Just when video game adaptations were starting to break free from the stigma of poor adaptations, Borderlands flopped. Borderlands, based on the RPG looter shooter series developed by Gearbox Studios, had an easy path to success. Borderlands is known for being hilarious, but still capable of telling engaging stories. Its colorful dog-eat-dog universe is fun to explore and its uncountable number of guns ensures there are surprises around every corner.
Sadly, despite a star-studded cast, the Borderlands movie failed to properly bring the franchise to live-action. Borderlands hit for the Triple Crown of video game adaptation failures: panned by critics, panned by fans of the series, and performed poorly at the box office. With the 45th Golden Raspberry Awards coming March 1, Borderlands has a chance to secure video game adaptation infamy – become the first video game adaptation to win “Worst Picture” at the Razzies.
”Worst Picture” & Other Borderlands Razzie Nominations
Borderlands Is Already In Exclusive Company
In total, Borderlands is nominated for six Razzies, which ties the record for most among video game adaptations with the Uwe Boll classic BloodRayne at the 27th edition of the Razzies in 2007. Borderlands is also the fifth video game adaptation to be nominated for multiple Razzies as well as the first among those five not to be directed by Uwe Boll.
Borderlands is just the third video game adaptation to be nominated for “Worst Picture” following BloodRayne and In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale. Its competition is stiff, however. Headlining the Razzie nominations is Joker: Folie à Deux, who leads the event with seven nominations. Joker: Folie à Deux as well as fellow nominee Madame Web both become the subject of immense scrutiny and memes, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Razzies lean into that and award either with “Worst Picture.” Borderlands is also competing with Reagan, about former US President Ronald Reagan, which was heavily panned and likened to a propaganda film deifying the former president as opposed to one that navigates the complexities of his presidency. It’s worth noting that the Razzies have made political statements with their award winners in the past, which could continue here. Lastly, Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis saw a problematic production including sexual misconduct accusations toward Coppola himself, which Coppola has denied.
In comparison, Borderlands is nothing more than just a poor movie, which doesn’t make it stand out compared to other candidates. Even if Borderlands doesn’t win “Worst Picture,” it can still make video game adaptation history through its other awards. The only video game adaptations to ever win a Razzie were In the Name of the King and Postal, both along with Tunnel Rats winning the same “Worst Director” award for Uwe Boll in 2009. With even a single win, including from “Worst Director” nominee Eli Roth, Borderlands can be just the third Razzie winner, the first non-Uwe Boll winner, and the first solo Razzie winner for a video game adaptation.
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For her role as Lilith, Cate Blanchett was nominated for “Worst Actress.” This is the first Razzie nomination for the two-time Oscar winner who won “Best Supporting Actress” in The Aviator and “Best Actress” in Blue Jasmine. Blanchett has also received four other nominations for “Best Actress” and two other nominations for “Best Supporting Actress” throughout her illustrious career. Despite fan complaints that Blanchett was “too old” for the role of Lilith, her performance did receive some praise from critics, although nowhere near enough to save the film or its awkward writing.
“Worst Supporting Actor” has a double dose of Borderlands nominees – Jack Black as Claptrap and Kevin Hart as Roland Greaves. Jack Black, who has become a fixture in video game adaptations, is also nominated for “Worst Actor” as Satan in Dear Santa. Hart’s nomination is interesting as his role as Roland is a more stoic and serious character than viewers have come to expect from the actor. It’s an admirable effort, but it makes one wonder how much better, or at least funnier, Borderlands might’ve been had Hart just played a typical Hart role. Hart and Black are competing with Shia LaBeouf (Megalopolis), Tahar Rahim (Madame Web), and Jon Voight (Megalopolis, Reagan, and a slew of other films).
Lastly, Borderlands received a nomination for “Worst Screen Combo” for “Any two obnoxious characters (but especially Jack Black).” Borderlands is competing against “Any two unfunny ‘comedic actors'” from Unfrosted, “The entire cast of Megalopolis,” Joaquin Phoenix & Lady Gaga from Joker: Folie à Deux, and Dennis Quaid & Penelope Ann Miller from Reagan. So up and down the nomination list, Borderlands has its work cut out for it just to pick up even a single award.
Other Video Game Adaptations To Previously Receive Razzie Nominations
It’s Not As Common As One Would Think
There has been no shortage of bad video game adaptations, and it’s surprising to learn how underrepresented they’ve been at the Razzies. Sure, they’re abundant low-hanging fruit, but there have definitely been films and performances worthy. Yet it took until the 22nd ceremony in 2002 before any video game adaptation received a nomination of any kind. That (dis)honor goes to Angelina Jolie as “Worst Actress” for her role as Lara Croft in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider alongside her role as Julia Russell/Bonny Castle in Original Sin. Jolie would be nominated again for her role as Lara Croft a few years later for Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life.
It took until the 26th ceremony in 2006 for Uwe Boll to begin to leave his mark as Alone in the Dark became the first video game adaptation to receive multiple nominations. Alone in the Dark was nominated for “Worst Director” for Uwe Boll and “Worst Actress” for Tara Reid as Aline Cedrac. Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson also received a “Worst Actor” nomination for his role as Asher “Sarge” Mahonin in Doom, which wasn’t a Uwe Boll film.
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The following year, BloodRayne became the first of three video game adaptations nominated for “Worst Picture.” Two years later, video game adaptations finally received their first and only Razzie wins to date in the 29th ceremony in 2009. The fantasy film In the Name of the King bombed both critically and commercially despite a cast that includes Jason Statham, Ron Perlman, Matthew Lillard, Burt Reynolds, Ray Liotta, and John Rhys-Davies. Meanwhile, the political satire film Postal, which is ironically considered one of Uwe Boll’s best films, was criticized for its tastelessness and general lack of humor. Both films combined won Uwe Boll the “Worst Director” Razzie.
Despite being the poster child for terrible video game adaptations, Uwe Boll commented on Borderlands’ box office numbers. On X, Uwe Boll mocked Borderlands saying, “Ha ha. My movies were rated R and made more money than this. Now you wish I Directed.” When a user responded that his movies actually performed worse, Uwe Boll responded with data about his films’ illegal downloads to show that the the money earned from his films plus the money lost through illegal downloads adds up to more. Uwe Boll did not cite a source for his data.
Video Game Adaptations Are Still Trending Upward
It Makes Borderlands’ Failures Stand Out More
Astonishingly, between Uwe Boll’s Razzie win and Borderlands’ nominations, a video game adaptation has only received one nomination – Milla Jovovich as Alice in Resident Evil: Retribution in 2013. Much of this can simply boil down to the lack of interest in nominating a video game adaptation such as Warcraft, Assassin’s Creed, or Hitman: Agent 47. On the flipside, video game adaptations have entered a golden age.
In 2023, The Super Mario Bros. Movie became the first video game adaptation to gross $1 billion, more than tripling the previous highest-grossing video game adaptation (Pokémon Detective Pikachu). Both 2019’s Detective Pikachu and 2016’s The Angry Birds Movie are frequently seen as the “turning of the tide” films for video game adaptations for live-action and animation, respectively. That momentum carried over into the Sonic the Hedgehog films. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 boasts the highest Rotten Tomatoes score of any live-action video game movie with 86% alongside 2021’s Werewolves Within. In the past, video game adaptations have struggled to hit 50 or above on either Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic, but it’s become a more regular occurrence in recent years.
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Yet, it’s the small screen where video game adaptations have truly shined. Netflix has produced numerous animated video game adaptations including Castlevania and Arcane: League of Legends. Arcane notably became the first streaming series to win the Primetime Emmy Award for “Outstanding Animated Program.” Arcane also took home the award for “Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation.” As for live-action shows, both The Last of Us and Fallout were nominated for “Outstanding Drama Series” with both still taking home Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards such as Nick Offerman winning “Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series” for his role as Bill in The Last of Us.
So is Borderlands the worst video game adaptation ever? Probably not. Maybe the day will even come when it garners cult status like the original Super Mario Bros. or Street Fighter. However, the recent success of video game adaptations could be a large reason why Borderlands’ failures garnered significant attention as well as its Razzie nominations. Video game adaptations are no longer expected to be terrible, so when a movie like Borderlands releases, it makes it stand out far more than any video game adaptation in recent memory.
Time will tell if Borderlands truly does make cinema history. Even if it doesn’t, it’ll certainly be used as an example of what not to do when adapting a video game going forward.
