Have you seen the Borderlands movie released this August? If not, you're not the only one, and it seems based on critical reception, you aren't missing out on anything special. While the movie might have bombed hard, it still managed to move game sales according to Take-Two Interactive, parent company of 2K Games.
This was something Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick revealed in the company's recent quarterly earnings Q&A, where Zelnick was asked about the movie's contribution to the series, whether Take-Two saw it benefit any game sales, and what the company plans to do in the future when it comes to adapting more IPs into movies or shows.
Zelnick responds with, "With regard to Borderlands, we don't really need to break out the contribution from the film because while it was economically positive, it wasn't material to our results. Even though the film was disappointing, it actually benefited our catalog sales. So that is a sign that making a movie or a television show based on our very high-quality IP can drive catalog sales, and that can be a good thing."
In addition to that, Zelnick says they have been "really selective" about licensing, adding, "All that said, we're really selective, and one of the reasons we have been so selective about licensing is we would really prefer that everything that comes out with our brands in it is really, really successful. And we can't guarantee that, especially when it's out of our hands. So we have licensed other titles, we'll continue selectively to do so, but emphasis on the word selectively."
While we've seen more and more video game IPs translating well into movies and TV shows (such as HBO's The Last of Us), the same can't be said for Borderlands. Even featuring a star-studded cast, the game bombed hard commercially, and on Rotten Tomatoes, it has score of 10% on the freshness scale, meaning 90% of people think it's what people call, a "turd."
Even if the movie wasn't worth the watch, gamers did benefit from it, as Gearbox even released new free content for Borderlands 3 to celebrate the movie's release. While there's no new Borderlands movie on the way (thankfully!), there is Borderlands 4, which 2K confirmed will be released sometime in 2025.