Borderlands' theatrical run comes to an end with just $31 millions worldwide, barely enough to cover marketing costs

The theatrical run for the Borderlands movie is over. And, like my very short career as a KFC cook, it didn't end well. Nobody is surprised. After flopping badly (I mean badly), movie industry research and data company The Numbers (via Forbes), says Borderlands managed a total of less than $31 million worldwide--a fraction what it cost to produce and market.

In some contexts, $31 million can be a lot of cash. Someone else would have written this story if I had $31 millions, for example. But what if it was a Hollywood movie starring Cate Blanchett and Kevin Hart? Or Jack Black and Jamie Lee Curtis. It's a completely different thing.

Variety estimates that the Borderlands film had a budget of approximately $115 million. Then, another $30 million was spent on promotion and distribution. If Variety is accurate (and they are usually pretty accurate about these things), then Borderlands made just enough money in theaters to cover the marketing budget.

It's bad. But how bad? Google's movie comparison feature and The Numbers can help me tell you that it's really terrible.

Presenting to you...

A List of Shitty Videogame Movies that Made More Money Than Borderlands

(in no particular order)

• Warcraft (439 millions $)
• Max Payne (88 million dollars)
• Doom (59 millions dollars)
• Street Fighter (99 Million Dollars)
• Assassin’s Creed (241 million dollars)
• The Sands of Time (336 million dollars)
• Hitman (99 Million Dollars)
• Mortal Kombat ($122 million)
• Need for Speed (194 million dollars)
• Five Nights At Freddy's (297 million dollars)
• Uncharted ($401 million)

Wing Commander is a celluloid waste that has a global gross of $11.5 million. It's a film with mediocre actors and hefty budgets. Frankly, I'm surprised that it did so well.

Borderlands can take some solace in all the wailing and gnashing over box office receipts. It beat anything Uwe Boll ever did, the infamously terrible director of infamously awful videogame films. He dunk the film on August. Boll's House of the Dead earned only $14 million at the global box office. Its production budget, however, was only $7 million. In the Name of the King, a Dungeon Siege Tale is perhaps a better example. It starred Jason Statham and Leelee Sobieski as well as Ron Perlman and John Rhys-Davies. Claire Forlani and Ray Liotta also appeared. The film grossed about the same money at the box-office than House of the Dead, despite a $60 million budget. Win some, and lose some.

Borderlands may still be able to recoup some of its budget through direct-to-home streaming, despite being relegated there just three weeks after the theatrical release. Is it enough to make it a money maker? No, but "slightly less awful" is sometimes the best you can do.