SANTA MONICA, Calif. and NEW YORK, Aug. 28, 2015 /CNW/ -- Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), a premier next generation global content leader, is teaming with the publisher and creators of Borderlands®, and renowned producers Avi and Ari Arad to adapt Gearbox Software's critically-acclaimed blockbuster video game Borderlands into a tent-pole feature film, the parties announced today. Borderlands is an action role-playing first-person shooter video game created and developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K, a wholly owned label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO).
The award-winning Borderlands franchise has been lauded by critics and over the years has built a passionate global fan base, shipping more than 26 million copies around the world since its launch in 2009, including 8 million copies shipped during Take Two's fiscal year 2015 alone. Set in the frontier of a sci-fi universe, Borderlands is best known for Gearbox's blending of irreverent humor and characters, with a unique comic-book art style, and co-operative four-player genre-bending, loot-grabbing gameplay. It's a franchise that in the last six years has ushered in a new and popular category of first-person shooters.
The Borderlands film creative team will be led by producers Avi and Ari Arad, who are responsible for some of the most successful motion picture and television franchises in history, including Iron Man, Spider Man, The Amazing Spider Man, X-Men, Ghost Rider and Blade.
"We believe that we've brought together the right partners, the ideal creative team and the perfect property to launch a new motion picture tent-pole for a global audience," said Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Co-Chairs Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger. "Part of our strategy in entering the game space under Peter Levin has been to source new brands with built-in audiences that will translate into great films and television shows. The Borderlands games don't pull any punches, and we'll make the movie with the same in-your-face attitude that has made the series a blockbuster mega-franchise."
"Our Borderlands franchise continues to grow in popularity, and we've assembled a team with the strengths needed to introduce this amazing cross-platform property to a whole new global audience," said Take-Two Interactive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Strauss Zelnick. "Lionsgate has emerged as a major creative force in the global marketplace with an incredible portfolio of brands; our partners at Gearbox have pioneered and cultivated an iconic property; and Avi and Ari Arad are two of the most successful producers of action franchises. This alliance is ideally positioned to create a bold, provocative, no-holds-barred motion picture phenomenon that will delight Borderlands' current legions of fans and captivate moviegoers around the world."
"We're thrilled to extend our partnership with Jon Feltheimer, Michael Burns, Rob, Patrick and the amazing team at Lionsgate and join forces with Take-Two and Gearbox on this incredible property," said Avi and Ari Arad. "Borderlands has a unique story-driven narrative energy and rich multidimensional characters that position it to become a singular motion picture event."
"Creating, developing and continuing to build the Borderlands franchise at Gearbox Software has been an incredible ride where the most powerful fuel to our engine has been the astonishing outpouring of love and devotion from the fans," said Randy Pitchford, President and Co-Founder of Gearbox Software. "It is the passion of the fans driving the growing success of Borderlands that brought what I believe to be the best team of film producers, marketing and distribution experts in the world together to deliver the exciting story and unique characters of Borderlands to the big screen."
The deal was orchestrated by a Lionsgate team led by President of Interactive Ventures & Games Peter Levin, Summit Entertainment President of Production Geoff Shaevitz and Lionsgate Motion Picture Group President of Business & Legal Affairs Patricia Laucella.
ABOUT TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE
Headquartered in New York City, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is a leading developer, publisher and marketer of interactive entertainment for consumers around the globe. The Company develops and publishes products through its two wholly-owned labels Rockstar Games and 2K. Our products are designed for console systems and personal computers, including smartphones and tablets, and are delivered through physical retail, digital download, online platforms and cloud streaming services. The Company's common stock is publicly traded on NASDAQ under the symbol TTWO. For more corporate and product information please visit our website at
http://www.take2games.com
.
ABOUT 2K
Founded in 2005, 2K develops and publishes interactive entertainment globally for console systems, handheld gaming systems and personal computers, including smartphones and tablets, which are delivered through physical retail, digital download, online platforms and cloud streaming services. 2K publishes titles in today's most popular gaming genres, including shooters, action, role-playing, strategy, sports, casual, and family entertainment. The 2K label has some of the most talented development studios in the world today, including Firaxis Games, Visual Concepts, Hangar 13, Cat Daddy Games and 2K China. 2K's stable of high quality titles includes the critically acclaimed BioShock®, Borderlands™, and XCOM® franchises, the beloved Sid Meier's Civilization series, the innovative Evolve™, the popular WWE 2K franchise and NBA 2K, the #1 rated and #1 selling basketball franchise*. 2K is headquartered in Novato, California and is a wholly owned label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO). For more information, please visit
www.2k.com
.
*According to 2008 - 2015 Metacritic.com and The NPD Group estimates of U.S. retail video game sales through July 2015.
ABOUT GEARBOX SOFTWARE
Gearbox Software is respected industry wide for award winning, best-selling video games developed for all major video game platforms. Founded in 1999 and headquartered near Dallas, TX, Gearbox Software is well known for the creation, development and management of its original blockbuster video game franchises including the critically acclaimed, award winning Brothers in Arms franchise and the record-breaking, genre-setting Borderlands franchise. In addition to having developed video games in some of the world's greatest video game brands, including Half-Life and Halo, Gearbox Software has also acquired and produced content for powerful, landmark intellectual property including Duke Nukem and Homeworld. Gearbox Software's success has been supported through many key and mutually beneficial business relationships with the world's greatest video game platform and publishing partners including Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Valve/Steam, Apple and Take-Two/2K.
ABOUT LIONSGATE
Lionsgate is a premier next generation global content leader with a strong and diversified presence in motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, home entertainment, digital distribution, new channel platforms, video games and international distribution and sales. Lionsgate currently has more than 30 television shows on over 20 different networks spanning its primetime production, distribution and syndication businesses, including the critically-acclaimed hit series Orange is the New Black, the multiple Emmy Award-winning drama Mad Men, the hit broadcast network series Nashville, the syndication success The Wendy Williams Show, the acclaimed drama Manhattan and the breakout series The Royals.
Its feature film business has been fueled by such successes as the blockbuster first three installments of The Hunger Games franchise, the first two installments of the Divergent franchise, The Age of Adaline, CBS/Lionsgate's The DUFF, John Wick, Now You See Me, Roadside Attractions' Love & Mercy and Mr. Holmes, Lionsgate/Codeblack Films' Addicted and Pantelion Films' Instructions Not Included, the highest-grossing Spanish-language film ever released in the U.S.
Lionsgate's home entertainment business is an industry leader in box office-to-DVD and box office-to-VOD revenue conversion rates. Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of approximately 16,000 motion picture and television titles that is an important source of recurring revenue and serves as the foundation for the growth of the Company's core businesses. The Lionsgate and Summit brands remain synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world. www.lionsgate.com
For further information, please contact:
Peter D. Wilkes
310-255-3726
pwilkes@lionsgate.com
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SOURCE Lionsgate
