We already know that Eli Roth’s “Borderlands” will be an unmitigated disaster for Lionsgate. It’s a film that’s been plagued with reshoots and rewrites.
Puck’s Matt Belloni is saying that the “Borderlands” budget is much higher than what was originally reported. The film cost $120M, and that includes extensive reshoots. Early projections have the film opening in the $10-$15M range. This one’s going to be losing a lot of money.
The film wrapped principal photography back in 2021. Roth was not part of the extensive reshoots as he had obligations to direct another film (“Thanksgiving”) during that time period. Tim Miller (“Deadpool”) replaced Roth and, by all accounts, it sounds like the script had some dramatic change during the additional photography phase.
Apparently, trying to get the cast back together was a “nightmare,” according to Belloni. This does make sense considering the actors who participated in this film included Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Jack Black. If you remember, Blanchett had to board a plane to Berlin to begin shooting Todd Field’s “TAR” in September 2021.
Reviews for “Borderlands” are currently under embargo until Thursday previews begin at 3PM ET. In all likelihood, they won’t be positive. Lionsgate probably just wants to get this catastrophic project out of the way and move on to better things.
“Borderlands,” based on the popular video game, follows Lilith (Cate Blanchett) as she reluctantly returns to Pandora in search of the daughter of a powerful man named Atlas (Edgar Ramirez), teaming up with a ragtag gang of misfits along the way.
It was already a misbegotten idea to turn the video game into a feature, and it sounds like not even Blanchett’s participation — which she blamed on her “COVID madness” — will make much of a difference.
Criterion's December lineup has some great additions to the library, but the title that jumped out at me is Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man," which officially joins the Collection on December 8.