- The Borderlands movie director has clarified in a new interview that it failed due to COVID-19 and Zoom calls.
- He argues that the movie’s production was affected by staff distance, which caused it to bomb at the box office.
- Despite the film’s failure, the community is hopeful for the IP because of the upcoming Borderlands 4 title.
Over the years, Borderlands has become one of gaming’s most influential IPs, so it was only a matter of time before the series got a Hollywood movie. However, the screening recently became one of the biggest box-office disasters.
Director Eli Roth has now come forward to clarify why the Borderlands movie eventually disappointed millions of hyped viewers. He says the film’s production failed to reach the desired quality because of COVID-19 and Zoom calls.
Why it matters: The words of the movie director have divided the community. Some argue that the film’s writing and casting were flawed, despite COVID-19 further complicating things so that it would have flopped regardless of circumstances.
While speaking on The Town podcast, Eli Roth looks back on everything that hindered the production of the Borderlands movie. He argues that shooting scenes was difficult because actors were on different sets, which were getting shut down because of COVID-19.
none of us anticipated how complicated things were gonna be with COVID. […] everyone’s spread all over the place.
With all the staff so far apart, many of the action scenes and the overall production quality of the Borderlands movie suffered. Important work had to be done through Zoom calls, which eventually proved fatal for the movie at the box office after its launch.
You can’t prep a movie on that scale over Zoom and I think we all thought we could pull it off and we got our asses handed to us a bit.
After the movie failed to perform, Borderlands 4 was officially confirmed to be in development in hopes of turning things around for the franchise. It is set to launch on September 23, 2025, for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC.
Do you think the production of the Borderlands movie would have turned out better if it were not for COVID-19 and Zoom calls, or was the movie just not appealing? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or join the discussion on the Tech4Gamers forum.
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Shameer Sarfaraz has previously worked for eXputer as a Senior News Writer for several years. Now with Tech4Gamers, he loves to devotedly keep up with the latest gaming and entertainment industries. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and years of experience reporting on games. Besides his passion for breaking news stories, Shahmeer loves spending his leisure time farming away in Stardew Valley. VGC, IGN, GameSpot, Game Rant, TheGamer, GamingBolt, The Verge, NME, Metro, Dot Esports, GameByte, Kotaku Australia, PC Gamer, and more have cited his articles.
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