Everybody loves BioShock, right? Well, the good news is that a BioShock movie is now 100% official. And Netflix has confirmed its writer and director too…
Film adaptations of popular games don’t always go well. OK, they never go well. But could Netflix’s BioShock film buck this trend? Given the popularity of the game, its enduring legacy, and the sheer scope of its thematic elements, BioShock is ripe for an adaptation. But will it be any good?
This isn’t the first time an adaptation of BioShock has been planned, of course. Back in 2009, a BioShock movie, helmed by Gore Verbinski and written by John Logan, was planned by Take-Two and Universal Studios.
Scripts were produced and actors were attached to the project but, in 2010, the production fell apart and the movie was canceled.
Netflix’s new BioShock film has a very impressive writer and director attached to it in the form of Michael Green and Francis Lawrence, two of Hollywood’s hottest and most consistently reliable writers and directors.
Green, for one, is a massively talented writer, having penned Logan, Blade Runner 2049, and American Gods, while Lawrence directed four of the five The Hunger Games films and, of course, I, Robot with Will Smith. As director/writer duos go, BioShock couldn’t have hoped for a better pairing.
According to Netflix, the BioShock film will be based solely on the first game in the series, opening the possibility of sequels if the first movie is a success. Details about the production and more detailed aspects of the plot are pretty scant at present – work on the script has not yet begun.
The original BioShock is more than just a superb first-person shooter game. It’s also a sneakily compelling morality tale, told deep under the surface of the ocean in a creepy underwater city called Rapture. In between blasting through hordes of Splicers, players are able to simply explore the rotting hallways and dilapidated storefronts of an entire mysterious world, meant as an Ayn Rand-inspired fantasyland for a mysterious historical figure. There’s more to discover than simple shotgun blasts — although those shotgun blasts are obviously more than satisfying. It’s no wonder the games have sold a combined 39 million copies worldwide.
Because the film has only just been confirmed, along with its director and writer, casting for the BioShock film is still a ways off yet, so we have no idea who will be starring in the film, portraying characters like Andrew Ryan, Jack, Frank Fontaine, let alone Sander Cohen or Big Daddy.
Although we do have our hopes, of course. I’d love to see some big-name actors attached to this project. I’d also like to see a real Big Daddy too, not some CGI nonsense. An actual dude in a suit. If Netflix can do that, I think it will have a potentially huge hit on its hands.
On the subject of who will play Big Daddy, again, nothing is currently known. But they’ll have to be a seriously big guy which leads me to automatically think of either The Rock or Dave Bautista. Either would be perfect for the role, especially if the film features flashbacks to how Big Daddy came to be.
When will Netflix release BioShock? The bad news is that we’ll likely be waiting quite some time for this movie to land. Netflix has only just confirmed the writer and director which means a script likely hasn’t even been written yet – and that can take anywhere from six months to a year, deepening on revisions and rewrites.
Next will come casting which, again, can be a lengthy process. After that, pre-production will start, this usually takes a few months, and then the actual shoot which, again, could take anywhere from six to nine months, depending on how things go. After that, you have VFX and editing.
Even if everything goes swimmingly, the BioShock movie likely won’t get a release date on Netflix for at least another two to three years, meaning a release date in either 2025 or 2026 at the very earliest.
Richard Goodwin has been working as a tech journalist for over 10 years. He is the editor and owner of KnowYourMobile.
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