Somewhere beyond the sea, we’ll finally get to watch Netflix’s BioShock movie. BioShock, which was created by Ken Levine and published by 2k studios, with the first entry in the franchise being released in 2007, is another in a long line of planned and announced video game adaptations, all eager to achieve the same success as HBO’s The Last of Us and the Sonic the Hedgehog film franchise. Netflix‘s movie has some promising talent attached, with The Hunger Games and Constantine’s Francis Lawrence set to direct. The project has sat in development limbo for some years now, but Lawrence finally gave fans the update they’ve been waiting for… we’re heading to Rapture!
During an interview with Collider to promote the 4k re-release of the Keanu Reeves-led Constantine, Lawrence addressed the state of the BioShock movie, and confirmed that it is still in active development. “I am still attached,” the director said. “Yes, we’re still working on that one, that’s one also that I’m very excited about.” BioShock is one of the most lauded video game franchises of all-time with a giant die-hard fan base. As a result, Lawrence’s movie has some high expectations to live up to.
“Yes, we’re still working on that one, that’s one also that I’m very excited about.”
Lawrence’s recent update mirrors what was last said about the BioShock film. Last July at San Diego Comic-Con, Collider spoke to BioChock‘s producer, Roy Lee, about the status of the movie. Lee revealed that the size and scale of the movie has been scaled down since its original announcement in 2022, thanks to change in leadership at Netflix. “It was originally done with the previous regime,” Lee said. “The new regime has lowered the budgets on some things, so we’re doing a much a smaller version of the movie. But it’s eventually going to get made with Frances Lawrence directing.”
‘BioShock’s Long Road to the Big Screen
Netflix’s BioShock adaptation was announced back in 2022, but the franchise has a much longer history of filmmakers and studios attempting to bring it to the big screen. BioShock‘s first attempt at adaptation came in 2008 when Universal signed on to bring Rapture to life in live-action. Pirates of the Caribbean‘s Gore Verbinski was set to direct the movie, and 28 Weeks Later‘s Juan Carlos Fresnadillo stepped in when Verbinski dropped out a year later. That project was canceled in 2013 with budget concerns cited as the main reason.
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For the uninitiated (or unbrainwashed, in BioShock‘s case), the franchise is a satirical exploration of capitalism and libertarianism taken to the extreme. The franchise follows Jack, who discovers the hidden underwater city of Rapture when his plane crashes in the ocean, built by financial mogul Andrew Ryan. Plot details for Francis Lawrence’s movie haven’t been revealed. But audiences can get an idea of what to expect from the description of the first video game, which reads:
“In 1960, a lone survivor of a plane crash named Jack discovers an abandoned underwater utopia, only to find out that the mystery behind its creation is much more sinister than he first believed.”
