfortunate reality of being a video game movie. For decades, video game movies were thought to be cursed, with studios failing time and again to capture what made the source material so good and translate that onto film. Although recent efforts have seen the best video game movie adaptations somewhat break the curse, the lingering remnants of the various bad attempts of the last 20 years hang like a shadow over every film released in this genre.

Borderlands is no different and had to face the challenge of continuing the Golden Age of video game adaptations or reverting to type and ranking among the worst ever made. As it turns out, Borderlands falls squarely under the latter category. The shadow in question lingering over Borderlands meant audiences were not sure if it would hit or miss as a video game adaptation, likely lowering its opening weekend numbers.

Borderlands is also not as popular a franchise as recent adaptations that have worked, such as Fallout, The Last of Us, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and Sonic the Hedgehog...

While Borderlands is a popular game, it is not as popular in recent years as the last mainline game was released in 2019. Borderlands is also not as popular a franchise as recent adaptations that have worked, such as Fallout, The Last of Us, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and Sonic the Hedgehog. As a video game movie, it already had the stigma of being bad going against it. Combined with a less-popular IP, being too different for game fans, and too inaccessible for general audiences, Borderlands had several challenges to overcome even before its initial reviews.

Is Borderlands A Box Office Bomb? How Much Could It Make?

Does Borderlands Have Any Chance Of Success?

With a domestic opening weekend haul of $8.8 million, the question of whether Borderlands is a certified box office bomb seems easy to answer. That said, there are some factors at play that could see it somehow claw back its production budget and even make a profit. While the film's poor reviews mean it is unlikely to have strong legs domestically, Variety has reported that the studio claims 60% of Borderlands' $110 million production budget has already been recouped by international presales.

Even if this proves to be true, the film will find it difficult to overcome the other $45-$50 million production costs and further $30 million marketing budget. As alluded to, it is unlikely this differential is made up of box office sales thanks to Borderlands' terrible opening weekend numbers and the improbability of it having legs in the coming weeks. Although there is a chance it could perform well on VoD, streaming, physical media, and merchandising, Borderlands will either be classed as a complete bomb or, if its value improves somewhat, an overly disappointing venture.

What Borderlands' Box Office Means

Any Potential Franchise Is Dead On Arrival

Concerning what Borderlands' poor box office means, it really only extends to the possibility of - or more aptly, lack thereof - a franchise. Borderlands does not end in a way that directly sets up the story of a sequel, but its characters live on to potentially tell more tales in this universe. Given that most big-budget movies are made with the intention of being turned into a franchise of late, it is unlikely Borderlands was any different.

If indeed sequels, prequels, and spin-offs of Borderlands were the intention, the opening weekend box office numbers will undoubtedly put an end to them. In an ever-changing, volatile, mostly unforgiving box office market post-COVID, the likelihood of getting sequels greenlit for films that broke even is smaller than ever. As such, the chances of having a shared universe for a film that performed as poorly as Borderlands are, well, borderline impossible.