As with so many movies based on video games (and indeed, so many movies period, given the tough realities of development), the adaptation of bestselling game series BioShock went through the usual process of excited press releases, big-name director attachments (Gore Verbinski) and then... silence. Crickets. And finally, cancellation. Yet here comes Netflix, ready to give it another crack.
The BioShock series of games from 2K has sold more than 39 million copies worldwide and sprang to life in 2007. In that original title, gamers played as Jack, the lone survivor of a plane crash over the Atlantic Ocean in the 1960s. He discovers an underwater dystopia called Rapture, which was created by an eccentric business magnate Andrew Ryan. Rapture had seen better days, and Jack must battle a variety of enemies, like the super-powered, drug-addicted Splicers and massive, diving-suit-clad Big Daddies, to escape. However, Jack’s own mental state and the origins of his plane crash are far from what they originally seem...
A sequel, released 2010, put players in the giant boots of a Big Daddy, while 2013's BioShock Infinite took place in the steampunk, airborne city of Columbia in 1912.
Verbinski's vision was reportedly scuttled because the studio holding the rights at the time – Universal – got cold feet when Zack Snyder's Watchmen underperformed at the box office, briefly scaring off the idea of a more brutal, bloody Bioshock. An unknown director who followed couldn't make it work and the games company shut down the while idea.
"Netflix is among the best and most forward-thinking storytellers in all of entertainment today,” said Strauss Zelnick, chairman and CEO of Take-Two Interactive in a statement. “We are thrilled that they share our vision and commitment to the BioShock franchise, which is beloved by millions of fans around the world. 2K’s Cloud Chamber studio is deep in active development on the next iteration of the series, and coupled with our partnership with Netflix, we remain highly confident that BioShock will continue to captivate and engage audiences like never before."
How the interactive elements of the game will translate is anyone's guess (though Netflix does has form with its Black Mirror and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt interactive content), and we don't yet know who will be charged with bringing it to life. But from sounds of it, we're closer to a BioShock movie than ever before.