Take-Two CEO claims dire Borderlands movie actually “helped” franchise

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick wasn’t too phased by the Borderlands movie’s lack of critical and box office success, even claiming the film “helped” the franchise overall.

There’s no two ways about it, the Borderlands movie has gone down as one of the least successful video game adaptations of all time. Panned as the “worst movie [of 2024],” the film generated just $31 million during its time in theaters around the globe.

Losing almost $100 million when the production and marketing budgets are factored in, it’s ended up as one of the worst flops in recent history. An A-list cast of Hollywood stars like Jack Black and Kevin Hart wasn’t enough to help fans overlook its discrepancies from the source material.

However, despite being universally panned and losing the production companies involved a nine-figure sum, the publisher of the Borderlands games doesn’t appear all too concerned. In fact, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has claimed the movie’s performance actually helped the game series.

Ahead of Take Two’s November, 6 earnings call, Zelnick spoke with IGN about the performance of the Borderlands movie. While admitting that on the whole, it was a “disappointing” endeavor, he explained how the brief theatrical run impacted the games in a meaningful way.

“It actually sold more catalog,” Zelnick said. “So I don’t think it hurt at all, if anything, I think it may have helped a little bit.”

Promoting video game sales is often a key factor behind big-screen or silver-screen adaptations in the first place. Be it Sony’s Emmy-winning The Last of Us series on HBO or Ninentdo’s massively successful Super Mario Bros. Movie, they all help push consumers toward the source material, and Borderlands was no different, even in spite of criticism against it.

While it may not have been a critical darling or generated tens of millions at the box office, the Borderlands movie allegedly still accomplished its goal of generating new fans for the series overall.

This all comes in the lead-up to Borderlands 4, the first mainline entry in the FPS series since 2019. The new sequel is expected to arrive at some stage between late 2025 and early 2026.