We’re just a few months away from Lionsgate‘s live-action Borderlands movie. Based on the wildly popular video game, the movie follows Lilith (Cate Blanchett) as she reluctantly returns to Pandora in search of the daughter of a powerful man named Atlas (Edgar Ramirez), teaming up with a ragtag gang of misfits along the way.
A movie based on the game was first announced in 2015, and some nine years later, we’re finally close to release. Since then, there’s been some shake-ups with directors and writers, a trailer, and a whole lot of fun character and plot info (and maybe something about a cinematic universe?). Scroll down for everything you need to know about the wild sci-fi adventure pic.
Borderlands release date
The film was first announced in 2015 and is set for release on August 9, 2024. Filming wrapped in 2021, with behind-the-scenes footage screening behind closed doors at CinemaCon 2022. Deadpool director Tim Miller took over for two weeks of reshoots in 2023, whilst Roth was busy with his horror slasher Thanksgiving. Audience screening also took place in 2022.
The CinemaCon clip features Cate Blanchett’s Lilith as she makes her way through a vibrant cityscape with Kevin Hart’s mercenary Roland making a brief appearance and ends with Jack Black’s robot Claptrap taking an unexpected bullet from Lilith’s blaster.
Borderlands trailer
The first and only trailer so far hit the internet on February 21, 2024 with one our writers describing it as “Mad Max: Fury Road meets Guardians of the Galaxy, but with more explosions and even more attitude.” The brief clip introduces us to Cate Blanchett’s Lilith who reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora and embarks on a treacherous mission to steal some treasure from a secret vault, alongside newfound accomplices Tiny Tina (Barbie‘s Ariana Greenblatt), Claptrap (Jack Black), Krieg (Florian Munteanu), and Roland (Kevin Hart).
Borderlands plot
Per Lionsgate, the official synopsis is as follows: “Lilith an infamous outlaw with a mysterious past, reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of the universe’s most powerful S.O.B., Atlas. Lilith forms an alliance with an unexpected team – Roland, a former elite mercenary, now desperate for redemption; Tiny Tina, a feral pre-teen demolitionist; Krieg, Tina’s musclebound, rhetorically challenged protector; Tannis, the scientist with a tenuous grip on sanity; and Claptrap, a persistently wiseass robot. These unlikely heroes must battle alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find and protect the missing girl, who may hold the key to unimaginable power. The fate of the universe could be in their hands but they’ll be fighting for something more: each other.”
In an interview with IGN, Gearbox founder and CEO Randy Pitchford told viewers to get ready for the BCU, as the film is meant to be the first of many: “One of the cool things about the movie is we’ve created a cinematic universe that lives side by side with the video game universe. And of course, the characters are there and authentic in the themes and even some of the storylines. But they’re independent storylines. So this isn’t Borderlands 1. This isn’t Borderlands 2. The Borderlands movie is the first of the Borderlands Cinematic Universe. And you’ll see some characters from some of the different parts of what you might know from the video games. But it also gives us an opportunity to get deeper and expand a little bit.”
Borderlands cast and crew
Eli Roth first signed on to direct back in 2015, with The Last of Us showrunner Craig Mazin set to co-write the script. A lot has changed in the last eight years, however, with Roth exiting (but still remaining the main director) due to scheduling conflicts and Mazin removing his writing credit from the film. The script is now co-written by a mysterious ‘Joe Crombie’ (which people are adamant is Mazin’s pseudonym), with Tim Miller (Deadpool, Sonic the Hedgehog) taking over for reshoots.
According to IGN, Mazin has “nothing to do with the pen name Joe Crombie.” Later, Mazin confirmed as such to Variety. “I am not a credited writer on the film, so I cannot claim any kind of authorship of Borderlands, much less co-writing,” The Last of Us co-creator said in a statement. “I did see the report about the pseudonym, which is false. I did not use a pseudonym. If the name in question is indeed a pseudonym, all I can say is… it’s not mine.”
“It was an interesting experience to come in and do reshoots on a movie that’s not yours. It’s a freeing experience where you feel like, I’m just here to help wherever I can,” Miller told Collider. “But my main reason, other than, you know, I have a huge affection for the video game industry, I want to see every video game adaption succeed is, I’ll be honest, I wanted to work with Cate Blanchett, and I wanted to work with Kevin [Hart] and Jamie Lee Curtis. And Ariana Greenblatt, the young lady who plays Tiny Tina, is amazing, which everybody knows from the Barbie movie. So it was a great experience all around. I was feeling a little rusty, so I was happy to get back in the saddle. The movie gets up and moves. It’s a good ride.”
Cate Blanchett leads the film as Lilith, with Kevin Hart (Roland), Jack Black (Claptrap), Florian Munteanu (Krieg), and Ariana Greenblatt (Tiny Tina) in tow.
“[Claptrap is] a cool, fun, little turn, and another opportunity to bring a great video game to the silver screen,” Black told GamesRadar+, describing the character as an ‘an R-rated R2-D2.’ “We’re kind of in the middle of a video game movie renaissance right now, and I’m stoked to be a part of it.”
Jamie Lee Curtis, who plays Dr. Tannis, once described Borderlands as “badonkadonk bonkers” in an interview with Total Film.
A new look at the film was released in April 2024, confirming that franchise lead characters Brick and Mordecai would not be featured.
- Cate Blanchett – Lilith
- Kevin Hart – Roland
- Jack Black – Claptrap
- Ariana Greenblatt – Tiny Tina
- Edgar Ramirez – Atlas
- Florian Munteanu – Krieg
- Gina Gershon – Mad Moxxi
- Jamie Lee Curtis – Dr. Patricia Tannis
- Bobby Lee – Larry
- Olivier Richters – Krom
- Janina Gavankar – Commander Knoxx
- Cheyenne Jackson – Jakobs
- Charles Babalola – Hammerlock
- Benjamin Byron Davis – Marcus
- Steven Boyer – Scooter
- Ryann Redmon – Ellie
- Harry Ford – Middleman
- Penn Jillette
- Haley Bennett
For more, check out our guide to the other best upcoming movies on the horizon and our look at 2024’s movie release dates at a glance.
