The new Borderlands film adaptation suffered an unprecedented decline in ticket revenue from its first to second weekends in theaters. Revenue for the Eli Roth directed film, based on the popular video game franchise of the same name, dropped by 72% in its second weekend compared to its debut.
That drop surpasses all other major wide release movies so far in 2024. After opening to just $8.6 million domestic earnings, Borderlands took in only $2.35 million in its second weekend. This plunged the film from fourth to ninth place at the box office.
Experts note such a steep decline is very concerning given the film’s reported $110-120 million budget. To date, global ticket sales have totaled only $18 million, far short of recouping the production costs for a big-budget movie of this scale.
Both critics and moviegoers have rejected the Borderlands adaptation, which stars Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Jamie Lee Curtis. It holds a dismal 9% approval rating from reviews on the Rotten Tomatoes website. Audience surveys found only a mediocre 52% liked the film. Opening night viewers even gave it a rare “D+” rating on the CinemaScore survey.
Analysts say on this trend Borderlands could become one of the biggest box office flops of 2024. It has already surpassed early disappointments like Madame Web and Argylle, which dropped 61.4% and 64.2% in their second weekends.
A bright spot is that international pre-sales are said to have covered around 60% of the film’s budget. However, this does little to salvage its poor critical reception and tepid ticket sales domestically.
The massive failure continues a pattern of big budget video game movies struggling to find audiences. As the summer blockbuster season continues, all eyes will be on movies like Kraven the Hunter and The Crow to see if they can avoid a similar fate.
