1badmf wrote on Aug 12, 2024, 19:08:
personally can't believe someone decided to even make a big budget film out of borderlands. it's an ok game with no story to speak of. i don't see any material that could conceivably be made into a film. i think that's the root problem here - it's an IP with no recognition outside of a small subset of gamers, and frankly the trailers just look stupid.

While the story for most of the games is pretty basic, it's no worse than lots of adventure movies that get made: a group of rag-tag characters with disparate abilities come together to defeat a powerful overbearing enemy (corporation, cult, etc.) and save the world. It's basically Star Wars, Seven Samurai, etc. The series has several games and countless DLCs worth of lore and IP development that could have been formed into a great story in the right hands. There are unique characters, factions, a variety of environments, a distinct look and culture, etc. There are even important themes like the effect of greed and corporatism on the environment, or the evil of cults. There's more here than say for something like Pirates of the Caribbean. It just sounds like they hired a crap director and didn't spend much effort on the script, pitfalls which can affect any franchise, as seen recently in both the Marvel and Star Wars series.

Quboid wrote on Aug 12, 2024, 17:13:
I get the impression that having so many people involved was a big part of the problem. Eli Roth rewrote much of the script that had been written by the Last Of Us series writer, and Roth made an R rated film. Then someone else came in and did reshoots to make it more family friendly.

As a fan of the games, learning the rating turned me off way before the reviews started coming in. How in the southern-fried fuck did they arrive at the conclusion that the movie should be anything less than a hard 'R,' when the franchise's identity is so firmly rooted in gory violence and profanity-laden toilet humor? And to then think that this would be a solid start for some kind of Borderlands Cinematic Universe?

Roth was an idiotic choice to begin with. 70% of the films he's made have less than 40% on RT, including one that has a perfect 0%.

It's Uwe Boll 2.0.

personally can't believe someone decided to even make a big budget film out of borderlands. it's an ok game with no story to speak of. i don't see any material that could conceivably be made into a film. i think that's the root problem here - it's an IP with no recognition outside of a small subset of gamers, and frankly the trailers just look stupid.

I can't do a side by side comparison of the two because I haven't seen Borderlands for myself. I have recently been rewatching "Fallout" (second viewings are my personal way of ensuring that my initial impression was correct or if I need to reevaluate). The Fallout show, against all odds, is spectacular TV and is completely faithful to the spirit of the property. From the casting alone, the comparison of "Fallout" and "Borderlands" illustrates a stark difference. I have zero complaints about the costumes; they are impeccable honestly. Claptrap's visual representation is perfect. The look of the world in trailers, while being something that I have heard criticized, I find very appealing myself. But the casting, the more I think about it, is about as bad as it could conceivably have been short of making Hart play Lilith's character. The presentation gives off the feeling that they said "we nailed the look so that is good enough." No, it isn't.

Cutter wrote on Aug 12, 2024, 17:30:
I'm with BoP. Profit is no indicator of quality. JC's Avatar sucked. The story was some seriously weak ass sauce.

It's one useful, quantifiable benchmark though.

Most Hollywood movies tend to follow a predictable, recycled formula over and over again, so Avatar is hardly unique there...

I watched the first Avatar by JC, and while I thought it was quite good, I found the story forgettable and the movie somewhat overrated. However, there's no denying that the special effects were pretty damn good for their time. I haven’t seen the sequel—or is it sequels now?—because I’m not particularly drawn back to that world.

That said, I’m puzzled as to why someone would single out Avatar as an example of a "pile of sh*t." By most metrics (well, besides one own personal opinion), it was actually very well done. On the other hand, from just watching the trailer, it’s clear that Borderlands seems poorly executed in almost every aspect—acting, humor, casting, and writing included.

So no, they aren't even remotely comparable. But yeah, the internet is a funny place!

Now Spiderman movies on the other hand, the perfect remedy to Insomnia

Prez wrote on Aug 12, 2024, 15:40:
A movie that costs 100 million dollars to make needs to make 250 million dollars in order to break even. 2.5 times it's budget is generally what is used widely to calculate a movie's profitability nowadays. It used to be that whatever a movie didn't make at the box office still could be made up in DVD sales. That's not the case anymore. I have yet to see a single review anywhere that doesn't call this a terrible film. This film is going to lose tens of millions if not a hundred million dollars or more. The casting is pretty awful but that could be forgiven if so much else wasn't wrong from what I have read.

The movie cost $115 million to make and an additional $30 million to market and distribute.
Adding those costs together means Borderlands' US performance over the weekend earned it about 6% of what it cost.

60% of its production budget has already been covered by international presales — which only leaves approximately $58 million (again, combining production and marketing/distribution costs) to find after the fact before the cash starts flowing into the coffers.

I'm with BoP. Profit is no indicator of quality. JC's Avatar sucked. The story was some seriously weak ass sauce.

Flatline wrote on Aug 12, 2024, 14:40:

I *might* have gone and watched it but with movie tickets costing 21-23 dollars for a regular ticket (and 16 or so for a matinee) I have just decided I'm not going to take risks on movies in theaters. I'm glad I passed, but I'd be so upset if I dropped 20 bucks on this POS.


All across America CEO's of chain theaters and movie studios are struggling to understand why attendance is down. What could it be?

theglaze wrote on Aug 12, 2024, 14:12:
$100 million budget. How can so many people be involved, and a pile of shit still releases to the big screen?

I get the impression that having so many people involved was a big part of the problem. Eli Roth rewrote much of the script that had been written by the Last Of Us series writer, and Roth made an R rated film. Then someone else came in and did reshoots to make it more family friendly. That's three people with significant creative input but very different visions. Having something change hands like this pretty much only guarantees bland, unfocused garbage.

Of course having a sole creative lead is no guarantee of a good movie and this seems have plenty of other problems. I gather the characters are generic action archetypes with only surface level connections to the game characters. I don't believe a movie adaption needs to be faithful to the source material to be good, but if it's a shit movie and it's unfaithful then it's going to get extra flak.

Burrito of Peace wrote on Aug 12, 2024, 15:05:
I find it a little humorous that the first thing people run to use in defense about anything is how much money something generated.

Not whether it was quality entertainment or told a good story well or even that it was a sound product in its own right.

Y'all keep carrying that water. Those billions will trickle down to you, personally, any day now. Any. Day.

A movie that costs 100 million dollars to make needs to make 250 million dollars in order to break even. 2.5 times it's budget is generally what is used widely to calculate a movie's profitability nowadays. It used to be that whatever a movie didn't make at the box office still could be made up in DVD sales. That's not the case anymore. I have yet to see a single review anywhere that doesn't call this a terrible film. This film is going to lose tens of millions if not a hundred million dollars or more. The casting is pretty awful but that could be forgiven if so much else wasn't wrong from what I have read.

I find it a little humorous that the first thing people run to use in defense about anything is how much money something generated.

Not whether it was quality entertainment or told a good story well or even that it was a sound product in its own right.

Y'all keep carrying that water. Those billions will trickle down to you, personally, any day now. Any. Day.

HoSpanky wrote on Aug 12, 2024, 14:48:

Flatline wrote on Aug 12, 2024, 14:43:

Burrito of Peace wrote on Aug 12, 2024, 14:17:

theglaze wrote on Aug 12, 2024, 14:12:
$100 million budget. How can so many people be involved, and a pile of shit still releases to the big screen?

Happens all the time. Avatar ring a bell?

Avatar made 3 billion dollars worldwide dunno what you're talking about.

I love how you all think James Cameron's Avatar is the one being talked about here.

Edit: Although honestly, there's no "Avatar" film that's actually GOOD, the two James Cameron ones are MASTERPIECES compared to M Night Shyamalan's attempt at taking an entire season of a tv show and squeezing it into a movie.

I can think of 5 billion reasons why we assumed you were talking about Cameron's Avatar, and not Shyamalan's, but only one matters.

And yes, The Last Airbender was a massive flop. If the budget actually was $150 million, it doubled that in box office.

I don't see Borderlands netting +$200 million, but there's opportunity for international dubs and subs to at least improve upon the dialog.

Flatline wrote on Aug 12, 2024, 14:43:

Burrito of Peace wrote on Aug 12, 2024, 14:17:

theglaze wrote on Aug 12, 2024, 14:12:
$100 million budget. How can so many people be involved, and a pile of shit still releases to the big screen?

Happens all the time. Avatar ring a bell?

Avatar made 3 billion dollars worldwide dunno what you're talking about.

I love how you all think James Cameron's Avatar is the one being talked about here.

Edit: Although honestly, there's no "Avatar" film that's actually GOOD, the two James Cameron ones are MASTERPIECES compared to M Night Shyamalan's attempt at taking an entire season of a tv show and squeezing it into a movie.

Burrito of Peace wrote on Aug 12, 2024, 14:17:

theglaze wrote on Aug 12, 2024, 14:12:
$100 million budget. How can so many people be involved, and a pile of shit still releases to the big screen?

Happens all the time. Avatar ring a bell?

Avatar made 3 billion dollars worldwide dunno what you're talking about.

Burrito of Peace wrote on Aug 12, 2024, 14:17:

theglaze wrote on Aug 12, 2024, 14:12:
$100 million budget. How can so many people be involved, and a pile of shit still releases to the big screen?

Happens all the time. Avatar ring a bell?

Wat?

Avatar: The Way of Water
Budget: $350–460 million
Box office: $2.320 billion
Worldwide opening of $441.7 million (domestic $134 million)

Saboth wrote on Aug 12, 2024, 13:09:
When I heard about it, I got excited. Then I saw the previews. None of the casting made any sense at all, and while it looked sorta like Borderlands, it didn't give me a good feeling. Glad to see my Movie-Sense tingling wasn't off, but it's a shame because now there will be fewer movies based on video games. But then again, it's like Hollywood has no idea how to write or direct game-based movies.

I *might* have gone and watched it but with movie tickets costing 21-23 dollars for a regular ticket (and 16 or so for a matinee) I have just decided I'm not going to take risks on movies in theaters. I'm glad I passed, but I'd be so upset if I dropped 20 bucks on this POS.

theglaze wrote on Aug 12, 2024, 14:12:
$100 million budget. How can so many people be involved, and a pile of shit still releases to the big screen?

Happens all the time. Avatar ring a bell?

$100 million budget. How can so many people be involved, and a pile of shit still releases to the big screen?