Gearbox founder and CEO Randy Pitchford has high hopes for the previously announced Borderlands Cinematic Universe – and says we could be getting an update pretty soon.
"I think it's reasonable to imagine that we will start talking about the next Borderlands movie here. Maybe before the end of the year, we'll see. Maybe sooner. But we are we are working very hard," Pitchford tells 12DOVE. "And I have the biggest and best team that I've ever had working on what we know is exactly what our fans want from us. So I'm very, very thrilled. I can't wait to talk about it. I wish I could just gush right now."
Back in February, Pitchford revealed that the upcoming live-action Borderlands movie is set to kick off a cinematic universe that "lives side-by-side" with the video game universe (not unlike Amazon's Fallout TV series).
When asked about the absence of OG Borderlands characters Brick and Mordecai in the movie, which centers on Lilith (Cate Blanchett) and Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), Pitchford explained that it was too hard to fit "everyone's favorite characters into one movie." The solution? Put them in the next one.
"The answer is, well, man, I really hope there's more than one movie. But you have to start somewhere and you have to focus on something. And I'll tell you, it's been difficult for me because sometimes when you find what your story needs to be, you just have to commit to it. And the characters – they live and breathe on their own at a certain point," he explains. "Yeah, we create them. I've created some of our characters and our storylines. But they have their own lives and you have to let them tell you what to do, you know what I mean? I would be thrilled beyond belief for them to be appearing in future Borderlands movies or video games."
In the live-action adaptation, directed by Eli Roth from a screenplay he penned with Joe Crombie, Lilith reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora to retrieve a bounty in the form of a little girl named Tiny Tina, daughter of supervillain Atlas (Edgar Ramirez). There she meets up with Krieg (Florian Munteanu), Roland (Kevin Hart), Claptrap (Jack Black), and Dr. Patricia Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis). Together they embark on a dangerous journey to save the fate of the universe.
Borderlands hits theaters on August 9. For more, check out our ever-growing list of upcoming video game adaptations.
