Borderlands movie flop is worse than we thought, Randy Pitchford responds to critics...

not too long ago I talked about the Borderlands movie and how epically it's flopped you know I would have loved to see a different result but alas this is one of those video game movies that is more akin to what we saw in the before times when video game movies were seen as a bit of a laughing stock because they just never Rose to the occasion whereas now in this day and age we're seeing just really good stuff from video game adaptations but Borderlands the movie Just unfortunately isn't in that category and people already had a bad feeling with aspects of the casting and the narrative changes that they were making and the like and the end result was that when it first launched the Borderlands movie debuted with a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes that number has since gone up to 10% from 1440 reviews but that's nothing to write home about that's still pretty abysmal and one of the worst first reviewed movies of all time and user reviews reflect a movie that is overall not particularly well-received and judging from the fact that this has only been reviewed by over 500 users it suggests that not a lot of people went to watch this movie and uh despite take to CEO stoss zelck begging people to give this film a chance don't listen to the critics you know we worked really hard on this the general consensus is that people people gave it a chance and it just wasn't what they wanted it's a PG-13 Borderlands movie that tried to do its own thing narratively but it's still based on Borderlands one and in trying to appeal to everyone It ultimately appealed to no one and so the end result is that I reported previously that the Borderlands movie bombed with a mere $8.8 million weekend debuting in fourth place and this is in the United States now the report here did say that reportedly 60% of its production costs were covered by International ticket pre-sales which might have potentially suggested that International sales might be better and maybe enough to break even or something and to break even we have to consider that this movie had a budget of $115 million and on top of that a $30 million budget for marketing and distribution but now we know more exact figures and folks it is uh much worse than I ever anticipated so $8.8 million in the US but overseas it somehow did worse the overseas box office numbers according to this report from variety is a mere $7.7 million and so if you add up overseas box office numbers with us box office numbers as of the reporting of this particular article the global total is just an embarrassing $16.5 million and this article addresses the whole 60% of production costs being covered by pre-sales of international tickets although nearly 60% of production costs for Borderlands were covered by International pre-sales according to Studio sources it's still a disastrous result for the film and one that was Far Behind already low pre-release expectations uh Borderlands carries a production budget of roughly $150 million as well as marketing and distribution costs of $30 million so $16.5 million isn't even 10% of what is essentially combining these two numbers a total of roughly $145 million this isn't just like a flop it this is a catastrophic uh release that will cost the studio uh hundreds of of millions of dollars uh this is a guarantee that another Borderlands movie will never be made again because of the Financial Risk that is involved for companies whose primary goal is to make a boatload of money and to see an IP grow so that there's confidence that when they give this IP a second chance with another movie they'll see Financial growth that is clearly just not something that's going to happen unless there's a drastic overhaul and a drastic change in Creative Direction with the next Borderlands movie if that ever gets a chance though this disastrous result will kill all hopes of something like that happening so yeah just the the box office numbers uh far more abysmal than I expected I thought it I don't know Break Even or something but no it it just it really bombed to hell now Randy Pitchford who is the head of gearbox and the head of you know Borderlands uh he took to Twitter to express some thoughts about uh the predicament surrounding the Borderlands movie at first the tweets were you know just mainly him celebrating that he got to go to the premiere and and see the movie with friends and folks and you know that's cool and all like I I I get like having pride in your work even if it doesn't do well financially or whatever and you know if you want to put that energy out there fine fair enough and at first it seemed like he was actually even like taking some feedback uh when somebody tweeted for the Borderlands movie I feel like they should have just done a retelling of Borderlands one but with more death in the game I don't know why they disregarded the source material so much just to have so non Borderlands players would be confused watching it Randy pford responded with is this a sentiment anyone else shares should the movie have just done a onetoone retelling of Borderlands 1 this platform let someone like me hear from someone like you which is cool thanks in advance very helpful in constructive feedback so that that's a good way to kick things off that's a good way to have a conversation with your community so I thought okay like he's taking it well at least um but then uh there was a series of tweets involving him calling out one specific journalist uh Paul tassy from Forbes who really did not like the movie uh the review that he posted the headline reads A Borderlands fan regretfully reviews the Borderlands movie and just reading through this review it's pretty brutal but pretty honest and it it never delved into like personal insults or anything it was just somebody who really loves Borderland saying I was really disappointed with the movie it just doesn't appeal to anybody it doesn't do anything particularly well from narrative to the casting to uh the the fact that the storytelling it it's is so far removed from what the game did and its PG-13 aspects the jokes not Landing so on and so forth um and and I mean he did say this will die here alone no more movies nothing like this should be attempted again in some other world I can see a cool animated Borderland series possibly having worked on Netflix but whatever A-list Blockbuster this was supposed to be despite a few brief moments where it works it overwhelmingly does not and it actually makes me concerned about Borderlands 4 if this the kind of thing the studio thinks is good now so harsh words but you know this was just an article that he published and at no point in this article and I searched did Paul tassy mention Randy Pitchford or issue personal attacks he just expressed genuine thoughts about the movie that he saw as a fan of the series and the concerns that he has surrounding the IP as a whole uh Randy pisher took that personally in a first tweet he talked about he just blocked a bunch of nasty accounts uh but in the process accidentally blocked a couple accounts who were you know being more constructive and and not being nasty and he apologized for that and whatever and yeah I mean look if you want to block people who have nothing constructive to say are just harassing you and issuing insults that contribute nothing to the conversation fair enough but then specifically when it comes to Paul tassy he said oh except that Paul tassy guy uh it was pointed out to me that I blocked him to so far I think I accidentally blocked three people not Paul Tass he was blocked on on purpose intentionally I thought he was being a dick and so him I blocked on purpose I unblocked him later but I might block him again something about that dude's attitude just feels off to me I read some [ __ ] he wrote where he seems to act like he knows me and fronts like he knows something he doesn't and doesn't rub me right bad vibes I'll say again like I looked through Paul's articles at no point does he ever mention Randy Pitchford personally and at no point do his articles like personally attack Randy he just the Articles just Express honest thoughts about the Borderlands movie however harsh they may be uh he just kind of he just reviewed the movie which is his job uh Randy continues but I don't know him at all and only know what he writes on Twitter so who knows the internet can be a mess sometimes it's strange to be someone other people seem to want to think about and talk about and I know he's super obsessed with the stuff me and my company make and I know he's a dude who is making a living talking [ __ ] so good for him I am not in the mood to want to [ __ ] up his money so have at it my dude be cool just that like the ramblings of somebody who is about to get a just just a whole lot of bad press and and just bad optics for this Paul tassi took notice of this particular happen stance and highlighted how you know Randy pitford Now sort of started to make this personal and so Paul tassy retorted with ah yes tagging me and insulting me with an entire paragraph broadcast to 690,000 people referring to Randy's fer numbers is extremely normal behavior and does not at all reinforce anything I said thank you for unblocking me sir he continues also if by super obsessed you mean I've played hundreds of hours of every Borderlands game a series I like wow you got me like uh yeah like Paul is obsessed in the sense of like I am a fan of the Borderlands series which should be taken as a huge compliment and he really cared about the Borderlands movie being you know hoping that would be good he had every right to express his disappointment because alas you know as a fan you know they fans especially are going to be doubly scrutinizing in terms of the work that is output especially when it's an adaptation of something that they love Paul also posted another tweet about this thinging also like is this an actual threat it reads like a threat the whole section of I'm not in the mood to want to [ __ ] up his money uh but then he just highlighted exactly what happened which was literally the entire thing is I reviewed the movie poorly pointed out that it was reviewing poorly generally said he blocked me which is whatever but also that he blocked huge Borderlands Creator killer 6 which seemed wild anyway appreciate everyone going to bat for me and his replies uh means a lot and then from there we saw Randy Pitchford respond to Paul noting how this is rather not a good look kind of behavior uh blasting someone personally for his review in front of you know 690,000 people he responded with it is my opinion that you enjoy talking [ __ ] at my expense your comment here further reinforces my opinion uh Paul was just defending himself because you put him on blast in front of 690,000 people so you know he has a right to retort if he feels like it it's super strange given that you seem to love something I also love and brought into the world I'm just trying to make entertainment I'm glad some of it has really engaged you I'm sorry everything we do doesn't hit you I get you're doing your gig but why be a jerk about it and this reply didn't go down well I mean the ratio of 38 replies versus five likes and the kinds of things people are saying in response like dude this is not a good look like again there was nothing personally directed at Randy Pitchford Paul is just someone who's passionate about the franchise and with that same passion means that when something disappoints to the degree that the Borderlands movie did he will Express opinions about that and that's within his right to do so and he also just was reporting that yeah the Borderlands movie just earned very little money $9.3 million globally so far and then later you know 16 Point whatever million dollars uh that those are just facts like that's just those are just the numbers that are out there based on the performance of the movie that that's not a personal attack that's just literally uh unrefuted opinion about the Artistry of the movie or whatever that's just what happened and so Randy has to be able to just accept that that's what happened and you know if there's a chance to make another Borderlands movie in the future sure then hopefully feedback will be taken uh appropriately and and they will make a movie that appeals to who that kind of movie should appeal to the Borderlands fans and and really like double down on the Borderlands identity don't PG-13 FY it don't like remove yourself from the story too much like really honor the source material because people fell in love with the source material and a big screen adaptation should really stick to the source material or um it you know do the other approach of like craft your own unique story for the movie while capturing the vibe of Borderlands that's what Fallout did uh it is canonical and it takes place like after all the games uh and with that they were able to tell unique stories with unique characters that allow them a certain level of creative freedom you can take that approach or you can do what the Last of Us did and they just essentially almost one to one retold the story of the game and they honored The Source material for the most part and in some areas I think they even improved aspects of of uh what the original game did um like what they did with Bill and the expansion to that story I I think it really worked um among other things so yeah I don't know that's just kind of my personal uh breakdown of why I believe things played out the way they did and why Randy Pitchford isn't helping by you know calling out one journalist who decided to be very blunt as someone who played the Borderlands games was a fan and just was not impressed by the movie and certainly isn't impressed by it's factual bombing like that again that's just what happened um it its Financial results are just really terrible um and that's something worth evaluating and um learning from so yeah that's kind of everything you need to know about the latest rang the Borderlands movie it's probably the last I'll talk about it and probably uh we won't hear about it ever again really uh given that it's kind of fallen off into irrelevancy and we'll likely see an unceremonious end unfortunately like I would have Lov for the Borderlands movie to be the thing that fans wanted and for it to have launched a great success but alas you can't make all of them uh major successes um but I I I am uh curious to see what Future video game adaptations will be made and I think the ones are that are Done Right are done so well that I I kind of look forward to them and and hopefully if the quality stays at that level for some of the more beloved IPS um hopefully we can look forward to more but that's one man's take let me know in the comments below what your thoughts and opinions are on everything surrounding the Borderlands movie and to be further updated on all things gaming news reviews and discussions stay tuned right here on Yong yeah I'll see you guys next time Yong out