Verbinksi explains BioShock movie stall

By Fred Dutton Published 15 February, 2011

Studios wanted it to be teen-friendly.

Pre-production on the movie version of 2K's BioShock franchise has ground to a halt after no studio was found who was willing to invest in an R-rated version of the tale, the flick's producer has explained.

Pirates of the Caribbean shot-caller Gore Verbinksi told ComingSoon that he wasn't willing to sanitise his "really, really scary" vision for the film in order to make it a more commercial prospect.

"I couldn't really get past anybody that would spend the money that it would take to do it and keep an R rating," he explained.

"Alternately, I wasn't really interested in pursuing a PG-13 version. Because the R rating is inherent. Little Sisters and injections and the whole thing. I just wanted to really, really make it a movie where, four days later, you're still shivering and going, 'Jesus Christ!'

"It's a movie that has to be really, really scary, but you also have to create a whole underwater world, so the price tag is high. We just didn't have any takers on an R-rated movie with that price tag."

Verbinski went on to discuss how, in theory, the film would have been a perfect fit for 3D.

"[Bioshock] would be a great movie to do in 3D. I'd like to go into that world wearing a pair of glasses. I think in general, gaming is perfect for 3D. Anything where you're the protagonist. The kid in The Shining on the big wheel, going around corridors. That's what 3D is perfect for. To make people feel on-edge."

A film adaptation of the FPS classic was first announced back in 2008 before it took up residence in development hell.

In April 2009 Universal Studios demanded Verbinski trim down the project's swollen $160 million budget, and then everything went quiet.

Franchise creator Ken Levine insisted the project was still alive and kicking back in September last year, but it seems any chance of seeing Rapture on screen has now been well and truly sunk.

The next game in the series, BioShock Infinite, is due next year on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • asphaltcowboy #1 1 year ago

    Let's hope he sticks to his guns then, otherwise it's an immediate fail.

  • el_pollo_diablo #2 1 year ago

    Film the R version, release a PG-13 cut to cinemas, bring out the R version as a directors cut DVD, give Irrational a wad of cash to keep them safe and in the black should some horrendous Activision style apocalypse befall them, and everyone's happy.

    Of course it'd be a shitty film, but then this is Gore Verbinski. It was always going to be a shitty film.

  • hoster #3 1 year ago

    "but then this is Gore Verbinski. It was always going to be a shitty film."

    The Weatherman was quite good.

  • Instinct #4 1 year ago

    The first Pirates film was quite good.

  • el_pollo_diablo #5 1 year ago

    -ish

    :)

  • Shikasama #6 1 year ago

    Hah.

    "Lets make a film out of this really popular game! The game sold lots, it must have millions of fans! The kids are gonna love this!"

    "Sir, the games are rated Mature. The fans are adults"

    *comedy coffee spit*

    'Get me Verbinski on the phone. NOW!'

  • Skurmedel #7 1 year ago

    So it's going to tackle the moral and philosophical questions of BioShock then? Lots of heavy thoughts on liberalism and gene manipulation?

    At the very least, it will be about a young man, somehow he will meet a chick and in the end they are a couple.

    Edit: Maybe I should've read the thing about it not being made... hehe.... I'm silly. But that last thing is probably going to be true anyhow, because that is the main plot of 99% of Hollywood's output.
    Edited by Skurmedel at 15/02/11 @ 20:08

  • JudasBlitzkrieg #8 1 year ago

    Good on Verbinski for sticking to his guns. I'd rather have no BioShock film than a BioShock film which takes too many liberties and ends up as a "teen friendly" film.

    Rapture is dark and sinister, that's how the film should be

  • space_ace #9 1 year ago

    rapture high school musical

  • Markitron #10 1 year ago

    Thats why he HAS to be the one to make it. Also the Ring remake was quite good, I can see him making it quite scary

  • the_dudefather #11 1 year ago

    Justin Beibershock

  • justice-ste #12 1 year ago

    I would be genuinely interested in a Bioshock movie, not a teeny one either

  • SpaceMonkey77 #13 1 year ago

    Hey, nice nod to Coming Soon, love that site.

    Yeah, this is a real shame. Bioshock can be a cool film, but Universal have now idea. Try getting a teen to understand Ayn Randian concepts and goings on, good luck with that.

  • semtex03 #14 1 year ago

    So an 18 rated game must be watered down to 'teen' level because why?

  • Jmog #15 1 year ago

    erbinski went on to discuss how, in theory, the film would have been a perfect fit for 3D.

    What? Not unless you change the visual look of Rapture extensively. 3D is a horible feature in very dark movies since it lowers the brightness by 50%. It worked in Avatar (and most animated features) because they are bright and colourful movies. In other words, after halving the visuals there is still something left. In a dark and moody Rapture... it would give you headaches to make out what is going on.

  • Neil__ #16 1 year ago

    Am I the only one pissed off with this 3D obsession?

  • Kenshin001 #17 1 year ago

    So it's going to tackle the moral and philosophical questions of BioShock then? Lots of heavy thoughts on liberalism and gene manipulation?

    There were moral and philosophical questions in Bioshock? It was a lot of running around shooting and zapping people.

  • ExplodingClown #18 1 year ago

    Well this is no great surprise at all...

    ...but bearing in mind how much BioShock seemed to resemble the look and tone of 'The City Of Lost Children', a movie would be redundant anyway. Watch the sequence where the diver is walking with the little girl in his arms and tell me that's a coincidence. And don't watch the English dubbed version, it's fucking awful.

  • Barkotron #19 1 year ago

    "Try getting a teen to understand Ayn Randian concepts and goings on, good luck with that."

    Try getting a teen to understand a philosophy which basically amounts to that of a spoiled adolescent brat complaining that they're more intelligent than everyone else? Yeah, I can see that being hard.

  • FortysixterUK #20 1 year ago

    ""teen friendly"?

    Game over man, game over...

  • Mister-Wario #21 1 year ago

    How the hell can you make a PG/12 version of Bioshock? Rapture is gory, gruesome and horrifying. It's about humanity's fall when it was given everything it ever wanted. You can't cram that into a film aimed at teenagers. It needs to, as Verbinski is saying, have the full impact or not have the impact at all.

    In any case, with things like this I feel they'd work better as a TV drama instead of a film. Sure, you lose that "cinema" feel to it. But you can make the story as long as you need to be. You can't really cram Rapture and all of it's marvel into a maximum of three hours. Or I suppose you COULD, but I fear it could turn out to be a very truncated version of what could have been.

  • spongebob #22 1 year ago

    His name is Verbinski, not Verbinksi. Come on.