Lionsgate’s adaptation of the hit Gearbox Software game franchise Borderlands is taking major strides as not only did they land Eli Roth (The House With a Clock In Its Walls) to helm the adaptation but now Thor: Ragnarok‘s Cate Blanchett has entered talks to portray siren Lilith, according to Variety.
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Roth is directing the project on a script from Craig Mazin (Chernobyl), with Avi and Ari Arad set to produce through their banner Arad Prods alongside Erik Feig through his Picturestart company. Should Blanchett’s deal go through, it would mark a reunion between the Oscar winner and the director after the 2018 family fantasy horror comedy The House With a Clock In Its Walls, in which she starred alongside Jack Black (Jumanji: The Next Level).
In the games, Lilith is one of the main protagonists of the franchise as well as one of the playable characters in the 2009 franchise starter and is one of only six women in the galaxy that belong to the powerful siren class, who wield incredible superhuman abilities.
Borderlands is one of the world’s most successful video game franchises, with more than 57 million units sold-in worldwide, including over 22 million units of Borderlands 2. More than one million players every month still play the 2012 entry Borderlands 2. The most recent installment, Borderlands 3, was released in September 2019, and has already sold-in nearly 8 million units worldwide and was honored with the award for Best Multiplayer Game at Gamescom.
Production will begin on the film later this year. The Borderlands series is published by 2K.
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The film’s executive producers are Randy Pitchford, executive producer of the Borderlands video game franchise and founder of Gearbox Software, and Strauss Zelnick, chairman and CEO of Take-Two Interactive.
James Myers is overseeing the project on behalf of Lionsgate. Emmy Yu is overseeing the film for Arad Productions. Lucy Kitada will oversee the project for PICTURESTART.
