Lionsgate is teaming with the publisher and creators of Borderlands, and renowned producers Avi and Ari Arad to adapt Gearbox Software’s critically-acclaimed blockbuster video game Borderlands into a tent-pole feature film, the parties announced today.Â
The award-winning Borderlands franchise has built a passionate global fan base, shipping more than 26 million copies around the world since its launch in 2009, including 8 million copies shipped during Take Two’s fiscal year 2015 alone.
Set in the frontier of a sci-fi universe, Borderlands is best known for Gearbox’s blending of irreverent humor and characters, with a unique comic-book art style, and co-operative four-player genre-bending, loot-grabbing gameplay. It’s a franchise that in the last six years has ushered in a new and popular category of first-person shooters.
The Borderlands film creative team will be led by producers Avi and Ari Arad, who have worked on numerous projects, including Iron Man, Spider Man, The Amazing Spider Man, X-Men, Ghost Rider and Blade.
“We believe that we’ve brought together the right partners, the ideal creative team and the perfect property to launch a new motion picture tent-pole for a global audience,” said Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Co-Chairs Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger. “Part of our strategy in entering the game space under Peter Levin has been to source new brands with built-in audiences that will translate into great films and television shows. The Borderlands games don’t pull any punches, and we’ll make the movie with the same in-your-face attitude that has made the series a blockbuster mega-franchise.”
“Our Borderlands franchise continues to grow in popularity, and we’ve assembled a team with the strengths needed to introduce this amazing cross-platform property to a whole new global audience,” said Take-Two Interactive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Strauss Zelnick. “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.”
No further details are available yet on when the film will come out, who will star in it, or when it begins production. Another possible stumbling point: will James Cameron ok the use of “Pandora” as the story’s setting?
SOURCE: Lions Gate Press Release