We now have a nice little update on the long reported Bioshock movie.
We had first heard about this upcoming Bioshock movie, last February 2022 from no less than the producer, Netflix. 2K Games had optioned Bioshock for a movie before, but that project got cancelled.
As reported by GoNintendo, the film’s writer, Michael Green, shared this update:
“You have to measure your words, or you’ll start to see a laser pointer at my forehead from the Netflix legal. Netflix has been amazing about it. They were excited about it before the strike, they’re excited about it now, post-strike.
Yes, I got called, the, ‘How’s it coming along?’ the minute the strike was over, ‘You about ready…?’ Been meeting regularly with Francis Lawrence and his team to refine a draft to go back in. We’re all optimistic.
We all love it. It’s a great big sprawling nightmare world we wanna see real. So, here’s hoping. I would love to have an update for you soon.”
The WGA strike that affected this production happened during May 2 to September 27, 2023. So we do know that it may have affected the most recent months of work, but there was still a decent amount of time that it was already in production.
It seems likely that the reason we haven’t heard much about this project yet is that the film’s staff is deep in production, or possibly even pre-production.
Gamers are now getting used to games that take five years to make, but movies have been taking that long or longer to produce for a very long time already. Even a supposed outsider from Hollywood like Netflix, can’t get away from the conventions of the Hollywood system.
But this is another way of saying that the extended time that we haven’t heard about this project is normal. If we were to speculate, the production may be in the middle of refining and finalizing the shooting script, and starting casting, as well as figuring out other details like locations, budgeting, etch.
Netflix has had a mixed record so far when it comes to their adaptations of pop culture properties. We are talking about the wide gap between their live action versions of Cowboy Bebop and One Piece.
Netflix doesn’t really produce these movies with a direct hand and a signature style, like other film studios or production companies, so we really don’t know what to expect here. At least for now, we can happily confirm that it hasn’t stalled into production limbo like many other projects have ended up. Hope rises as well that Netflix’s Bioshock might turn out great.
