"Borderlands" Movie In the Works with Lionsgate
Another video game is heading for the big screen. This time, it's the Gearbox first-person shooter and role playing game "Borderlands," which has reportedly shipped more than 26 million copies since its release in 2009, which includes the 8 million copies it sold in the past year, according to a report in Variety.
"Borderlands" is being considered as a "tentpole" movie at Lionsgate, with "Spider Man" and "Iron Man" producers Avi and Ari Arad attached as the movie's producers.
The movie is set to exploit the game's sci-fi setting, on a planet named Pandora which has been previously abandoned by Atlas Corporation, a big corporation that was into planet exploration and exploitation primarily in search of advanced alien technology that the corporation can use and replicate. The planet is replete with alien life. Another corporation eventually followed and set up a mining colony on the planet. Placed in this setting are players who can be any of the four characters – a soldier, a hunter, a siren and a berserker.
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Lionsgate is optimistic about the live action adaptation of "Borderlands." The company's Co-Chairs for the Motion Picture Group Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger said in a statement, "The 'Borderlands' games don't pull any punches, and we'll make the movie with the same in-your-face attitude that has made the series a blockbuster mega-franchise."
According to another report in Empire, Lionsgate is making a timely move of looking for more film franchises to develop as its "Hunger Games" franchise is ending this year with the release of "Mockingjay."
The game's developer Gearbox also seemed satisfied with the deal, saying that Lionsgate "really seems to get Borderlands." Randy Pitchford of Gearbox told a panel at PAX 2015 that he is expecting the movie to be rated R, given the game's nature, which tends towards violence.
No announcement has yet been made about the movie's estimated release date or the movie's director.
