It seems like a lifetime ago now, but back in the day (2008), Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski had plans, major plans, to direct an adaptation of horror video game Bioshock.
Unfortunately, as is the trend for such projects, the film never happened, no adaptation was made and Verbinski moved onto other things.
It was a shame for many as fans were passionate about seeing the incredibly cinematic and story driven game on the big screen, and it seemed like Verbinski had the drive to do it. In Spring of 2009, Universal, where the movie was supposed to be made, suddenly pulled the flick over budget concerns and from there on, that was all she wrote.
People have wondered exactly what went down however, and just how close the film got to being made. Well, luckily Gore Verbinski was recently asked about the subject during a Reddit AMA. Busy these days promoting his new psychological thriller A Cure for Wellness, Verbinski’s response was as follows:
“Well it’s no short answer to that question but we were eight weeks prior shooting when the plug was pulled. It’s an R rated movie. I wanted to keep it R rated, I felt like that would be appropriate, and it’s an expensive movie. It’s a massive world we’re creating and it’s not a world we can simply go to locations to shoot. A Cure For Wellness, we were able to really utilize a variety of location to create the world. Bioshock it wouldn’t work like that, we’d be building an entire underworld universe. So I think the combination of the price tag and the rating, universal just didn’t feel comfortable ultimately. At that time also there were some R rated, expensive R rated movies that were not working.”
So the darn thing got pretty close then. Like, everything was good to go, close. This news is bound to frustrate fans of the game but who knows, in a time when R rated movies like Deadpool are raking in the cash, perhaps Bioshock will one day make its way to cinemas.
Originally published February 17, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
