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Eli Roth has confirmed he will be directing the upcoming Borderlands movie.
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter (thanks, GI.biz), Roth will be working with Lionsgate to bring Gearbox’s bold looter-shooter to life on the big screen.
“I’m so excited to dive into the world of Borderlands, and I could not be doing it with a better script, producing team, and studio,” Roth said. “I have a long, successful history with Lionsgate – I feel like we have grown up together and that everything in my directing career has led to a project of this scale and ambition.”
“I’m very excited to welcome Eli Roth as Director of the Borderlands movie in development with Lionsgate and Arad Productions,” added Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford who, along with Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, has an executive producer credit for the movie. “Please welcome El iRoth to the team and be sure to catch the Gearbox Main Theater Show at PAX East on 2/27 to learn more.”
While not quite as beleaguered as the Uncharted movie, which was recently pushed back to a March 2021 release, the Borderlands adaptation was first announced five years ago in 2015.
This is just one of several game IPs coming to screens both big and small, most recently The Sonic the Hedgehog movie, which opened to a bumper debut weekend and generating over $113 million (£86.6m) globally across its opening weekend. We’ve also shared information about the animated Ni No Kuni movie coming to Netflix, plus Ubisoft announced it is reimagining even more of its gaming franchises as TV shows; Mars-set Rabbids Invasion special follows four seasons of the France 3/Netflix/Nickelodeon kids show, as well as a kid-friendly Watch Dogs series, and a “comedy-adventure” inspired by the popular Rayman franchise. There’s even plans to adapt its mobile game, Hungry Shark, and Far Cry 3 spin-off, Blood Dragon.
In July we reported that a Cuphead series was coming to Netflix, and in June it was confirmed Ubisoft was strengthening its TV offering with a series and a Netflix movie in the works. Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet will be Ubisoft Film and Television’s first live-action comedy series, whilst a Netflix film based upon Tom Clancy’s The Division starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Chastain is headed to Netflix. The Division will be directed by David Leitch (Deadpool 2), with Rafe Judkins (Marvel’s Agents of Shield) working on the screenplay.
A live-action series based upon Square Enix’s MMO RPG Final Fantasy XIV is also in development by Sony Pictures Television and Hivemind, the company that brought the highly successful The Witcher series to Netflix. Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering creator Wizards of the Coast has also announced it is partnering with Netflix and the Russo Brothers to produce a Magic: The Gathering animated series.
