Looks Like 'BioShock' Is Still Sort Of Moving Forward

Funny how all these things pop up at once, isn't it? We talked about Red Dead Redemption possibly getting a movie last Friday, I think, and then there was a hint dropped that Half-Life might be a film property some day, too. In that discussion, we said that BioShock was still among those video game adaptations Hollywood has decided we need to see, but until the budget comes down, that will never happen.

So this morning, I see on Kokatu that Ken Levine, the designer of the BioShock game, had given a radio interview in which he says the movie is still progressing over at Universal. Here's the background: Director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) was going to direct but the budget he pitched was astronomical. Rather than make the movie himself, Verbinski is just producing now and directing other stuff. He has handed the filmmaking duties to Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later). But that was a while ago and there hasn't been much headway made since. "I will say that it is still an active thing," Levine said. "And it is something we are actively talking about and actively working on."

Click to read more ...

Gore Verbinski Still Hammering Out 'Bioshock' Budget

Even though Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time probably represents the biggest allocation of resources to a video game movie, its relative failure isn't making Gore Verbinski blink. Verbinski, the Pirates director who's producing Bioshock for Universal, says the project is different from most games.

"I think BioShock's a rare one because it's actually a great story," Verbinksi told IGN. "Me? I don't want to make movies based on videogames, but BioShock's the one Oedipal, crazy kind of -- it's just got really good bones, and we're really trying to figure out a way to make it work." There's good news for fans of the game, although form Universal's perspective, it could be something of a road block. Verbinski wants to keep the movie a pure as he can but, "The problem with BioShock was: R-rated movie, underwater, horror. It's a really expensive R-rated movie."

Click to read more ...

Director Leapfrogs 'Bioshock' for Another Project

We may have to wait a little while longer than the little while we've already been waiting to see a movie based on the video game Bioshock. It was a Gore Verbinski project once upon a time, but he walked about a year ago, I think. With a smaller budget, Universal reached out to 28 Weeks Later director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, and he's now the director of record on the project.

The Film Stage reports that between now and whenever the hell Bioshock gets cooking, Fresnadillo will be working on Intruders, based on a script he has co-written. Described as "a genre piece whose story revolves around an 11-year-old girl," although a few more details would sure be helpful. One thing we don know is that Intruders is scheduled to shoot in May. I don't know if that gets in the way of Bioshock on any level or if the studio was building it on some other schedule and it was either shoot Intruders this spring or wait, I dunno, two-and-a-half years to do it.

Click to read more ...

'Bioshock' Back On, Hires '28 Weeks Later' Director

The film adaptation of Bioshock is back on, even though Gore Verbinski backed out as the movie's director amid a budget that was expanding faster than Kelly Clarkson. But now those things have either apparently been resolved or shoved to the side in favor of going ahead and not losing ground to the ever-circling Halo movie and Sam Raimi's recently announced Warcraft franchise.

Variety reports that Universal and Verbinski (still producing) have hired 28 Weeks Later director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo to steer the ambitious video game movie, which is a huge leap forward in his career. Fresnadillo is also developing a remake of the 60s sci-fi flick, X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, but that is nowhere near the level of Bioshock. His deal still has to be approved by video game designer Take-Two, but it's a definite sign that Universal wants to speed up the process as much as it can.

Click to read more ...

Universal Puts 'Bioshock' on the Shelf

The long-awaited video game adaptation Bioshock will be even longer-awaited. Universal has put the project on ice for the time being because its $160 million budget was just too rich for the studio.

I'm actually all for this, because with movies like Avatar and TRON putting the going rate for sci-fi over $200 million, finding a smarter, cheaper way to accomplish the same thing can keep the genre competitive while lowering the extreme amount of money a film would need to make in theaters and on DVD. Director Gore Verbinski told Variety, "We were asked by Universal to move the film outside the U.S. to take advantage of a tax credit. We are evaluating whether this is something we want to do. In the meantime, the film is in a holding pattern."

Click to read more ...