Cate Blanchett’s video game flop Borderlands becomes a streaming hit

March 1, 2025

Cate Blanchett‘s video game movie Borderlands may have flopped in cinemas, but people have been more keen to check it out as part of a streaming subscription.

The 2024 film, directed by Eli Roth and based on the Gearbox Software series of games, was added to Prime Video UK this week and is currently the service’s most popular movie here (and fourth piece of entertainment overall, behind TV shows Reacher, Invincible, and Doubters to Believers – Liverpool FC: Klopp’s Era).

cate blanchett as lilith, kevin hart as roland, ariana greenblatt as tiny tina, florian munteanu as krieg and jamie lee curtis as tannis in borderlands — Lionsgate

At the box office, the film was a notorious bomb, making just $33 million against a production budget reported to be well above $100 million.

It also reviewed really badly, despite having a cast that includes Blanchett, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Hart, and Jack Black.

Reviews were scathing for the film too, with it debuting to a positive score of just 7% on Rotten Tomatoes, although it’s since risen to a slightly better 10%.

Digital Spy‘s own review states that the impressive cast is wasted thanks to a weak script and a watering down of the humour. We wrote that Borderlands “feels like a film for kids, but even if that’s the case, that doesn’t excuse the lack of humour and compelling characters, and those failings can’t be outgunned by the strong visuals…

“Borderlands feels like it could have been an outrageous bombastic romp. Instead, it’s more of a trudge through a noisy desert with some cosplayers.”

Another recent video game adaptation, Uncharted, has also been made available to watch at home, with Channel 4’s streaming service showing the movie, which stars Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, for free.

Borderlands is available to stream now with a Prime Video subscription, or can be bought/rented through various digital retailers. It is also available on various physical formats.