Netflix remains keen to bring Bioshock to the screen, according to the writer of the planned screen adaptation.
We can’t quite imagine what ‘forever’ would feel like: after all it is kind of a long time. However, the closest we can come to approximating the concept in our mind is by thinking about just how long it’s taking to get a Bioshock film going. Universal Pictures bagged the rights to the beloved video game shooter all the way back in, wait for it… 2008. Pirates Of The Caribbean director Gore Verbinski was just weeks away from entering production back in 2009 when Zack Snyder’s Watchmen came out to an ‘okay’ reception. Seeing a ‘grown-up’ genre film perform below expectations is believed to have spooked the studio and Bioshock was no more. It’s now 2023 and while we’re not suggesting that a Bioshock adaption is cursed in any way, efforts have been going on for 15 years and cameras still haven’t recorded a single frame of what is often thought of as a video game that is perfect for cinematic adaptation. The latest hitch on the latest version was of course the writers’ strike, but now that’s out of the way, Blade Runner 2049 and Logan scribe Michael Green has offered an update, stating that Netflix (which is behind this attempt to adapt the game) is keen to get things moving. Speaking to Collider, Green said, “You have to measure your words, or you’ll start to see a laser pointer at my forehead from the Netflix legal. Netflix has been amazing about it. They were excited about it before the strike, they’re excited about it now, post-strike.”
We can’t quite imagine what ‘forever’ would feel like: after all it is kind of a long time. However, the closest we can come to approximating the concept in our mind is by thinking about just how long it’s taking to get a Bioshock film going. Universal Pictures bagged the rights to the beloved video game shooter all the way back in, wait for it… 2008. Pirates Of The Caribbean director Gore Verbinski was just weeks away from entering production back in 2009 when Zack Snyder’s Watchmen came out to an ‘okay’ reception. Seeing a ‘grown-up’ genre film perform below expectations is believed to have spooked the studio and Bioshock was no more. It’s now 2023 and while we’re not suggesting that a Bioshock adaption is cursed in any way, efforts have been going on for 15 years and cameras still haven’t recorded a single frame of what is often thought of as a video game that is perfect for cinematic adaptation. The latest hitch on the latest version was of course the writers’ strike, but now that’s out of the way, Blade Runner 2049 and Logan scribe Michael Green has offered an update, stating that Netflix (which is behind this attempt to adapt the game) is keen to get things moving. Speaking to Collider, Green said, “You have to measure your words, or you’ll start to see a laser pointer at my forehead from the Netflix legal. Netflix has been amazing about it. They were excited about it before the strike, they’re excited about it now, post-strike.”
Read more: The story of the lost Bioshock movie
Green added that as soon as the strike was over, Netflix was on the phone asking how the adaptation was going on. He added that, “Been meeting regularly with [director] Francis Lawrence and his team to refine a draft to go back in. We’re all optimistic. We all love it. It’s a great big sprawling nightmare world we wanna see real. So, here’s hoping. I would love to have an update for you soon.” Video game adaptations are definitely in vogue at the moment, so let’s hope this one gets underway whilst the momentum is in its favour. We’ll bring you more on Bioshock as we hear it. — Thank you for visiting! If you’d like to support our attempts to make a non-clickbaity movie website: Follow Film Stories on Twitter here, and on Facebook here. Buy our Film Stories and Film Junior print magazines here. Become a Patron here.
