The tone surrounding Lionsgate's quarterly earnings report on Thursday was a somber one, and the studio's CEO didn't mince words when talking about some of its recent missteps. Specifically, Lionsgate's Jon Feltheimer addressed "the poor box office performance of Borderlands," the critically reviled adaptation of the beloved looter-shooter games. Releasing this past August after a long development and production period, it quickly became an inarguable flop, ending its box office run with a dismal $31 million worldwide .
"On Borderlands, nearly everything that could go wrong did go wrong," Feltheimer admitted on the call. "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 usually strict financial models." He added that several of their other releases in the quarter, "though cushioned by financial models that worked as intended, didn't live up to either our standards or our projections.
" Feltheimer is likely referencing the studio's recent remake of The Crow , which topped out at just $50 million worldwide. Feltheimer told investors that the box office disappointments "reflected an environment with less margin for error than ever before," although he did express more hope for the future. Specifically, he brought up films like next year's John Wick spinoff Ballerina, as well as a new Hunger Games film coming in 2026 .
The CEO's comments are only the latest recent reflection on the now fairly infamo.