Image: 2K Games
A Bioshock movie is finally in the works from Netflix, and it might take fans back to the Rapture.
Netflix dropped a surprising announcement earlier today: the streaming service is partnering with Take-Two Interactive and games publisher 2K Games for a movie adaptation of the Bioshock franchise. Details on the project are scarce for now, but the announcement seems to hint that the movie will follow the events of Bioshock (2007).
It’s been a long road to making this movie happen. The award-winning franchise has gone through multiple attempts at an adaptation, all of which were either cancelled or put through development hell. Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean, The Ring) signed on to make a Bioshock movie back in 2008, but the project was cancelled due to concerns over its high budget and intended R-rating. 2K is now producing the Netflix movie with Vertigo Entertainment, a production company known for its work on horror movies like It and Doctor Sleep.
The Bioshock game franchise consists of three games that have primarily taken players across two settings: the underwater city of Rapture and airborne city of Columbia. Bioshock and Bioshock 2 explored Rapture long after its glory days, when the city has devolved from a gleaming beacon of scientific advancement into a dystopian hellscape infested with Splicers and massive monsters in diving suits called Big Daddies.
Bioshock Infinite meanwhile took the franchise in the opposite direction quite literally, exploring a city in the sky ruled by a wannabe prophet named Zachary Hale Comstock. When players enter the faux paradise known as Columbia, they find it in the middle of a war between two factions: the downtrodden Vox Populi and elitist Founders. As if that isn’t enough, multi-dimensional tears are opening up all over the place under mysterious circumstances.
The timing for this announcement might seem odd, considering the Bioshock franchise wound down after 2013’s Bioshock Infinite. However, 2K’s Cloud Chamber studio has confirmed that it is “deep in active development” on the fourth Bioshock game, which should end up reigniting public interest in the franchise alongside this upcoming film.