Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick admitted that the Borderlands adaptation fell short of the company’s expectations. In an interview with Business Insider, he was asked why the publisher is in no rush to bring its gaming franchises to the big and small screens. Zelnick explained that Take-Two strives to create the “best entertainment on Earth,” but by no means every attempt proves successful. As an example, he recalled the Borderlands movie:
“We made the Borderlands movie. We tried really hard. […] But I can tell you straightforwardly: it was not the best entertainment on Earth. We failed.”
At the same time, the box office flop did not hit Take-Two’s wallet. According to Zelnick, the company avoided losses thanks to Lionsgate, which took on the financing and production of the film. Furthermore, back in 2024, the executive noted that the adaptation even spurred sales of games in the series.
As a reminder, Eli Roth’s film starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, and Jamie Lee Curtis grossed about $15.5 million in the US and Canada and another $17.5 million in other countries against a production budget of $115 million.
Meanwhile, fans are still awaiting the BioShock adaptation for Netflix. The director’s chair of the project will be taken by “The Hunger Games” filmmaker Francis Lawrence.