Eli Roth's live-action Borderlands movie under the Lionsgate umbrella is set to begin filming here soon in Budapest and while an official first look has yet to be revealed, we do have one major rumor confirmed to be real. Kevin Hart is confirmed to be playing Roland in the upcoming Borderlands movie alongside Cate Blanchett as Lilith. 

The confirmation comes by way of The Hollywood Reporter, solidifying earlier rumors of Hart's role in the film. His involvement was previously confirmed but who he was cast as was a mystery until now. For those that may be unfamiliar with the Borderlands franchise, Roland is a highly skilled soldier from Promethea. Trained to the nines by the Atlas corporation, Roland is definitely somebody you don't want to mess with, especially with his affinity for toys like his deadly Scorpio Turret. 

Hart will be taking on the role of Roland in the upcoming film, though other casting choices are still a mystery. That being said, Roth feels confident in his choice for the role of Roland, saying "I'm thrilled to be working with Kevin [Hart]. Borderlands is a different kind of role for him, and we are excited to thrill audiences with a side of Kevin they’ve never seen before. He’s going to be an amazing Roland.”

"Kevin has been behind some of the world's biggest blockbusters, and our source material is inspired by one of the world's best-selling video games," added Lionsgate Motion Picture president Nathan Kahane. "We love the way our filmmaking team has adapted this story and we couldn't be in better creative hands."

The Gearbox looter shooter first began its journey in 2009 and was immediately met with critical acclaim. From this franchise's hilarious dialogue to its "interesting" cast of characters, there is a charm to Borderlands that makes it unique all on its own. The cell-shading art style adds to its magic, giving it the feel of an action-packed moving comic book. 

“I’m so excited to dive into the world of Borderlands and I could not be doing it with a better script, producing team, and studio,” said Roth when the Borderlands movie was first revealed. “I have a long, successful history with Lionsgate — I feel like we have grown up together and that everything in my directing career has led to a project of this scale and ambition. I look forward to bringing my own energy, ideas, and vision to the wild, fun, and endlessly creative world of the game. Randy Pitchford and everyone at Gearbox have been incredibly supportive of my ideas — it really feels like a perfect storm of creators coming together. We are out to make a new classic, one which the fans of the game will love, but also one which will find new audiences globally."

We've yet to see what sort of artistic direction the upcoming Borderlands movie will take but we're definitely interested in learning more about how this adaptation will work or if it will be another casualty of the Video Game Adaptation Curse©.

[Source: The Hollywood Reporter]

When IO Interactive announced its next game would be about Bond, James Bond, fans were excited to see the IP land into the hands that have perfected what being a hired killer means. While Bond doesn't kill nearly as many as Agent 47, he is an iconic piece of cinema history with a wealthy impact on games as well. Details about the upcoming James Bond game are still scarce, but we do have new insight into IO Interactive's plans of growth and the hopes of the new IP becoming a trilogy. 

Currently, the studio houses approximately 200 team members as they embark on this new IP following the launch of Hitman 3. According to a recent interview with TheGamer, IO is looking to expand beyond that number with a new Swedish studio, bumping those numbers up from 200 developers to over 400. 

In the same interview, IO CEO and co-owner Hakan Abrak talked a little more about his excitement for taking on the James Bond world, saying "It's very, very special - a boy's dream. Sometimes it's still a little hard to understand that it's us [making] James Bond." 

He added, "Today we [have] 200 employees and I expect that we will [have] over 400 employees over the next few years. So, there is no doubt that the Bond agreement means an insane amount to us." 400 employees will be nice to have, since the ambitions going into the world of James Bond includes making this a new trilogy for the studio. TheGamer notes that a Danish website called DR had its own interview with Abrak where the director mentioned that the team could "easily imagine" a trilogy coming out of the new James Bond experience. 

The Hitman franchise wasn't without its missteps but Hitman 3 absolutely knocked it out of the park regarding what draws so many people into this type of game in the first place. To see IO work its magic on the James Bond franchise in a similar fashion would be amazing to see, though the growth of the studio would be needed to ensure that no other projects — including ongoing support for Hitman 3 — fall by the wayside.