First Borderlands Trailer Is Full Of Chaos, Carnage, And A Bullet-Pooping Claptrap

After years of radio silence, the first trailer for Eli Roth's Borderlands movie has arrived. A loose adaptation of the Gearbox-developed games, the first proper look at the game is full of bullets, bandits, and at least one explosive tea party.

It has been a long road for the Borderlands movie, as after principal photography was completed in June 2021, there was a lengthy period of post-production work. Deadpool's Tim Miller was brought on to direct reshoots while Roth worked on Thanksgiving, a horror film based on the mock trailer seen in Quentin Tarantino & Robert Rodriguez's Grindhouse double feature.

Borderlands isn't following the plot of any of the Gearbox games for this adaptation. Instead, the film is centered around Lilith (Cate Blanchett) as she reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of Atlas, the most powerful business tycoon and arms dealer in the galaxy. Faced with bandits and hostile wildlife, Lilith teams up with former soldier Roland, demolitions expert Tiny Tina, her massive bodyguard Krieg, alien archeologist Patricia Tannis, and the motor-mouthed service droid Claptrap. Be sure to check out our Borderlands trailer breakdown for a look at everything you might have missed.

Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford said that the Borderlands film exists in a parallel Borderlands Cinematic Universe, making it separate from the story of the games. "We are authentic to characters, tone, and style, but allow for independent storylines. The mediums are not the same, so the content should not be bound to the same rules," Pitchford explained in a Q&A session in 2021.

Borderlands stars Cate Blanchett (Lilith) Kevin Hart (Roland), Ariana Greenblatt (Tiny Tina), Florian Munteanu (Krieg), Jamie-Lee Curtis (Patricia Tannis), Gina Gershon (Moxxi), and Jack Black (Claptrap). The film will hit theaters on August 9.