Take-Two CEO calls the Borderlands movie a 'disappointing,' but it helped sales of the game.

The Borderlands film was verybad. It was so bad that the film ended its theatrical run with only $31 million worldwide, which is nothing when compared to a production budget of $115 million. It's barely enough money to cover the $30m marketing costs. Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two, is being generous by calling it "disappointing", rather than a crime.

Zelnick, who spoke to IGN before yesterday's Take-Two earnings report, was able find a silver-lining. "Clearly, that movie was disappointing. It did, however, sell more catalogue. I don't believe it hurt; I think it helped a bit. It does highlight a point that I have spoken about numerous times, namely the difficulty in bringing our intellectual properties to another medium."

Zelnick is generally cautious about adaptations. He considers them major risks, which could harm the game they're based upon--at least if it flops. It seems that this has not been the case for Borderlands. Take-Two has net bookings of over $1.47 billion. The Borderlands series is one of its main contributors. Players for each game have seen a sharp increase since the release of the film.

It's a pretty impressive result for a film that we called "Tasteless mushiness that no one seemed to be interested in saving." When I've watched some dreck I don't often ask "Where can I buy more of this slop?" All these sales don't necessarily come from people who have just seen one of the worst movies of the year. The launch of the series and the marketing that surrounded it undoubtedly increased interest in the series, even among those who didn't waste money on a movie ticket.

Zelnick's remarks are in stark contrast with what he said when the film was released, while he was still promoting it. Zelnick told IGN, "Let's not give up on the film." "Many people worked very hard on it. The intellectual property is fantastic, the cast is incredible, and I think the overall look and feel of the film is terrific. Let's see what the audience has to say."

This strategy didn't work out. While the movie didn't do well with critics, the response from those who saw it was more positive than the consensus. The Rotten Tomatoes critic score is a dismal 3%, but the audience score is 51%. Utter madness.

I doubt that we'll see a sequel. Borderlands 4 is still in the works and is expected to be released in 2025.