Lilith (Cate Blanchett), an infamous bounty hunter with a mysterious past, reluctantly returns to her home, Pandora, the most chaotic planet in the galaxy. Her mission is to find the missing daughter of Atlas (Edgar Ramírez), the universe’s most powerful S.O.B. Lilith forms an unexpected alliance with a ragtag team of misfits – Roland (Kevin Hart), a seasoned mercenary on a mission; Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), a feral pre-teen demolitionist; Krieg (Florian Munteanu), Tina’s musclebound protector; Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), the oddball scientist who’s seen it all; and Claptrap (Jack Black), a wiseass robot. Together, these unlikely heroes must battle an alien species and dangerous bandits to uncover one of Pandora’s most explosive secrets. The fate of the universe could be in their hands – but they’ll be fighting for something more: each other.
2013’s ‘The Green Inferno.’ Photo: Open Road Films.
A group of student activists travel from New York City to the Amazon to save the rainforest. However, once they arrive in this vast green landscape, they soon discover that they are not alone… and that no good deed goes unpunished.
Jack Black in ‘The House with a Clock in Its Walls.’ Photo: Universal Pictures.
When ten-year-old Lewis (Owen Vaccaro) is suddenly orphaned, he is sent to live with his Uncle Jonathan (Jack Black) in a creaky (and creepy) old mansion with a mysterious ticking noise that emanates from the walls. Upon discovering that his uncle is a warlock, Lewis begins learning magic, but when he rebelliously resurrects an evil warlock he must find the secret of the house and save the world from destruction.
(L to R) Lorenza Izzo, Keanu Reeves and Ana de Armas in ‘Knock Knock.’ Photo: Lionsgate.
When a devoted husband and father (Keanu Reeves) is left home alone for the weekend, two stranded young women (Lorenza Izzo and Ana de Armas) unexpectedly knock on his door for help. What starts out as a kind gesture results in a dangerous seduction and a deadly game of cat and mouse.
A group of five college graduates rent a cabin in the woods and begin to fall victim to a horrifying flesh-eating virus, which attracts the unwanted attention of the homicidal locals.
Amanda Barker “Lizzie”in Thanksgiving’ from TriStar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group, LLC Thanksgiving.
After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts – the birthplace of the holiday. Picking off residents one by one, what begins as random revenge killings are soon revealed to be part of a larger, sinister holiday plan.
Opening in theaters on August 9th is the new action-comedy ‘Borderlands’, which is based on the popular video game of the same name and was written and directed by Eli Roth (‘Thanksgiving’).
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with writer and director Eli Roth about his work on ‘Borderlands,’ the challenges of adapting a video game, cracking the story, the all-star cast, and making movies outside of the horror genre.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch the interview.
Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about the challenges of adapting a video game and cracking the story for ‘Borderlands’?
Eli Roth: Well, the story, that was producer Ari Arad and Randy Pitchford, who spent a long time with different writers trying different permutations until they settled on this story, and then that’s when they came to me. So, one of the things we talked about was how do we change stuff and adapt it from a video game to a movie, but I had the game creator Randy with me there the whole time. There are certain things that you obviously want to be faithful to, like the costumes, the design, the guns, the tech. There are certain things that are beloved in the game, and we could fill the movie with Easter eggs, but obviously in casting the movie, you’re going to cast people in real life that look different than the characters in the game. So that’s the first thing. It’s a very, very violent game, but to render the universe at this scale, the studio wants to make a PG-13 movie, and I wanted to make something for the nine-year-old boy in me that if this is a movie, if you’ve never played the game before and you take kids to go see at 10 or 11-years old, they’re going to laugh their ass off and have a great time. I wanted something that was just totally bonkers, a movie that was unhinged and fun. You can just turn off your brain, grab a bucket of popcorn and have a good time.
Moviefone: Did you play the game for research, and what did you like most about the source material?
ER: It’s so fun. Yes, I did play the game. I’m terrible at games, so I had to have Christy Pitchford take me through the game co-playing with her. But I love it. I love the sense of humor. Randy Pitchford and I are of the same age and have the same influences, whether it was ‘Mad Max’ or ‘Escape from New York’ or ‘Star Wars’. I love the creatures. I love the sense of insanity. I love the world. I love the detritus of the world. They’re trying to make something beautiful out of it and the trashed planet, and it made me think of ‘The Fifth Element’ and what I saw in that movie, and just the colors of that film and the Gaultier costumes that just blew my mind. So, to get to render something at that scale, I want it to feel like you took all your fluorescent pink neon clothes, put them in the dryer, sprinkled in some glitter, and then it just exploded everywhere and caught fire at the same time. So that was the idea of rendering something that didn’t look like any other movie you had seen before.
MF: Can you talk about putting together this terrific cast of actors?
ER: I had an amazing experience working with Cate and Jack on ‘The House with a Clock in Its Walls’, the kid’s movie I did with Amblin, and Cate was the first one I called. I said, “I’m making this insane kind of spaghetti western space opera, fun sci-fi video game adaptation, and I need someone to be a total badass, like Clint Eastwood in ‘The Man with No Name’ or Snake Plissken in ‘Escape from New York’,” and she’s like, “I’m in. Let’s do it.” So, Cate learned to twirl guns. She wanted to shoot, she wanted to do her own stunts. We put her in a harness, she was 100 feet in the air on wires. Then I said, “All right, what if you grab a flamethrower and you light these guys on fire?” So, Cate, she learned to do it. She’s really shooting a flamethrower in that scene. So, it was incredible. Once you have Cate, she’s actor bait. Everybody wants to act with Cate. So, I called Jack right away, said, “She’s going to be a pissed off bounty hunter, and you’re the annoying robot,” and he’s a big ‘Borderlands’ player, so he knew Claptrap, he was all in. Then Jamie Lee said she wanted to play Tannis, which was my first choice and she said yes. he’s like, “You had me at Cate Blanchett.” So, it’s great to be able to unite those screen icons in a movie, and the two of them became close friends. Everyone bonded on this movie. We were shooting in the pandemic, so there was a curfew in Budapest. We weren’t allowed out after 8:00pm, and the world of ‘Borderlands’ became our reality. So, everybody got close. We made lifelong friends on that movie, and you can feel that bond with the characters on screen.
MF: Finally, you are probably best known for making horror movies. But do you also enjoy working in other genres?
ER: I do. I love it. I’ve noticed, if I do too many horror films in a row, I start to get burnout. So, whether I switch and made my documentary ‘Fin’ about saving sharks or ‘Death Wish’, which is completely different, it’s good for me to switch it up and challenge myself creatively and learn new skills. You learn something every time, every day on set. Every shot, you’re learning something new. So, it’s great. I shot ‘Thanksgiving’ after ‘Borderlands’, so I learned how long the post-production is on ‘Borderlands’. So, it’s good for me to go back and forth, but obviously horror movies are my passion and my love. But if you do too many in a row… I never want to get tired of doing it.
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What is the plot of ‘Borderlands’?
Bounty hunter Lilith (Cate Blanchett) is hired by interstellar business mogul Atlas (Edgar Ramírez) to find his missing daughter and the soldier-for-hire, Roland (Kevin Hart), who was sent to rescue her. The mission takes Lilith back to her ruined home planet, Pandora, where she reluctantly teams with Roland, a muscleman named Krieg (Florian Munteanu), a loopy scientist named Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), a wisecracking robot (Jack Black), and the girl herself, Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), to battle monsters and vicious marauders while searching for a secret that could unleash unimaginable power.
A loud, clattering, off-brand mash-up of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ ‘Mad Max: Fury Road,’ and other recent tentpoles, ‘Borderlands’ is based on the hugely successful first-person shooter video game franchise launched in 2009 by Gearbox Software. Fans of the game can assess how faithful the movie, mostly directed by horror auteur Eli Roth (‘Thanksgiving’), is to the game, but as a film this fails on a number of levels.
‘Borderlands’ is simply dull, thanks to a bland script and setting, cheap-looking production values, and a cast that seems terrific on paper but veers between performances that are either bored or overwrought. Filmed more than three years ago in the spring and summer of 2021, ‘Borderlands’ collected dust until Tim Miller (‘Deadpool’) came on to direct reshoots in early 2023 when Roth proved unavailable. Either way, with recent video game adaptations like ‘Fallout’ and ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ earning praise for their approach to translating their games to the screen, ‘Borderlands’ is a disappointing throwback, a film that looks and plays like it came out of the 1990s, right down to the crappy CG and the pounding heavy metal needle drops.
As Cate Blanchett’s expository voice-over tells us at the beginning, a long-extinct alien race named the Eridians used to rule the galaxy, leaving behind some powerful artifacts hidden in secret “Vaults” throughout the cosmos that ruthless corporations like Atlas and Dahl, along with independent “Vault Hunters,” are interested in obtaining. Blanchett herself plays Lilith, a bounty hunter who is hired by Atlas himself (Edgar Ramirez) to ostensibly find his kidnapped daughter, Tina (Ariana Greenblatt). She’s gone missing on the planet Pandora (yes, same name as the planet in the ‘Avatar’ movies) along with the soldier sent to retrieve her, Roland (Kevin Hart).
Pandora also happens to be Lilith’s home world, and when she arrives there she finds it to be devastated by corporate mining and colonization efforts, with gangs of former prison laborers known as Psychos now roaming the land. She also finds Tina in short order, along with Roland, but the girl does not want to be rescued and shows her resistance by hurling explosive stuffed bunnies in Lilith’s direction. Nevertheless, Lilith, Tina, and Roland eventually team up – along with Tina’s self-styled bodyguard and former Psycho Krieg (Florian Munteanu), an eccentric scientist named Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), and a motormouth robot named Claptrap (voiced by Jack Black) – to block Atlas’s real agenda, which is to find a Vault hidden on Pandora and unlock the unimaginable power stored within.
The problem with ‘Borderlands,’ as with many video game adaptations, is that the movie must do a lot of world-building in a short period of time, leading to things like that voice-over narration and reams of expository dialogue. ‘Borderlands’ falls victim to this early on, mixing and matching characters from various editions of the game in a stop-and-start narrative that either comes to a crashing halt to explain its convoluted mythology or races from one frenetic action scene to another without balancing the two effectively. This leaves no room for any real character development, and while a pro like Blanchett tries hard, the cast falls into the ‘lovable band of rogues and misfits’ trope without doing anything to make it unique.
The movie is also hampered by its production values, which look cheap, constricted, and derivative despite a reported $120 million budget. Set on a world devastated by indifferent corporate colonizing, the movie looks like it was shot in perhaps two quarries made to look like junkyards (one character even asks at one point if there’s a way to escape that doesn’t involve schlepping through garbage). The post-apocalyptic wasteland has been done to death, and the fact that the Psychos resemble extras from the recent ‘Mad Max’ movies doesn’t help.
If Roth (or Miller) isn’t shooting in one of the film’s two junkyards, then they’re staging sequences in murky underground corridors and hallways that cinematographer Rogier Stoffers can’t solve. The result is an especially drab film all around. Adding to the problems, ‘Borderlands’ is rated PG-13, so Roth isn’t able to indulge his proclivities for copious amounts of blood and gore; the choppy editing suggests that much of this is being held back for a future ‘uncut’ release.
A finale laden with mediocre CGI only exacerbates the sense that this is a production where things went south pretty quickly, and the movie rapidly descends into a kind of numbing, generic rhythm that is thankfully only ameliorated by its relatively brief 100-minute runtime.
We’re not exactly sure how Cate Blanchett got roped into this, although she and Jack Black both starred in Roth’s slapdash 2018 Y/A fantasy, ‘The House with a Clock in Its Walls.’ Whatever her reasons, we’re not going to place this among the Australian actor’s finest performances. She’s good, never less than professional, but at times she doesn’t seem to know how seriously she should be taking any of it, and her CG-infused arc near the end of the film just ends up looking silly.
Jack Black has no such problems: for one thing, he’s never onscreen since he’s the voice of the R2-D2/BB-8 hybrid robot known as Claptrap, and as such gets the film’s best and funniest lines. Claptrap acts as a commentator on the action, edging close to a ‘Deadpool’-like breaking of the fourth wall (although it never happens) and offering up a stream of patter that alternates between sarcastic quips and ill-time bursts of into. But even Black’s energetic routine gets wearisome after 100 minutes or so of listening to Claptrap babble on.
We’re not sure what Jamie Lee Curtis is doing as the usually reliable actor plays Tannis as a weird combination of loopy and wearily cynical, with the two sides of her admittedly thin personality never meshing well. Kevin Hart is curiously low-energy, although he does pull off a few decent action moves, and while we dislike giving the thumbs-down to a young actor, Ariana Greenblatt (‘Barbie’) delivers an incredibly annoying, tic-laden performance as Tiny Tina, a character so poorly developed and inconsistently written that her central role in the story makes her faulty work even more grating.
We should have known we were in trouble the minute we saw Avi Arad listed as a producer on ‘Borderlands.’ While Arad was instrumental in the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he was long gone by the time it became a cultural phenomenon. He’s instead continued to plunder his stake in the Sony Spider-Man Universe with lackluster misfires like the ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ and ‘Venom’ films, along with 2002’s equally forgettable adaptation of the ‘Uncharted’ video game.
‘Borderlands’ fits neatly into that filmography as a generic, soulless sci-fi actioner that really lacks any sort of distinctive personality or creative spark (a quick online search reveals that fans of the game are also disgruntled with what they’ve seen of the movie via trailers and clips). And while Eli Roth is no one’s idea of a great filmmaker, he’s out of his element here and unable to deploy the deliberately sleazy horror/exploitation tropes that at least make films like ‘Hostel’ and ‘The Green Inferno’ identifiable as his. ‘Borderlands’ is simply product, manufactured to cash in on a successful property without any understanding of what makes that property popular or why it should appeal to non-gamers.
‘Borderlands’ receives 2.5 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘Borderlands’?
Bounty hunter Lilith (Cate Blanchett) is hired by interstellar business mogul Atlas (Edgar Ramírez) to find his missing daughter and the soldier-for-hire, Roland (Kevin Hart), who was sent to rescue her. The mission takes Lilith back to her ruined home planet, Pandora, where she reluctantly teams with Roland, a muscleman named Krieg (Florian Munteanu), a loopy scientist named Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), a wisecracking robot (Jack Black), and the girl herself, Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), to battle monsters and vicious marauders while searching for a secret that could unleash unimaginable power.
Bill Skarsgård in ‘The Crow.’ Photo Credit: Larry Horricks for Lionsgate.
Preview:
Lionsgate brought the likes of ‘The Crow’ and ‘Borderlands’ to CinemaCon.
Stars including Henry Cavill and Halle Berry promoted their new movies.
The studio revealed several movies that have yet to lock down release dates.
Following a somewhat subdued and honestly lacking 2023 presentation, Lionsgate has a much more packed release schedule this year.
With movies such as the new take on ‘The Crow’, video game adaptation ‘Borderlands’ and an actual update on ‘John Wick’ spin-off ‘Ballerina’ –– there is plenty for the company to drum up excitement for.
But before talking about the movies coming in 2024, there was a chance to tease even further in the future, with confirmation of ‘Shang-Chi’ director Destin Daniel Cretton adapting the ‘Naruto’ manga and anime, the third ‘Now You See Me’ in development with Ruben Fleischer directing and, even more intriguingly, Jason Blum’s Blumhouse working on a new ‘Blair Witch Project’ and Margot Robbie intending to make a ‘Monopoly’ movie with her LuckyChap company.
‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ opens in theaters on April 19th. Photo Credit: Daniel Smith.
The upcoming release of Guy Ritchie’s World War II based-on-truth spy action thriller gave the company the chance to also tease his early 2025 release, which we now know is called ‘In The Grey’ and features criminals who work in a gray area of the world, somewhere between right and wrong.
Henry Cavill was brought out on stage to promote ‘Ministry’ and ‘In The Grey’, which he’s also appearing in. ‘In The Grey’ will see him once more appearing alongside ‘Ministry’s Eiza Gonzalez, with the addition of Jake Gyllenhaal and Rosamund Pike. It’s a heist thriller that looks slick and fun.
And because he’s Mr. Lionsgate right now, Cavill also talked up the ‘Highlander’ reboot movie series that has Chad Stahelski in the director’s chair.
According to Cavill, the new movies will dig much deeper into the lore of the characters and the world in ways the previous films did not. “I’m a lover of the original movies, for better or for worse, and it’s one of those things where when I was reading the script for the first time I wasn’t quite too sure where they were going to go with it.”
He also teases that, “If you thought you’ve seen me do sword work before, you haven’t seen anything.” Showoff!
‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ opens next week on April 19th, ‘In The Grey’ will be in theaters on January 17, 2025. The ‘Highlander’ movie has yet to score a date.
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The presentation then moved on to a quick look at…
Director Renny Harlin’s ‘The Strangers: Chapter 1.’ Photo: Lionsgate Films.
The reboot of the horror franchise comes from Renny Harlin and kicks off a fresh trilogy.
This first new movie follows what happens when a couple driving cross-country to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest sees their car break down and is forced to spend the night in a secluded rental, where they are terrorized from dusk till dawn by three masked strangers.
A trailer was shown, but you can see the previously released version below.
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‘The Strangers: Chapter 1’ will be in theaters on May 17th.
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Onwards to what the studio is no doubt hoping will be one of its heavy hitters in an era where video game adaptations are ruling the genre roost…
Bill Skarsgård in ‘The Crow.’ Photo Credit: Larry Horricks for Lionsgate.
The presentation for the supernatural thriller remake begins with a lot of talk about how the new movie draws more from James O’Barr’s graphic novel source material more closely than the 1994 adaptation.
With Rupert Sanders directing this one, the cast includes Bill Skarsgård, FKA Twigs and Danny Huston in the story of a couple who are murdered when the woman’s past catches up to her, only for the guy to be brought back to mystical life to take violent revenge on the criminals responsible.
The new trailer for the movie played to the room, which vastly improved on the first. It’s a lot grittier and more violent and spends a little more time building up the relationship between Skarsgård and Twigs and then being told, “The Crow will guide you to put the wrong things right. Kill them. Kill them all…”
We watch our hero getting into impressive scraps and needing to rebuild his body after a nasty encounter with traffic. Could this turn around word on the new movie?
It’s the story of a family who have been haunted by an evil presence for years –– or at least, that’s what their mother claims –– begins to question the truth of their situation. Berry talked about how she’s an adrenaline junkie who grew up loving ‘The Shining’ and looked to be part of a story she’s never seen before.
And she also mentioned going Full Method to play an overprotective mother who lives with her kids in a cabin in the woods –– including learning to skin a squirrel.
The movie features Dave Bautista as an assassin who falls for Sofia Boutella and looks to start a family. But then alas! He’s diagnosed with a fatal disease, so to help those around him avoid the pain of a long illness, he takes out a contract on his own life… until he learns he was misdiagnosed and learns that the contract is still valid –– and a lot of his former colleagues (including an enthusiastic killer played by old ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ pal Pom Klementieff) are still looking to collect.
‘Day Shift’s’ J.J. Perry is behind this one, and it looks fun, but it has yet to confirm a release date.
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Now, to one people might have something to say about…
‘Flight Risk’
A thriller directed by Mel Gibson and starring Mark Wahlberg? Yeah, surely that won’t be controversial.
Still, the film, which features Wahlberg as a scenery-chewing mob hitman who takes over piloting a charter flight transporting a prisoner (Topher Grace) to New York to stand trial had a footage reel. The biggest thing to draw attention appeared to be Wahlberg’s accent and hair…
‘Flight Risk’ is still being edited, so it has yet to announce a release slot.
It’s the story of Ansari’s struggling Los Angeles-based assistant, who is visited by a “budget guardian angel” (how could Reeves be a budget anything?), who helps him find meaning and value in his life. And how is that accomplished? A body-swap twist with Rogen’s wealthier sort, so both can see how the other half lives.
When you have Ansari behind your movie, you naturally have him come out on stage to be funny, and so he does, poking fun at Henry Cavill and how theater owners (the primary crowd here) frequent strip clubs in Vegas.
He also tells a story about Keanu Reeves –– a man who has survived ‘Matrix’ and ‘John Wick’ movies ending up on crutches while shooting this film… by tripping on a rug on his way back to his trailer. He kept on working, shooting everything bar one dance sequence, for which Ansari, in a moment of genuine gratitude, described him as an actual angel.
‘Good Fortune’ is another movie without a release date in place.
Keanu Reeves as John Wick in ‘John Wick: Chapter 4.’ Photo Credit: Murray Close.
The ‘Wick’ spin-off starring Ana de Armas as an assassin has been the subject of much speculation, most pointedly because it has been delayed more than once.
After little to talk about on this one last year, the company had more to say on this one, including extra details on how the release delays allowed director Len Wiseman to go in an add extra action scenes.
The first trailer for the film screened which, to no-one’s surprise, includes Reeves’ appearance as John Wick in the movie. And, also less than surprising, it factors in the High Table, the Continental, and some key cast from the franchise. From the looks of it, Reeves’ Wick will be training de Armas’ character.
‘Ballerina’ will land in theaters on June 6th next year.
Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson in ‘Michael.’ Photo Credit: Kevin Mazur
It’s still in production, so director Antoine Fuqua couldn’t make it to Vegas, but Lionsgate still wanted to make sure we all know the Michael Jackson biopic is on the way next year. Producer Graham King (who has no little experience with musical movies about big stars after ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’) was on hand to offer a first look. Behind-the-scenes buzz-builder ahoy!
King revealed that the movie will feature more than 30 songs from Jackson’s oeuvre, and that it’ll dig into various aspects of his life in music and beyond. How far it’ll probe still remains to be seen, but King seemed confident in the filmmakers’ approach.
‘Michael’ is due to arrive on April 18th next year.
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Oscar-nominated actor Colman Domingo to portray Jackson Family Patriarch Joe Jackson in Lionsgate and Universal Pictures International’s Michael Jackson biopic ‘Michael.’
There has been some disturbed chatter in the last couple of days about video game adaptation ‘Borderlands’, which ‘Hostel’ and ‘Cabin Fever’ director Eli Roth shot way back in 2021 (it was long enough ago that star Cate Blanchett has had time to shoot ‘Tár’, which has just hit theaters).
But with word that Roth has stepped away from the film ahead of some re-shoots, there was naturally concern that it’s all gone a little wrong and that the director has somehow been fired.
Lionsgate is stepping up to do a little damage control and now comes word via Deadline that it’s more to do with a schedule clash.
Roth, you see, is finally ready to make the full-length movie ‘Thanksgiving’, spawned from a fake trailer he made to contribute to Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’ ‘Grindhouse’.
It was popular enough that there was talk of a full movie based on the trailer, but while Roth has sometimes mentioned it, he’s finally ready to make it a reality.
‘Thanksgiving’––in fake trailer form at least––features a slasher who makes his own carving board out of the inhabitants of a Massachusetts town during the annual turkey day. One of the pivotal scenes involved Roth himself, separated from his head while in the throes of passion with a date in a convertible.
(L to R) Director and actor Eli Roth and Brad Pitt in ‘Inglourious Basterds.’
Now, of course, there could be more to it than anyone is willing to admit––given the long post-production process of ‘Borderlands’, surely there has been time for Roth to schedule making ‘Thanksgiving’ so that it doesn’t clash with ‘Borderlands’. But movie shooting schedules can be tough to figure out with so much that needs to happen, so perhaps it really is just timing.
Still, the addition of Tim Miller––who last made ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’––is an interesting one. He’s got plenty of experience with the sort of effects load that might be involved in even re-shoots of something along the lines of the game adaptation.
‘Borderlands’ adapts the popular game title and stars Blanchett as Lilith, an infamous outlaw with a mysterious past, reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of the universe’s most powerful man Atlas (Edgar Ramirez).
Lilith forms an alliance with an unexpected team – Roland (Kevin Hart), a former elite mercenary, now desperate for redemption; Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), a feral pre-teen demolitionist; Krieg (Florian Munteanu), Tina’s musclebound, rhetorically challenged protector; Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), the scientist with a tenuous grip on sanity; and Claptrap (Jack Black), a persistently wiseass robot.
These unlikely heroes must battle alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find and protect the missing girl, who may hold the key to unimaginable power. The fate of the universe could be in their hands – but they’ll be fighting for something more: each other.
Naturally, ‘Borderlands’ has yet to announce a release date, but it’ll certainly need to impress to keep up with the current trend of successful movies and shows based on games.
Cate Blanchett as treasure hunter Lilith in Lionsgate’s ‘Borderlands.’
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(L-R) Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves attend the Lionsgate CinemaCon presentation in support of ‘John Wick: Chapter Four’ at the Colosseum Theatre in Caesar’s Palace on April 28th, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo by Eric Charbonneau.
Tasked with the final studio presentation of this year’s CinemaCon event, Lionsgate brought its biggest gun – and fist, foot, or anything else that can be turned into a weapon.
We’re talking, of course, about Keanu Reeves’ John Wick. And Reeves was at the event in person to show the first full trailer for ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’. Though the ‘Wick’ footage didn’t open the event, it was one of the clear highlights.
The trailer is full of everything ‘Wick’ fans might be looking for – more of the title character taking on fellow assassins using all manner of violent tactics, including, in this case, nunchuks.
‘John Wick: Chapter 4’, which opens on March 24th, 2023, stars Reeves, Donnie Yen, Laurence Fishburne, Bill Skarsgård, and Ian McShane. Chad Stahelski, who directed the previous three films, is back behind the camera, and joined the star to present the movie.
Reeves described the ‘Wick’ franchise as “a celebration of fight choreography, balletic action and storytelling that can only happen through movement.” Then the actor and director discussed their long creative partnership – which stretches back to the latter being Reeves’ stunt double on the ‘Matrix’ franchise, while Stahelski enthused about paying tribute to action icons through the ages in this latest installment.
The footage was predictably crazy, with Stallone crashing a plane through a tunnel and plenty of fighting. ‘Expend4bles’, with Scott Waugh directing, is still awaiting a formal release date, but should be in theaters this year.
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Eli Roth’s video game adaptation ‘Borderlands’ also brought some impressive footage to the presentation, which included Cate Blanchett in a bright red wig, toting a gun and fighting her way through a vibrantly colored cityscape. Kevin Hart also appeared as did Jack Black voicing the robot Claptrap who unexpectedly takes a bullet from Blanchett’s gun but keeps on chatting.
As for the synopsis? Lilith (Blanchett), an infamous outlaw with a mysterious past, reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of the universe’s most powerful S.O.B., Atlas (Edgar Ramirez). Lilith forms an alliance with an unexpected team — Roland (Hart), a former elite mercenary, now desperate for redemption; Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), a feral pre-teen demolitionist; Krieg (Florian Munteanu), Tina’s musclebound, rhetorically challenged protector; Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), the scientist with a tenuous grip on sanity; and Claptrap (Black), a persistently wiseass robot. These unlikely heroes must battle alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find and protect the missing girl, who may hold the key to unimaginable power. The fate of the universe could be in their hands — but they’ll be fighting for something more: each other.
‘Borderlands’ will blast into theaters on a date still to be decided this year.
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Comedian Sebastian Maniscalco emceed the presentation, which also included footage from his upcoming autobiographical comedy ‘About My Father’. Maniscalco co-wrote and executive produced the movie, in which Robert De Niro plays his father. In the pic, Maniscalco tells his old-school Italian immigrant father Salvo that he is going to propose to his all-American girlfriend, Salvo insists on crashing a weekend with her wealthy parents.
Talking about his upcoming movie, and the origins for it, Maniscalco said, “I wanted to make a movie where you could take the family. I didn’t think this thing was going to be made. I can’t believe Robert De Niro is playing my father in this movie. It hurt my feelings when I heard Leonardo DiCaprio should play me.”
‘About My Father’ doesn’t yet have a release date scheduled.
This initial glimpse of the Judy Blume classic in movie form drew plenty of laughs (and a few squirms) of recognition as the footage revealed coming-of-age challenges, sex education classes and teenage girls chanting that they must improve their bust.
The movie arrives on September 16th.
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Then there was ‘White Bird: A Wonder Story’, which is set in the same universe as the 2017’s heartwarming hit ‘Wonder’. Adapted again from the work of author R.J. Palacio (this time his graphic novel), it follows Julian (Bryce Gheisar), who was one of the kid who bullied Auggie (Jacob Tremblay) in the original film. He’s been expelled and is now trying to fit into a new private school.
In the story, Julian gets a visit from his Grandmère from Paris (Helen Mirren) who was a child in Nazi-occupied France. She tells the story of how she went into hiding, helped by a young man from her school, who took a huge risk in doing so. Together they find love and compassion.
‘White Bird: A Wonder Story’ is due in theaters on October 14th.
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Lionsgate wrapped up their event with one more big title, one that many had almost forgotten was still happening: the prequel to the ‘Hunger Games’ movies, ‘The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’.
With Francis Lawrence back to direct (he handled three of the original ‘Games’ movies), the prequel is set years prior to the original movies. We meet the 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow, who would become the tyrannical President of Panem. The young Snow sees a chance for a change in fortunes when he is chosen to be mentor to Lucy Gray Baird, the girl tribute from impoverished District 12.
No other information about the movie (which is now shooting) was given, other than the news that it’ll be in theaters on November 17th next year.
Jennifer Lawrence in 2012’s ‘The Hunger Games.’
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