Lionsgate CEO Dissects ‘Borderlands’ Bust: ‘Everything That Could Go Wrong Did Go Wrong’

Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer was frank about the poor results of his studio at the box office recently, most notably “Borderlands,” which has shaped up to be one of the year’s biggest critical and commercial busts and led to the studio’s motion picture division generating a mere $2.6 million in profit for the quarter.

“Nearly everything that could go wrong did go wrong: it sat on the shelf for too long during the pandemic, and reshoots and rising interest rates took it outside the safety zone of our usual strict financial models,” Feltheimer said on an earnings call on Thursday.

Produced on a $120 million budget that was co-financed by Lionsgate with Avi Arad Productions, Picturestart, and 2K Games, “Borderlands” is an adaptation of the hit video game series of the same name and featured an ensemble cast that includes Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Ariana Greenblatt and Jamie Lee Curtis. But critics and “Borderlands” fans alike panned the film, leading to it grossing just $33 million worldwide.

While “Borderlands” was the most high-profile bust, Lionsgate suffered poor box office performance from multiple other films that, while not costing the studio much money due to its fiscally responsible strategy of foreign presales, slate financing deals and digital-first marketing spends, didn’t make them much money either.

Among the busts was Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis,” which Lionsgate only paid for the distribution rights for, and which only grossed $7.6 million in the U.S.. The studio’s recent remake of “The Crow” was also a bust with $9.2 million, as was “Never Let Go” with just $10.3 million grossed.

Feltheimer noted that those films, “though cushioned by financial models that worked as intended, didn’t live up to either our standards or our projections.”

“The success of our financial models doesn’t take the place of also getting the creative right,” said Feltheimer.

The CEO believes that they will get the creative right next year under the leadership of motion picture group chief Adam Fogelson. In 2025, Lionsgate’s slate includes the “John Wick” spinoff “Ballerina,” the Aziz Ansari/Keanu Reeves comedy “Good Fortune,” and the highly anticipated Michael Jackson biopic “Michael,” which moved its release from Easter weekend to October.

Lionsgate also has projects in development that include “Housemaid” starring Sydney Sweeney, “Fairytale in New York” starring Ke Huy Quan, a remake of “American Psycho” from director Luca Guadagnino, and Francis Lawrence’s next “Hunger Games” film, “Sunrise on the Reaping.”

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