BioShock: Francis Lawrence to direct video game movie for Netflix

Back in 2008, it was announced that Gore Verbinski would be directing a film adaptation of the video game BioShock, with John Logan writing the screenplay. Later, Verbinski decided to hand the helm over to Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, but stayed involved as a producer. The movie never made it into production. After years in development hell, BioShock was scrapped by Universal. Now Netflix is working with Vertigo Entertainment and 2K on their own BioShock adaptation, and Deadline is reporting that the film is going to be directed by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by Michael Green! Coincidentally, Michael Green and John Logan were both writers on Alien: Covenant.

Lawrence’s previous directing credits include Constantine, I Am Legend, Water for Elephants, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay (parts 1 and 2), and Red Sparrow.

Set across multiple dystopian and visionary landscapes gone wrong, the BioShock video game series blends sci-fi and horror to pose unique existential and societal questions reshaping how game stories are told—all amidst pulse-pounding action gameplay that rewards sharp shooting, clever planning and lethal improvisation.

IMDb provides a synopsis of the first BioShock game:

The year is 1960. While flying over the Atlantic ocean, average citizen Jack blacks out and awakens to discover that he is the sole survivor of a plane crash. Amidst the wreckage of his plane Jack spots and swims to a lighthouse and boards a Bathysphere that takes him deep within the ocean and into Rapture. Originally conceived as a utopia where a man would be entitled to all that he made without the interference of “parasites” by idealistic billionaire mogul Andrew Ryan. Rapture has since decayed and festered from the infectious effects of civil war and anarchy, brought about by the very ideals it citizens and it’s leader embrace.

Aided by a sympathetic smuggler and a rogue geneticist, Jack salvages gene-altering chemicals, transforming himself into a superhuman, and uses his newfound powers and abilities as well as an arsenal of weapons to fend off the vicious hordes of psychotic mutants, security robots and armored super soldiers that resulted from Rapture’s unrest while given the choice to either rescue or lethally harvest the genetic material from Rapture’s only citizens with a chance: the 10-year-old “Little Sisters”. As Jack wanders through the condemning atmosphere of Rapture, he treads towards a secret that could shatter all that he has known forever.

There have been multiple BioShock games, so Netflix could have a franchise on their hands if Lawrence and Green find a satisfying way to bring the story to the screen.

Are you a fan of the BioShock games, and are you looking forward to the Netflix take on the concept? Are you glad Lawrence is directing the film? Let us know by leaving a comment below.