Cinema
‘Borderlands’ crashes at the box office and hits streaming platforms less than a month after its theatrical release
The resounding passage through the rooms of the cinematic version of Borderlands has accelerated the arrival times to platforms like we had not seen before.
Mind-blowing, that’s the word. In multiple ways. In how such a clear opportunity in the adaptation of a video game has been wasted, in how the public has reacted by completely ignoring the film, in the record time it will take to reach platforms for purchase and rental when it is still available for viewing in some cinemas. Unbelievable, but true...
‘Borderlands’ savaged by critics
Normally, there is a minimum window of 25 days from the theatrical release so that we can rent or buy the film in question to watch it at home (how far away is the requirement of a year in the days of VHS and DVD. And it already seemed too little!). ‘Borderlands’ is set to be released on Digital HD and platforms on 30 August.
A box office disaster that ruins careers
Soon everyone will be able to see if everything is as bad critics and audiences say. Eli Roth, the director of ‘Hostel’, certainly does not seem to have put much enthusiasm into his film. The exaggerated delays, the continuous post-production retouching, the interference of other professionals, seemed to indicate that he was dealing with a sick man who was trying to be revived by any means.
With a dismal 10% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (an improvement, it actually started off much worse), 27% on Metacritic, Borderlands, a film based on the talkative video game franchise that takes Mad Max to an even more insane planet than this one, seems like one of the great failures in terms of profitability.
Its budget was approximately 110 million dollars, and its box office earnings so far (and with no signs of improving) have not reached 19 million! If a film has to triple its budget to be considered a box office success, then for what happened to Borderlands we will have to invent a powerful term for the bottom line.
In the photo at the top of this article, the characters from Borderlands seem to be looking down on the hole the film is in. Who knows, maybe it will find its audience when it finally hits streaming, which, given what we’ve seen, could also happen soon. It might even become a cult film because it’s so bad. It wouldn’t be the first time- just look at The Room... We’ll see if we’re telling a different story in a few years… or not.