Borderlands Movie Adaptation Signs Eli Roth as Director

The Borderlands movie, announced by Lionsgate in 2015, now has somebody at its helm. According to a new press release, they have hired Eli Roth to direct the movie. Other names attached to the project are the producer team of Avi Arad, Ari Arad, and Erik Fieg, as well as writer Craig Mazin of HBO’s Chernobyl fame. So far, so good, all things considered.

At long last, Borderlands fans, it seems that the movie adaptation of your beloved franchise is getting serious. Lionsgate have been talking about the project for about five years now, and signing a director is usually a good sign. Of course, the movie is still very early in pre-production, so anything can happen still, but fingers crossed that everything goes well. I’m not much of a Borderlands fan at all, but I might check the movie out if it looks good.

Now, Eli Roth is an interesting choice for the director. Personally, I’m not a fan of his directorial work (which includes both Hostel movies, The House with a Clock in Its Walls, and the god-awful Death Wish reboot). However, I feel like his fun, explicit and somewhat juvenile approach to violence will be a good match-up for Borderlands. After all, what is Borderlands but doofy, over-the-top violence, at the end of the day?

At the time of writing, this is basically the only info we have about the movie. There’s no release window, or cast, or script, or anything. We don’t even know whether the movie is going to adapt one of the games, or tell its very own story. Personally, I would angle for the latter; the scope of Pandora is huge, and there’s no way that you’ll adapt a Borderlands game in a satisfactory manner. Just do your own thing. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.