Posted in: Cinemacon, Lionsgate, Movies | Tagged: Borderlands, eli roth

Extended Borderlands Footage At CinemaCon Desperately Wants To Be GotG

Lionsgate previewed new footage of Borderlands at CinemaCon, and this film wants to be Guardians of the Galaxy if the marketing is anything to go by.

Borderlands is a film that has been hanging on the shelf for a while, so when we walked into CinemaCon, we all felt that it would have a presence here. The only footage we saw of this film before the teaser release this year was at this convention via a sizzle reel, so it made sense that they would promote it here. It was all over the Colosseum when we got there for the presentation this morning, and it had a decent amount of time dedicated to it during the presentation itself. We got an extended look at the film with some new footage, and if it wasn't already apparent that Borderlands wants to be Guardians of the Galaxy, the more they release this film, the more it becomes obvious.

Now, the question comes whether or not that is a bad thing and if the vibes of the trailer are the ones that are in the film. If you remember, Warner Bros. made the stupid mistake of marketing Suicide Squad back in 2016 as if it were going to be another Guardians, but it very much wasn't. What made Guardians work as well as it did was that the dynamic between the characters felt believable, and the banter didn't feel forced. It's hard to tell whether or not that will be the case here for Borderlands because trailers can make any dynamic look a little off simply because of the editing.

That being said, if you were looking for some reassurance that things could go well with this film, the brief panel presentation did help. Most of the cast was not there as most of them are off doing other projects, but they did video in. However, director Eli Roth and Ariana Greenblatt were both there. Greenblatt shot this film before Barbie if you're wondering how long it has been since they wrapped it. However, watching her and Roth speak and hearing the stories they told together, the easygoing nature between them seemed very natural. It was funny in a way that, again, didn't seem forced and ended with Roth telling the story of standing around wasting money in front of the Lionsgate Chair of Motion Pictures, who said, "Are you sure this is the story you want to be telling right now?"

People will be looking at Borderlands with a critical eye, and not just because of the significant delays, which Lionsgate specifically cited to COVID and the schedules of the cast for why it has taken so long, but also because this is another video adaptation. As always, these always have the added challenge of changing from an interactive to an inactive medium in adaptation. However, the extended footage we saw today positions Borderlands as the more R-rated version of Guardians of the Galaxy. All the pieces that made Guardians excellent appear to be there for Borderlands; now, we need that seamless team dynamic within the characters.

Borderlands: Summary, Cast List, Release Date

Summary: In the movie, Lilith (Blanchett), an infamous outlaw with a mysterious past, reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of the universe's most powerful S.O.B., Atlas (Ramirez). Lilith forms an alliance with an unexpected team – Roland (Hart), a former elite mercenary, now desperate for redemption; Tiny Tina (Greenblatt), a feral pre-teen demolitionist; Krieg (Munteanu), Tina's musclebound, rhetorically challenged protector; Tannis (Curtis), the scientist with a tenuous grip on sanity; and Claptrap (Black), a persistently wiseass robot. These unlikely heroes must battle alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find and protect the missing girl, who may hold the key to unimaginable power. The fate of the universe could be in their hands – but they'll be fighting for something more: each other.

Borderlands is directed by Eli Roth, and the cast includes Lilith, played by Cate Blanchett, Roland (Kevin Hart), Dr. Patricia Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), Krieg (Florian Munteanu), and Claptrap (Jack Black). The film also stars Edgar Martinez, Gina Gershon, Janina Gavankar, Cheyenne Jackson, Charles Babalola, Benjamin Byron Davis, Steven Boyer, Ryann Redmond, and Haley Bennett. It will be released on August 9, 2024.

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