It looks like Hostel director Eli Roth will be making the Borderlands film
You know, from Cabin Fever
The long-forgotten Borderlands film might actually be making some headway, as Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford tweeted that Eli Roth has joined the team to direct it. Roth is known for making a fair few horror flicks (as well as that one weird family film where Jack Black plays a warlock that saves the world), so, yeah, no idea what his link is with Borderlands really.
Pitchford deleted the tweet announcing all the new film stuff this almost immediately - but the internet never forgets, Randy.
Props to Kotaku for speedily grabbing this screenshot before Pitchford got rid of the evidence:
"Welcome to the Borderlands family!" reads the slightly terrifying photoshopped image of shirtless Eli Roth wielding a Psycho's buzz axe. The director is pretty well-known for his horror films Cabin Fever and Hostel - the latter of which I've just remembered I've seen and it's a complete gore fest. It was one of those horrors I watched when I was definitely too young to watch horrors. Oh god how did I not remember this, I'm watching the trailer now and it's so gruesome.
...But I digress, Borderlands is pretty gory I suppose, even if it's just cartoon gore. Maybe Roth is pretty well-placed to make the Borderlands movie after all.
We've known a screen adaptation of the Borderlands games has been in the works since 2015, but there's been so little info on it, it seemed like it probably wasn't happening. The film is supposedly in development with Lionsgate, with the help of producers Avi and Ari Arad, who previously worked on films like Iron Man and Spider-Man.
"The Borderlands games don't pull any punches, and we’ll make the movie with the same in-your-face attitude that has made the series a blockbuster mega-franchise," said Lionsgate Motion Picture Group co-chairs Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger (*deep breath*) back when it was originally announced.
Pitchford's tweet also revealed that we're going to hear more about the Borderlands movie on February 27th during the Gearbox Theatre Show at PAX East, so keep your eyes peeled next week for more info.