Borderlands Movie Gets Director Eli Roth, Chernobyl Writer Craig Mazin

Borderlands is prepped to be the latest in a long line of video game movie adaptations, and now it has a director. A flick based on Gearbox Software’s looter shooter was announced by Lionsgate in 2015 without much detail, but now the studio has revealed that horror director Eli Roth (Hostel, The House with a Clock in Its Walls) will be leading the project. What’s more is that the Chernobyl-writing, Emmy-winning Craig Mazin also penned the Borderlands movie’s script.

Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford preemptively announced the director’s new gig on Twitter yesterday by accident before quickly deleting the post. Pitchford made sure to send out the same tweet today, now with the news being made official.

I’m very excited to welcome Eli Roth as Director of the Borderlands movie in development with Lionsgate and Arad Productions. Please welcome @EliRoth to the team and be sure to catch the @GearboxOfficial Main Theater Show at #PAXEast  on 2/27 to learn more. #borderlandsmovie pic.twitter.com/Uaxs7jm10i

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) February 20, 2020

Roth has since released a statement regarding the news: “I’m so excited to dive into the world of Borderlands, and I could not be doing it with a better script, producing team and studio. I have a long, successful history with Lionsgate — I feel like we have grown up together and that everything in my directing career has led to a project of this scale and ambition.”

Besides knowing that we’ll learn more on Feb. 27 during a PAX East show next week, the Borderlands movie is set to be produced by Erik Feig (Mr. & Mrs. Smith), as well as Avi and Ari Arad (Iron Man) via their company, Arad Productions.

At this point, video game movies are mostly famous for being disastrous rather than successful, though the recent Detective Pikachu and Sonic the Hedgehog may be a sign of changing tides. While both movies managed to pull in a nice amount of cash worldwide during opening weekends, they have also fared decently well when it comes to critic reception. On the other side of the spectrum, however, is the Uncharted movie, which has been in a slump throughout the last decade.

Whether or not Lionsgate and Roth’s Borderlands will follow in the footsteps of successful adaptations remains to be seen. We’ll learn more during Gearbox’s PAX East presentation next week.