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Bioshock, the hugely influential and popular videogame that led to a direct videogame sequel and a spin-off focusing on a new environment and characters, is finally on the path to releasing a movie adaptation courtesy of Netflix.
This of course isn’t the first time that a live action adaptation has been announced. As the last 14 years have seen several failed attempts to try and adapt the world of Rapture into live action. Including, most famously, the initial attempt announced in 2008, that would have seen director, Gore Verbinski, fresh off his success turning Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean attraction into a blockbuster movie franchise, tackling the daunting task of adapting Bioshock into live action.
In fact, so expensive was Verbinski’s vision of the movie that it famously led to the project being cancelled as no studio was willing to spend $200 million on an R-Rated movie. As Verbinski rightly argued that this was the only way to do the adaptation correctly given the tone of the game and the detail of the underwater city of Rapture.
Hopefully now though, given the success of recent videogame based projects, the desire from audiences for a variety of new and exciting content, and the latest innovations in technology such as Lucasfilm’s “StageCraft” digital set, this Bioshock project will not get trapped in “Development Hell” as its predecessors did.
Next Read: The Last of Us HBO TV Show – Latest News, When We Hope To See It
Latest News on Netflix’s Bioshock Movie
26/08/2022
Netflix have announced that the movie will be directed by none other than Francis Lawrence, who has steered the Hunger Games franchise to box office success for Lionsgate, with his return to the franchise, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, due for release in 2023.
In addition to his work on The Hunger Games movies, Lawrence has also had a very successful career directing a number of high profile music videos such as Justin Timberlake’s “Rock Your Body”, The Black Eyed Peas’ “Let’s Get It Started”, Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”, and Beyonce’s “Who Run The World (Girls)”.
In addition to Lawrence, Netflix have also confirmed that screenwriter Michael Green (Logan, Alien: Covenant, Jungle Cruise) will be penning the script for this feature film adaptation.
What is the story of Bioshock?
While no official story synopsis has been confirmed yet by Netflix, we can only assume for now that it will follow the plot of the first game as Netflix will likely be looking to turn Bioshock into an ongoing franchise with sequels and possibly a TV spin-off.
Synopsis from 2K Games for Bioshock:
“Turn everything into a weapon, biologically mod your body with plasmids, hack devices and systems, upgrade your weapons and craft new ammo variants, and experiment with different battle techniques.
After your plane crashes into icy uncharted waters, you discover a rusted bathysphere and descend into Rapture, a city hidden beneath the sea.
Constructed as an idealistic society for a hand picked group of scientists, artists, and industrialists, the idealism is no more. Now the city is littered with corpses, wildly powerful guardians roam the corridors as little girls loot the dead, and genetically mutated citizens ambush you at every turn.
Bioshock forces you to question the lengths to which you will go and how much of your humanity you will sacrifice…to save your own life.”
Predicted Release Date?
As the movie was only announced by Netflix in February 2022 and only had its director and screenwriter confirmed on 26th August 2022, no official release date plans have been confirmed yet.
Although, given that movies often take at least 18 to 24 months from initial development to final release, I wouldn’t expect to see this movie, especially given how extensive the special effects needed are likely to be, until at least 2024, most likely Summer 2024 at the earliest.
