So, the video game adaptation mark is arguably in the best place it’s ever been. That’s not a joke, either, as there are numerous productions in the works right now, and some that will be starting soon, that are truly exciting to picture. For example, the second season of Naughty Dog’s best game is in the works and hopefully will be on Max soon, and Amazon Prime Video had Bethesda’s RPG shock the world with its quality. When you throw in a few movies featuring Sonic The Hedgehog, it makes you wonder why the Bioshock film isn’t having the same luck with its production.
If you didn’t hear, during San Diego Comic-Con, it was confirmed that the Bioshock film has had its budget slashed. Variety even pointed out that the reason for the cuts, stated by the films’ producer, was due to a “new regime” that had been put into place over at Netflix. As a result, the film might be in a position to be a much smaller and “more personal’ film than the original big production that Netflix intended it to be.
If any of this sounds familiar, then you know the truth about the history of this film. It’s 2024 now, but back in 2009 there was an attempt to make the film following the success of the initial games. However, it also had a massive budget cut, which caused the director to leave the project.
What followed over the next fifteen years, leading up to now, was a string of hirings, firings, departures, budget fluctuations, the series’ original developer closing, and Netflix swooping in to say that they would do it…only to back out of its initial budget commitments.
The irony here is that Netflix is slowly becoming infamous for this kind of thing. They’re dealing with numerous financial issues of their own, especially after the actors’ and writers’ strikes last year, which affected them in various ways. They’ve even been known to just throw money at projects based solely on the word that “something will get done,” only to find out later that nothing was made, and the money was lost. Not exactly a good business model.
So, will a Bioshock film ever get made? It depends on how the team goes from here. There is a way to make this a rather small-scale production while still understanding the games and adhering to the lore, but the last thing people want is a low-budget-looking Big Daddy or take on Rapture.
