The big news revealed today is that Netflix will be partnering with 2K's parent company Take-Two to create a movie set in the BioShock universe.
If that idea sounds familiar to you, that's because something similar was discussed more than a decade ago with Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski dropping a bit unceremoniously.
"It's an R-rated movie," Verbinski said in a Reddit AMA in 2017. "I wanted it to remain R-rated, I thought it would be appropriate, and it's an expensive movie. It's a huge world that we're creating and it's not a world in which that we can only go to locations to film, we'd be building a whole underground universe, so I think the combination of the price and the rating, Universal just didn't feel comfortable ultimately.
Little is known about the film so far with some of the biggest mysteries surrounding its writer and director, but Netflix says more information is coming soon.
Analysis: BioShock Has Some... Tough Obstacles To Overcome
As Verbinski said before, the BioShock franchise presents a series of obstacles that will be difficult to overcome even for a company with deep pockets like Netflix.
Not only is the setting an integral part of the story, a part that really can't be skipped to make it feel like it's really part of the BioShock universe, but the special effects budget would have to be huge as well. All three BioShock games had Plasmids or Vigors, which gave you special powers, like shooting lightning bolts, setting people on fire, or shooting a swarm of bugs out of your hands. None of this feels cheap to replicate on film.
Of course, these are just the financial difficulties. There are also difficulties around the plot to create something with enough of a twist for the audience to guess.
(Warning: spoilers ahead!)
In the first game, this twist came in the form of the phrase "Would you kindly..." as a catchphrase that required the player to obey the ruler of the underwater city while in BioShock Infinite we saw the multiverse unfolding. hides behind the curtain of reality.
Having big bombshells like these is hard to pull off and easily ruined by rumors and leaks, two problems a BioShock movie would have to deal with during filming.
Also, some video game adaptations have not been very good.
"We all make decisions, but in the end our choices make us." Netflix + Bioshock. Will you be attentive? pic.twitter.com/Ke1oJQileXFebruary 15, 2022
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It's also interesting that Netflix is breaking the news of a BioShock movie just days before the Uncharted movie opens in theaters... a movie that critics (including our own Axel Metz) haven't been too fond of so far.
If Netflix was hoping to be buoyed by the success of another video game movie adaptation, Uncharted seems like the wrong horse to hitch to its cart.
The case for Netflix having a role in the film's production and distribution is that it's one of the few services to have made really decent video game adaptations in the past. There's no denying the success of Netflix's The Witcher, but the streaming service has also done wonders with lesser-known hits like the Castlevania adaptation and Arcane, a League of Legends adaptation that features some of its most iconic and familiar faces.
At this point, we're not going to rule out any attempt to create a video game adaptation based on how things have played out in the past, but it's worth acknowledging that a BioShock movie has a long way to go. take more than a few "Would you be so kind" expressions for that to happen.