Gore Verbinski to Direct ‘Bioshock’

Published by Jeff Leins on: May 8th, 2008

Universal and Gore Verbinski are teaming to make a big-screen adaptation of the popular video game Bioshock.

The first person shooter won numerous awards and was nominated for Game of the Year in 2007. It sold over 2 million copies.

Bioshock takes place in an underwater city based on the free market principles of Ayn Rand, but things have gone disastrously wrong. Players control a pilot who crash-lands at a secret entrance to the city, called Rapture, and is drawn into a power struggle during which he discovers that his will is not as free as he’d thought.

Variety says the deal with Universal is the biggest game-to-movie deal since 2005’s Halo deal between Microsoft and Universal. Obviously that’s still a sore subject for both companies since that movie was never made.

Guillermo del Toro had expressed interest in filming an adaptation of the video game many times, but he’ll be tied up for the next four years with the two Hobbit movies.

Eager to get something on screen while the game is still relevant they went with Verbinski, who isn’t exactly an unknown. He directed the The Mexican and The Ring before being selected to direct all three Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

On top of that they got John Logan to write the script. He wrote Gladiator, The Aviator, The Last Samurai, and the screenplay for Sweeney Todd. What a resume.

This film announcement comes two months after Take-Two Interactive announced a sequel video game would be released in late 2009. It’s the first movie deal for the publisher, who also owns Rockstar (Grand Theft Auto).

I’ve played the game and it does have a pretty intense storyline. But so far every single video game adaptation has been pretty awful. Will this be the one that breaks the curse?