Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments

Bioshock

8/24/09 - Juan Carlos Fresnadillo is in talks to direct Bioshock, the Universal Pictures live action adaptation of the Take-Two Interactive video game, Variety reported. Gore Verbinski has stepped out of the directing slot but remains the film's producer.  In Bioshock, Fresnadillo is stepping into one of the highest-profile projects on the Universal roster. The deal is contingent upon the thumbs-up from Take-Two, however, which maintains director approval. Fresnadillo's producing partner, Enrique Lopez Lavigne, is in talks to become a producer.  Bioshock takes place in the underwater city of Rapture, where a pilot crash-lands near a secret entrance and becomes involved in a power struggle.

4/28/09 - Universal Pictures has put the brakes on Bioshock, the Gore Verbinski-directed live-action adaptation of the best-selling Take-Two Interactive video game, Variety reported.  The picture was in preproduction, but the studio has halted that effort—and let some production staff go—as Universal and Verbinski figure out a way to make the film on a less costly budget.  The John Logan-scripted picture was gearing up to shoot in Los Angeles, but that changed when the budget rose to about $160 million. Universal and Verbinski are looking at alternatives, such as shooting in London, as a way to pare costs.  "We were asked by Universal to move the film outside the U.S. to take advantage of a tax credit," Verbinski said. "We are evaluating whether this is something we want to do. In the meantime, the film is in a holding pattern."  The story takes place in the underwater city Rapture, where a pilot crash-lands near a secret entrance and becomes involved in a power struggle.

4/8/09 - Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski will not helm a proposed fourth installment and will instead focus on BioShock, a Universal Pictures adaptation of the best-selling sci-fi video game, among other projects, Variety reported.John Logan scripted BioShock, which is likely to be Verbinski's next film as a director.

8/5/08 - Gore Verbinski has landed a three-year first-look deal at Universal Pictures, where he's developing a big-screen adaptation of the hit SF video game Bioshock.  Verbinski, who helmed the three Pirates of the Caribbean films, will focus his efforts on the video-game movie before moving on to other projects through his Blind Wink Productions company.  Bioshock, based on the Take-Two game, is being scripted by John Logan and revolves around the mysterious events that transpire in an underwater utopia known as Rapture.  Take-Two is developing a Bioshock game sequel that will be released in 2009, likely before the film hits theaters.

05/09/08 - Universal has signed a deal to adapt the hit SF video game Bioshock into a film under director Gore Verbinski.  Bioshock publisher Take-Two Interactive is getting a multimillion-dollar advance against gross points on the movie deal, which is believed to be the biggest video-game-to-movie deal since 2005.  Bioshock takes place in an underwater city based on the free market principles of Ayn Rand, but things have gone disastrously wrong. Players control a pilot who crash-lands at a secret entrance to the city, called Rapture, and is drawn into a power struggle during which he discovers that his will is not as free as he'd thought.  Verbinski said that Rapture's art-deco design and visually arresting characters--such as the mechanical Big Daddys who protect genetically mutated girls called Little Sisters--inspired him to see the game as a film.

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