Mega-budget 2024 film with unlikely Rotten Tomatoes score climbs Amazon Prime Video chart

A video game adaptation that bombed last year has found lots of fans on Amazon Prime (Picture: Lionsgate)

A film with a reported budget of $145,000,000 (£113,038,834) that was one of 2024’s biggest flops has found a new audience as it leaps up the Amazon Prime Video chart.

Boderlands is a star-studded movie adaptation of the popular video game franchise, starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Jamie Lee Curtis, Gina Gershon, Ariana Greenblatt and Édgar Ramírez. 

Directed by Eli Roth and pitched as sci-fi action comedy, the film bombed upon release in August, finishing its theatrical run after grossing just $33m (£26.2m).

It also debuted with a shocking 0% score from critics on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, where it was branded an ‘epic fail’, although that has moved up to 10% in the following months.

Borderlands follows a ragtag team of misfits, including Lonewolf bounty hunter Lilith (Blanchett), soldier Roland (Hart), xenoarchaeologist Dr Tannis (Curtis) and pre-teen demolitionist Tiny Tina (Greenblatt), on a mission to save a missing girl who holds the key to unimaginable power.

The movie was added to Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service in the UK as free to subscribers near the end of February, when Anthony Mackie’s sci-fi thriller Extraction was still dominating the charts.

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But now Borderlands is one of the most-watched films on the platform, having soared to the number one spot in the UK as of Tuesday, before being bumped down to second on Wednesday by football documentary That Peter Crouch Film.

It is also currently the sixth most popular title on the platform for movies and TV combined.

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‘Honestly I don’t get the hate for this movie, I actually liked it,’ Noah A shared on Rotten Tomatoes, where the film has a stronger 49% rating from audience reactions.

‘This movie is awesome and one of those rare films I can watch twice in a week,’ wrote Barry A, while Stitch O added: ‘Great fun! People are way too harsh, I love the games and this was a fun adaptation.’

Borderlands’ star-studded cast included Cate Blanchett as infamous bounty hunter Lilith (Picture: Katalin Vermes/Lionsgate)

The same sentiment was echoed in other reviews, as one fan penned on Google: ‘Look, this film isn’t a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but if you want an entertaining popcorn flick, this is it.’

‘Borderlands: The Movie is an absolute thrill ride from start to finish, perfectly capturing the chaotic charm of the beloved video game series. As someone who has played all the games multiple times, I was blown away by how faithfully the movie brought the world of Pandora to life,’ insisted Ashley in her fan review.

When it was released in cinemas, critics had described it as ‘a deeply terrible film’, ‘lousy’ and ‘awful, awful stuff’.

‘Video game movie adaptations have spewed out some serious clunkers over the years. But even by the lamentable standards of the genre, Eli Roth’s reshoot-plagued Borderlands is abysmal,’ wrote Wendy Ide in her review for The Observer, while Lucas Paul-Hill for the Daily Express commented: ‘Borderlands is just too unbearable and confusing to even recommend as ‘so bad it’s good’ cinema.’

The movie was blasted as ‘unbearable’ and ‘lousy’ by critics, but fans have defended it as it becomes one of the most-watched titles in the UK (Picture: Lionsgate)

Borderlands is currently riding higher in the Prime Video charts than Sir Christopher Nolan’s newly-added The Dark Knight and Batman Begins, which are at three and four respectively.

The Dark Knight Rises can be found at number seven, while divisive new steamy romance My Fault: London, a Prime Original, is at six.

Borderlands is streaming on Amazon Prime Video now.

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