Although Borderlands fell into a classic video game adaptation mistake by deviating away from the source material and changing characters' backstories, leading to a critical score of 10% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Its audience rating may have fared a little better, but at just 53%, it's clear a lot went wrong for the project. Alongside its major alterations from the games, popular characters were missing from the Borderlands movie and the story failed to excite audiences, resulting in the film exiting theaters around a month after it debuted. With so many problems, it seems unlikely that the franchise will return for a sequel anytime soon; however, if Borderlands does plan on giving the big screen another go, it will have to make a significant change if it wants to succeed.

Borderlands 2 Has To Be A Complete Reboot Of The First Movie

A Borderlands Sequel Would Have To Completely Reset The Cast & Story

For Borderlands 2 to succeed, the sequel will have to be a complete reboot and disregard the first film entirely. Although there were still some elements of the movie that worked, a new Borderlands film would have to change the cast, story, and origins of its predecessor. Even before seeing any footage, viewers had concerns that the Borderlands cast looked completely different compared to the games, which instantly caused problems. Audiences struggled to buy into Cate Blanchett as Lilith or Kevin Hart as Roland, resulting in the movie failing to resemble the franchise at times, hence the bad reception.

Rather than trying to persevere with a formula that clearly didn't work, finding new actors and embracing the lore of the games would make a huge difference.

Additionally, while the new storyline could have worked, it didn't help that the history of the vault hunters was completely different, making them almost unidentifiable. Therefore, a potential sequel must scrap these changes and try to start from scratch, otherwise, the baggage of 2024's Borderlands will instantly hurt it. Rather than trying to persevere with a formula that clearly didn't work, finding new actors and embracing the lore of the games would make a huge difference, especially as there is still so much potential when it comes to Pandora and all of Borderlands' other interesting locations.

A Second Borderlands Movie Has To Be Much Closer To The Games

The Cinematic Universe Needs To Utilize What Makes The Games So Iconic

Alongside restarting the cinematic franchise, a Borderlands sequel has to be much closer to the games. Given each game contains hours worth of story, it may be unrealistic for a new movie to directly adapt the plot of its source material, but it can still take heavy inspiration from them. Whereas 2024's Borderlands was massively different from the video games, a reboot could put more emphasis on weapons, looting, and side characters, which is what makes the franchise so good. Borderlands is undoubtedly full of personality, but that doesn't always come directly from its story or main protagonists.

Instead, a random side quest can be the highlight of the game, meaning the cinematic universe has to try and adapt this vibe onto the big screen. There are also a variety of DLCs that contain much shorter stories, meaning a new movie could follow one of these arcs to try and find its footing. In addition, the next live-action outing should avoid mixing and matching characters like the first Borderlands movie did and instead focus on a distinct group of vault hunters that it can expand in future installments.

While it may be difficult to overcome some of 2024's Borderlands' biggest sins, making the characters much closer to their video game counterparts and respecting the overall lore would give the reboot a huge advantage, proving the franchise's hope of launching a successful movie series isn't over yet.

Borderlands 2 Should Still Happen Despite The First Movie's Disappointment

The Borderlands Franchise Has Too Much Potential To Give Up On A Cinematic Universe

Borderlands' underwhelming performance may seem like the nail in the coffin for the franchise's cinematic future, but it deserves a chance at redemption. There is a reason Borderlands is one of the most popular video game franchises ever made, and while much of it comes down to its memorable gameplay, it also contains great humor, wonderfully written characters, and even some emotional moments within its wildly chaotic story. The IP's transition into live-action didn't do the games justice, and there is still so much unexplored potential that would warrant the need for a second movie.

With great characters like Handsome Jack yet to get a chance on the big screen alongside the interesting vault hunter abilities barely being shown, another film should still happen. If the franchise did opt to try a reboot and fix the mistakes of the first film, we may get the sort of Borderlands film that honors the decade-and-a-half worth of content that the games provided. I still have full belief that Borderlands could produce a successful movie under the right circumstances, and I hope it gets another go despite the struggles of the first outing.