On February 15th, 2022, Netflix and Take-Two Interactive announced a partnership to develop a Bioshock movie, via The Hollywood Reporter. Currently, there are no filmmakers attached to the project, though Take-Two and Vertigo Entertainment are attached as producers.
This isn’t the first time a Bioshock film has been attempted, back in the late 2000s a film was announced to be in production by Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski. It’s fairly well documented online that there were budgetary strains and creative differences between the filmmakers and the studio in regards to the rating for the film that ultimately caused production to cease.
Bioshock’s director Ken Levine has commented on the struggles of getting the original film production off the ground, ultimately playing a role in pulling the plug on the production when things weren’t working out. As of writing, Levine has not commented on whether or not he will be attracted to this new project.
Well damn @Netflix, a BioShock Movie…OK! By the way, the incredible folks at Cloud Chamber are developing the next BioShock game and their team is growing! Would you kindly check out their open positions? https://t.co/lcuFekKpgh https://t.co/cRIFz4bF3a
— 2K (@2K) February 15, 2022
Coinciding with the news of the film production, 2K reminded everyone via Twitter that the newly created studio Cloud Chamber is in production on the next Bioshock video game, and included a link for open positions at the company. Positions include character and environment artists, systems programmers, and producers.
Time for the internet’s favorite hobby: speculation. Netflix has found success with their video game adaptations, most notably the animated Castlevania series, the live-action series based on The Witcher, and the animated Cuphead Show releasing later this month which looks to be promising. The film as well as the game could go anywhere. Bioshock has toyed with placing its themes in different environments and time periods like in 2013’s Bioshock Infinite which took place in the floating city of Columbia in 1912. If Cloud Chamber is taking on the responsibility of breaking new ground with the Bioshock franchise and placing the game in a new location or time period, then it may make commercial sense to place the film in the familiar and set it within the dark underwater dystopia of Rapture. That way Take-Two can push the series forward in its native medium while getting the nostalgia crowd interacting with the film. Would Netflix ever consider incorporating some of its decision-based interactive elements like they experimented with in Black Mirror: Bandersnatch? The series has often tackled the subject of choice and free will, so there might be some potential in combining those technologies once more.
Are you excited about another attempt at a Bioshock movie? Would you want the project to be a film or a series? Who do you want attached to make it? Let us know down in the comments below.
