Time For Some EXPLOSIONS! Lionsgate Developing Movie Based On Borderlands Franchise

When a game like Borderlands is as funny as it is, as action-packed as it is, and features no shortage of interesting characters, it's inevitable that a movie is going to happen. And that's just what's going down thanks to a new partnership between Lionsgate, Take-Two, and Gearbox.

I admit - as a rabid fan of the Borderlands series, the thought of a movie adaption concerns me. It seems like the amount of great movies that have transitioned well from a game are few, and perhaps could be counted on one hand (thanks for dragging that ratio down, Uwe Boll!) But, this production does have one trick up its sleeve: it has Avi Arad producing it.

"Who's Avi Arad?", you ask? Well, he's none other than one of the best producers of superhero movies out there. His producer career started out in 1993 with films like Double Dragon, and throughout the years, he's added a slew of great movies to his belt, including 2008's Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, and 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Simply put, if anyone can do the Borderlands franchise justice on the big screen, it's Avi Arad. I should also note that as with a few previous films, Avi will be joined by his son Ari for Borderlands' production work.

This game just begs to be made into a movie!

Randy Pitchford, Gearbox's President and co-founder has lots of confidence about the upcoming film, stating, "It is the passion of the fans driving the growing success of Borderlands that brought what I believe to be the best team of film producers, marketing and distribution experts in the world together to deliver the exciting story and unique characters of Borderlands to the big screen."

I sure hope his words prove true.

What's interesting to note about this film is that Borderlands itself was originally inspired by another film, a 9 minute short called Codehunters. While Gearbox's Randy Pitchford never admitted to copying it, he did admit that his team were "inspired" by it. One can't imagine that Codehunters' creators are too thrilled about seeing Borderlands come full circle like this.