Seemingly completely unafraid of movie critics using the "this is total claptrap" line, Lionsgate has revealed that it is developing a movie based on Gearbox's Borderlands franchise. Variety says the "tentpole" flick is being produced by Avi and Ari Arad, who are worth mentioning for their past production credits, including numerous early Marvel films, and Avi's status as the founder and, until 2006, CEO of Marvel Studios.
“Lionsgate has emerged as a major creative force in the global marketplace with an incredible portfolio of brands; our partners at Gearbox have pioneered and cultivated an iconic property; and Avi and Ari Arad are two of the most successful producers of action franchises,” Strauss Zelnick, chairman and CEO of Borderlands publisher Take-Two Interactive, said in a statement. “This alliance is ideally positioned to create a bold, provocative, no-holds-barred motion picture phenomenon that will delight Borderlands current legions of fans and captivate moviegoers around the world.”
Borderlands might not seem like the sort of thing that naturally lends itself to a 90-minute, three act narrative structure, but the Tales From the Borderlands adventure series proves that, in the right hands, great things can be done with the material. And that may well be the direction Lionsgate is headed: Back in February, it made a "significant investment" in Telltale Games, and while at the time we took that to mean primarily that we'd be getting games based on Lionsgate properties, maybe we'll see things going the other way, too.
As Variety noted, with perhaps a touch of understatement, "Movies based on videogames have not yet achieved blockbuster status in Hollywood," and I wouldn't expect a Borderlands film to change that. But a Tales From the Borderlands film? That's something I might actually pay to see.
