Borderlands has had a movie adaptation in the works for quite a while now, having been first announced way back in 2015. Ever since, we've had occasional minor updates on where the film is currently at and how far away it is from hitting the big screen, though a release date still hasn't been locked down despite filming supposedly ending in June 2021. We've seen some vague silhouettes of characters that will appear in the movie, but that's about it.
It turns out that there may be a good reason for the movie taking its sweet time to actually release, as World of Reel (thanks Kotaku) has reported that it's currently in post-production hell. Not only that, but it's also been revealed via the Writer's Guild of America website that the movie's co-writer Craig Mazin (who you'll likely know as the co-writer of HBO's The Last of Us) has willingly had his name removed from the project entirely, instead choosing to use his writing pseudonym Joe Crombie.
It should go without saying that if someone as closely involved with a project as the co-writer wants their name removed, then chances are it's a disaster waiting to happen. It's a sign that Mazin wants absolutely nothing to do with the Borderlands movie and is trying to distance himself as much as physcially possible. That's not exactly something you do when you think you've got an Oscar winner on your hands.
Not only that, but World of Reel has also reported that a whopping ten writers have worked on the project over the course of production, which is surprising given the game's story is primarily run here and shoot thing on repeat. In addition to previous director Eli Roth, Craig Mazin, and new writer Zak Olkewicz who was brought in by current director Tim Miller, others that have worked on the project at some point include Aaron Berg, Oren Uziel, Juel Taylor, Tony Rettenmaier, Chris Bremner, Gary Ross, and Sam Levinson.
Quite how the project looks behind the scenes right now is a complete mystery, though this new info suggests it's not going great. The last meaningful update we got was the announcement that Deadpool director Tim Miller took charge of some reshoots, another sign that the film isn't shaping up the way those in charge would've liked.
It's probably best not to get your hopes up if you were expecting the Borderlands movie to be an action-packed thrill ride, and who knows if the thing will even see the light of day at this rate. Let's just hope we get either a release date or at least an official update on what the heck is going on at the moment sooner rather than later.