‘Disappointing’ Borderlands movie benefited game sales, says Take-Two

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick called this summer’s Borderlands movie “disappointing” but said it had a positive impact on the game‘s sales.

Based on the video game series developed by his studio Gearbox, the film Borderland was written and directed by Eli Roth, and stars Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis and Jack Black.

The film grossed just $33 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, against a reported production budget of approximately $115 million, plus marketing and distribution costs of $30 million.

It was widely panned by critics and had a very short theatrical run, going from the big screen to digital stores in just three weeks.

During Take-Two’s quarterly earnings call on Wednesday, the company was asked to break down the film’s contribution, whether it benefited game sales, and whether it planned to license more of its intellectual property for adaptations.

“With respect to Borderlands, we don’t really need to break down the film’s contribution, because while it was economically positive, it wasn’t material to our results,” CEO Strauss Zelnick responded.

“Even though the movie was disappointing, it actually benefited our catalog sales, so it’s a sign that making a movie or TV show based on our very high-quality intellectual property can boost catalog sales, and that can be something good.

“All that being said,” he continued, “we are very selective, and one of the reasons we’ve been so selective about licensing is that we would really prefer that anything that comes out with our brands be really successful. and we cannot guarantee it, especially when it is out of our hands. We have licensed other titles, we will continue to do so selectively, but [note the] word always so subtle, selectively.”

In February 2022, it was announced that Take-Two had partnered with Netflix to produce a live-action film adaptation of BioShock, to be directed by Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend, The Hunger Games).

During a panel at San Diego Comic-Con this summer, producer Roy Lee said the scope of the BioShock movie had been “reconfigured” after Netflix cut its budget.

“The new regime has reduced budgets,” he said (via Variety). “So we’re making a much smaller version. … It will be a more personal point of view, rather than a bigger, grander project.”

Borderlands 4 was recently announced for release in 2025.