Bloody Hell, Where's the Script? Netflix's BioShock Movie is Still Floating in Limbo
AI Gaming News Author · Eurogamer ·
Three years after its announcement, Netflix's BioShock movie is still without a finished script, with its director busy elsewhere and the original 'cinematic universe' vision scaled back to a 'smaller, more personal' film, echoing past adaptation failures and the current development troubles of BioShock 4.
Right, so you know that feeling when you've pre-ordered a game, hyped it up for months, and then the release date gets pushed back… indefinitely? Yeah, well, imagine that but for a movie adaptation of one of gaming's most iconic worlds. We're talking about Netflix's BioShock film, and according to a recent report by Matt Wales over at Eurogamer, you might want to adjust your expectations, mate, because it's still very much in pre-production purgatory, three years after its grand announcement. Bloody hell, where's the script?
It’s like trying to cast a grand illusion, only to find the arcane components are missing and your wizard is off fighting goblins in another realm. Producer Roy Lee, who seems to pop up every year with an update that's less 'grand reveal' and more 'still fiddling with the spell components', confirmed to The Direct that the script is, uh, 'being worked on right now'. That's not exactly a confidence booster, is it? Especially when we’re three years into the supposed development cycle.
Part of the delay, Lee reckons, is down to the director, Francis Lawrence. The bloke's a bit busy, you see. He’s currently knee-deep in the movie adaptation of Stephen King's 'The Long Walk' and then immediately jumps into helming 'The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping'. So, until he wraps up his stint in Panem, our trip to Rapture remains on hold. It’s like trying to get your raid leader to focus on the boss when they’re still farming transmog from a previous expansion, isn't it? Lee seems hopeful the script will be ready by the time Lawrence is free, but hope, as we gamers know, can be a cruel mistress.
And speaking of cruel mistresses, let’s talk about Netflix's shifting vision. Remember back in February 2022 when Netflix dropped the news? Oh, it was all 'cinematic universe' this, 'grand vision' that. You know, the usual corporate PR speak that sounds like it was generated by an AI trying to sound epic. But then, as budgets tend to do when reality bites, they apparently tightened. Lee confirmed last year that it's now a 'much smaller' film, told from a 'more personal point of view.' Which, let's be fair, sounds an awful lot like 'we cut the budget and now we’re spinning it as artistic choice.' Not that a personal story in Rapture couldn't be brilliant – fair dinkum, that sounds intriguing – but it's a stark contrast to the original universe-building hype. It makes you wonder what kind of 'personal point of view' they're aiming for – will it be the tragic tale of a Big Daddy and his Little Sister, or a lone survivor's descent into madness? Either way, it seems the grandiosity has been scaled back, perhaps wisely.
And speaking of ghosts, this isn't the first time Rapture almost made it to the silver screen only to vanish into the depths. Cast your mind back to 2008, when Universal announced their own BioShock adaptation with the Pirates of the Caribbean maestro, Gore Verbinski, at the helm. That project, despite having some serious talent attached, ultimately went belly-up. BioShock creator Ken Levine himself apparently had the final say in pulling the plug after Verbinski departed, opting to save the IP from a potentially compromised adaptation. It's a tale as old as time, or at least as old as video game adaptations: big promises, big names, then… poof. Maybe it's a curse, or maybe some stories are just meant to be played, not watched. It certainly makes you gently skeptical of any new film announcement, doesn't it?
Now, here's where my wizardly observation skills kick in, because it's not just the movie that's treading water. The long-awaited fourth BioShock game, currently in the works at Cloud Chamber and first announced back in 2019, is also reportedly having a bit of a rough trot. Just recently, 2K confirmed they were 'reducing the size of the development team' to 'rework certain aspects' of the project. Sound familiar? It's like the entire BioShock franchise is stuck in a loop of 'great ideas, but the execution is a bit… elusive.' You've got to wonder if there's something about the very essence of Rapture that resists being easily contained, whether in film or game form. Or maybe it's just the usual AAA development cycle being, well, the usual AAA development cycle, where grand ambitions often clash with the brutal realities of game development.
What does all this mean for us, the eager players who just want to revisit Rapture's chilling beauty, whether on a big screen or through a new controller? It means patience, mate. A *lot* of patience. The constant delays, the shifting visions, the quiet struggles behind the scenes – it's a pattern we see time and again in this industry. From our perspective, it's a mix of hope and weariness. We *want* a good BioShock movie, a truly faithful and impactful one. But we've also been burned enough times to be gently skeptical of any 'revolutionary' claims or vague promises. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, but also, if it sounds like it's taking forever and a day, there's usually a good reason.
So, don't hold your breath waiting for that BioShock movie to hit your Netflix queue anytime soon. Director Lawrence is busy, the script's still in the digital forge, and the entire project has gone from 'cinematic universe' to 'personal story' – which could be great, don't get me wrong, but it’s a journey, not a sprint. Will it ever truly emerge from the depths, or will it join the ghosts of adaptations past? Only time, and perhaps a finished script, will tell. For now, I reckon we'll just have to keep diving back into the original games and let our imaginations fill in the blanks. After all, sometimes the best magic is the one we create ourselves.
Tags: BioShock, Netflix, Video Game Adaptation, Film News, Game Development
Original article: Eurogamer