Take-Two chief Strauss Zelnick hopes audiences give Borderlands film 'a chance'
Strauss Zelnick, CEO of video game publisher Take-Two, is urging audiences not to judge the 'Borderlands' movie on the negative reviews from critics.
Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick has urged audiences to give the 'Borderlands' movie "a chance".
The video game adaptation – which has been directed by Eli Roth and stars Cate Blanchett and Jack Black – has been savaged by critics but Zelnick wants viewers to make their own minds up about the picture.
Speaking to IGN, the gaming boss said: "Let's give the film a chance. A lot of people worked really hard on it.
"The underlying intellectual property is phenomenal, the cast is amazing, I think the look and feel is really terrific. So let's see what audiences have to say."
Zelnick also stressed that the success or failure of the film will not have an impact on Take-Two or the future of the 'Borderlands' franchise on consoles.
He said: "But to answer your question, no, the performance of the film wouldn't have a financial impact on us or on the franchise one way or another."
Zelnick says that Take-Two is "really selective" about deciding which games to allow for screen adaptations and declared that the publisher will "probably maintain" this approach in the future.
He said: "It's not really core to us."
Cate explained that the 'Borderlands' film is "fun, fun, fun" but acknowledged that it is unlikely to be considered a cinematic masterpiece to rival the likes of 'Citizen Kane'.
The 55-year-old star told USA Today: "People say, 'Oh, that was a flop' or 'that was a hit.' But sometimes the films we hold up as the greatest of all time were not financial or audience successes, yet they’ve become classics.
"I’m not saying ‘Borderlands’ is a classic! It’s fun, fun, fun, but it’s not 'Citizen Kane!'"
