Borderlands Movie Failure: Eli Roth Points to COVID and Zoom as Culprits

The Borderlands movie, a 2024 adaptation of Gearbox Software’s beloved looter-shooter franchise, was poised to be a blockbuster with its A-list cast and vibrant sci-fi world. Directed by Eli Roth and starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Jack Black as Claptrap, the film aimed to capture the chaotic charm of Pandora. Instead, it became one of 2024’s biggest flops, grossing just $33 million against a $110–$120 million budget and earning a dismal 10% on Rotten Tomatoes. Now, director Eli Roth has attributed the film’s failure to the COVID-19 pandemic and reliance on Zoom calls, claiming these disrupted production. This controversy, echoing your interest in gaming adaptation woes like The Last of Us Season 2’s backlash and Oblivion’s remake leaks, has sparked debate: Are Roth’s excuses valid, or do deeper issues explain Borderlands’ demise? Let’s explore the production chaos, fan reactions, and what this means for video game movies.

Borderlands’ Disastrous Debut

Borderlands, released on August 9, 2024, follows Lilith (Blanchett), an outlaw who teams with misfits Roland (Hart), Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), and others to find a powerful girl on Pandora, per Wikipedia. The film promised the series’ signature humor, vibrant visuals, and loot-driven action, backed by a $115 million budget and $30 million in marketing, per World of Reel. Yet, it tanked spectacularly, earning $8.8 million domestically in its opening weekend—6% of its cost—and $33 million globally, a $115 million loss for Lionsgate, per GameSpot. Critics savaged it, with ScreenRant calling it a “lifeless, unfunny, visually repulsive dud” and audiences giving it a D+ CinemaScore, per Fiction Horizon.

The film’s failure stunned fans, given the franchise’s popularity—Borderlands 3 sold 8 million copies by 2020—and its star power. Your focus on Assassin’s Creed: Shadows’s success despite controversy contrasts with Borderlands’ collapse, which joins flops like Snow White’s $115 million loss you’ve tracked. On April 14, 2025, Roth broke his silence on The Town podcast, blaming COVID and Zoom for derailing production, a claim that has divided fans and critics.

Roth’s Explanation: COVID and Zoom Chaos

Filming began in Budapest in April 2021, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and wrapped in June, with reshoots in 2023 led by Deadpool’s Tim Miller after Roth moved to Thanksgiving, per Eurogamer. Roth argued that the pandemic’s restrictions—outbreaks, set shutdowns, and scattered crews—made coordinating a large-scale film impossible. “None of us anticipated how complicated things were gonna be with COVID,” he told The Town, transcribed by PC Gamer. “Not just in terms of what we’re shooting, but then you have to do pick-up shots or reshoots and you have six people that are all on different sets and every one of those sets is getting shut down because the cities have opened up, and now there’s a COVID outbreak.”

Roth emphasized that Zoom calls hindered preparation. “We couldn’t prep in a room together, I couldn’t be with my stunt people, I couldn’t do pre-vis, everyone’s spread all over the place,” he said. “You can’t prep a movie on that scale over Zoom, and I think we all thought we could pull it off, and we got our asses handed to us a bit.” This disrupted stunt coordination, pre-visualization, and reshoots, with six key crew members on different sets, per Insider Gaming. Roth also noted he didn’t oversee the final cut, as Miller handled reshoots, leaving him unsure of the outcome, per Film Stories.

X posts amplified Roth’s claims, with @IGN noting, “Borderlands director Eli Roth believes that the circumstances around the film, such as the Covid pandemic, certainly didn’t do the team any favours.” @pcgamer added, “Eli Roth on why the Borderlands movie sucked: ‘You can’t prep a movie on that scale over Zoom.’”

Fan and Critic Pushback: Beyond COVID

While Roth’s COVID argument holds some weight—2021’s Delta variant caused widespread disruptions, per GameRant—fans and critics argue it’s an incomplete excuse. ResetEra users pointed to successful pandemic-era films like Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021, $1.9 billion gross) and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (2023, $568 million), which navigated similar constraints, per Gamereactor. “COVID undoubtedly made shit worse, but it wouldn’t magically fix the plain bad writing,” one user wrote. Reddit’s r/boxoffice clarified that Roth blamed COVID for quality issues, not box office failure, but still called the film “doomed from the start” due to deeper flaws.

Key criticisms include:

Unfaithful Adaptation: PC Gamer noted Borderlands disrespected its source material, turning Tiny Tina into a “genetically engineered part-alien chosen one” and hiding Lilith’s siren identity as a twist, alienating fans. Claptrap, voiced by Jack Black, became a “budget Bender,” earning Black a Razzie nomination, per The Gamer.

Poor Casting Choices: Fans on GameRant questioned Hart as Roland, a stoic six-foot soldier, given Hart’s comedic persona and shorter stature. Blanchett, at 55, was deemed too old for the late-20s Lilith from Borderlands 2. Reddit users argued unknown actors truer to the characters could’ve driven buzz among fans.

Weak Script and PG-13 Rating: ScreenRant criticized the “generic” story, which mashed elements from multiple games, lacking character depth or the series’ anarchic humor. Roth’s push to “throw in everything” overwhelmed the plot, per Dexerto. The PG-13 rating, toning down the games’ gore, disappointed fans expecting R-rated chaos, per MovieWeb.

Production Turmoil: The film faced a decade of development hell, multiple directors, and script rewrites. Craig Mazin, co-writer, removed his name, replaced by “Joe Crombie,” a likely pseudonym, per World of Reel. Miller’s reshoots altered Roth’s vision, and Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer admitted, “Everything that could go wrong did go wrong,” per JoBlo.

X users were brutal. @Kua1sude tweeted, “He will do anything except admit that his jokes aren’t funny,” while @AzaJabar added, “What about the part you made a shit movie, abandoned it for someone else to finish it??” These echo your Oblivion remake coverage, where fans rejected Bethesda’s compromises, fearing a loss of identity.

Industry Context: A Tough Time for Adaptations

Borderlands’ failure stands out amid successful video game adaptations. The Last of Us (2023) and Fallout (2024) earned critical acclaim, while The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023, $1.36 billion) and A Minecraft Movie (2025, $550 million) dominated box offices, per PC Gamer. ScreenRant argued Borderlands’ unfaithful story and lack of fan appeal contrasted with these hits’ respect for source material. Your Assassin’s Creed: Shadows focus, where cultural debates didn’t derail sales, shows adaptations can overcome controversy with strong execution, unlike Borderlands.

The pandemic undeniably strained production. IndieWire noted that 2021’s COVID protocols inflated budgets for films like Indiana Jones 5 and Fast X, as Reddit’s r/boxoffice confirmed. Yet, ResetEra argued Borderlands’ issues—miscasting, weak script, and tonal missteps—predated COVID, with trailers signaling a “lame caricature” of the franchise. Roth’s track record, with “meh to ok” films like Hostel but no blockbusters, fueled skepticism, per ResetEra. FandomWire quipped that Roth’s refusal to admit creative flaws mirrors directors deflecting blame, like Snow White’s team amid its flop.

Silver Linings and Franchise Future

Despite its failure, Borderlands boosted game sales. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick reported doubled Borderlands 3 Steam players post-release, per Fiction Horizon. Borderlands 4, set for September 23, 2025, on PS5, Xbox, and PC, is Gearbox’s “most ambitious title,” per Tech4Gamers, offering hope for the IP, per @Game_Fragger. Roth expressed willingness to work with Lionsgate again under better conditions, per Mezha Media, but fans remain wary.

Reddit users on r/Games suggested the Borderlands universe, with its thin stories outside Borderlands 2 and Tales from the Borderlands, may not suit film, echoing @Feigned007’s X post: “There’s no way this movie was in production that long for it to be that ass.” PlaySense noted some fans, like one Dutch commenter, found it a “fun, unserious” watch, aligning with the games’ tone, but they were outliers.

Can Video Game Movies Recover?

Borderlands’ flop hasn’t killed video game adaptations. A Minecraft Movie’s $550 million haul and The Last of Us’s Emmy nods show the genre’s potential, per World of Reel. GameFragger urged studios to prioritize fan authenticity, as Sonic the Hedgehog (2020–2024) did, grossing $870 million combined. Roth’s COVID excuse, while partly valid, sidesteps creative missteps, as GamesRadar noted, risking fan trust, much like Oblivion’s visual backlash you’ve followed.

Lionsgate’s $115 million loss, per World of Reel, and Feltheimer’s admission of total failure signal caution for future adaptations. KitGuru suggested studios learn from Borderlands by ensuring cohesive visions and fan input, as Fallout’s success showed. Your Star Wars Rey movie coverage, where production woes fueled fan distrust, parallels Borderlands’ need for transparency to rebuild goodwill.

What’s Next for Borderlands?

Borderlands’ cinematic failure is a cautionary tale. Roth’s COVID and Zoom narrative, echoed by @GeekCultureCo’s “Borderlands’ Director Blames Film’s Failure On Covid And Zoom,” explains logistical chaos but not the film’s creative disconnect. Borderlands 4 offers Gearbox a chance to restore the franchise’s glory, with fans on Reddit’s r/Borderlands hyped for its September launch. For Hollywood, Borderlands underscores the need to respect source material and fans, as The Last of Us and Assassin’s Creed: Shadows did, per your interests.

As Pandora’s misfits lick their wounds, Borderlands’ $33 million disaster joins Snow White and Fantastic Four’s flops as a 2024 warning, per your tracked controversies. Whether COVID, Zoom, or Roth’s choices are to blame, the lesson is clear: in adapting beloved games, studios must wield their vault-hunting ambitions with precision—or risk a critical and commercial apocalypse.