Look out, Vault Hunters! Edgar Ramirez is set to play Atlas in Eli Roth's adaptation of the uber-popular video game Borderlands. He joins Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ariana Greenblatt, Florian Munteanu, Haley Bennett, and Jack Black. In the best-selling video game franchise, Deukalian Atlas is a business titan and arms manufacturer and the most powerful person in the universe.
Per Deadline, Eli Roth's Borderlands follows Lilith (Blanchett), an infamous outlaw with a mysterious past, reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of the universe’s most powerful S.O.B., Atlas (Ramirez). Lilith allies with an unexpected team – Roland (Hart), a former elite mercenary, now desperate for redemption; Tiny Tina (Greenblatt), a feral pre-teen demolitionist; Krieg (Munteanu), Tina’s musclebound, rhetorically challenged protector; Tannis (Curtis), the scientist with a tenuous grip on sanity; and Claptrap (Black), a persistent wiseass robot. These unlikely heroes must battle alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find and protect the missing girl, who may hold the key to unimaginable power. The fate of the universe could be in their hands – but they’ll be fighting for something more: each other.
Welp, I guess that closes the book on Handsome Jack being the antagonist of Eli Roth's Borderlands, no? Perhaps they're saving him for the sequel?
“The force of Edgar’s presence and the strength of his talent as an actor make him an ideal choice to play Atlas, a character who controls the fate of so many in the Borderlands universe. He’s the perfect addition to this perfect cast,” Nathan Kahane, president of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group.
Ramirez recently played Detective Joe Mendoza for the HBO limited series The Undoing. He also stars alongside Jennifer Garner in the newly released Netflix family film Yes Day. Ramirez recently completed work on Simon Kinberg's The 355 and will star opposite Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt in Disney's Jungle Cruise. Meanwhile, he's set to star in Hagar Ben-Asher's The War Has Ended, as well as Losing Clementine, both of which are in pre-production.
Based on the best-selling PC and console gaming experience from developer Gearbox Software and publisher 2K, a wholly owned label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., "Borderlands” has sold more than 66 million units sold worldwide, including over 24 million units of “Borderlands 2,” which is the highest-selling title in the history of 2K. The most recent installment, “Borderlands 3,” which launched in September 2019 and was recently released for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, has sold in more than 11 million units worldwide and was honored with the award for Best Multiplayer Game at Gamescom 2019 and Best Ongoing Game at Gamescom 2020.
Can you believe the cast for this movie? Since when have we started taking video game adaptations this seriously? I sincerely hope that Roth and his team knock Borderlands out of the park because it sure would be nice to see Hollywood break the bank for more beloved video game franchises.
If Borderlands ends up being a hit, what games would you like to see adapted for the big screen? Personally, I'd like a movie based on Remedy Entertainment's Control, please and thank you.