Want to advertise on
The Movie Blog?

Click here for
information!

» News

Gore Verbinski takes on BioShock

By Rodney - August 5, 2008 - 11:26 America/Montreal

Gore Verbinski has a three-year first-look deal that the director signed with Universal Pictures. And his first film he will call dibs on? An adaptation of the popular video game BioShock.

MovieWeb says:

The Aviator screenwriter John Logan is adapting the story for the big screen. The events in the film will revolve around a mysterious event that happens to the underwater world known as Rapture.

Video game movies always raise a flag with me, but I even admit that some of the newer generations of games are very cinematic. Bioshock is one of them. If they can manage to focus on the storyline and let the effects tell the story instead of trying to mash a story in between effects shots, this might stand a chance.

Bioshock is visually stunning and the underwater world that houses all this strangeness is quite amazing. As with any game, the idea of seeing it brought to life on the big screen is often half the hype and then the movie itself is poor.

Verbinski has been hit and miss on directing. Almost half of his resume consists of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean franchise (all of which he directed) but for the most part I don’t mind his work. I don’t blame him for the Pirates sequels. I think they would have been poorer as they went on with or without him.

Let’s hope this will be as good of a story as it is a visual.

» 21 Comments

  1. HAZMAT says:

    hitman was good..the movie not so much…

    doom was a great game..the movie wasnt that good..

    mortal combat was an addiction of mione but the movie was terrible

    the games were the only reason why i saw the movies…but ive played bioshock and it SUCKED. and i cant even imagine a bioshock movie…its just weird…

    maybe prince of persia will be good…and halo…they have a chance sinse theyre good games but bioshock was shitty

  2. steve says:

    you’re pretty much alone there hazmat

    bioshock does so many things right in gaming they’ll need to do a lot of things differently to make it work as a movie. whether they are the right changes or not will show itself.

    please no CGI big daddies.

  3. BobaFett says:

    There are WAAAAYY too many bad video game movies, than good ones.

    BAD…
    Super Mario Bros
    Doom
    Dungeon Siege (I saw it in theaters! Damn you Jason Statham!)
    Bloodrayne
    StreetFighter
    Tomb Raider The Cradle of Life

    OK
    Hitman
    Resident Evil

    Good
    Tomb Raider

    I’ve tried to watch Silent Hill, and for some reason I always get interrupted.

  4. HAZMAT says:

    steve

    hey man thats cool =]
    i just didnt like it…all about opinions…

    i rented it from bluckbuster and i played it and i just hated the thing

  5. aaron says:

    awesome!!!

  6. Mr. Chris says:

    I think anything can be made into a worthy adaptation in the right hands (yes, even Super Mario.)

    The reason video games haven’t gotten the right treatment yet is because studios are always so skeptical about the games’ target audience in relation to their own, so instead of taking a chance on a new idea, they keep changing the story until it resembles something more close-to-home and most cost-efficient to film. That’s why so many game adaptations end up looking like “Enter the Dragon” or “Aliens.”

    I’m still holding out for the day when they start adapting adventure games. Seeing “Monkey Island,” “Full Throttle” or “Gabriel Knight” on the big screen would make my life complete.

  7. BobaFett says:

    KING’S QUEST THE MOTION PICTURE!!!

  8. EZELL says:

    This guy who wrote the screeplay wrote gladiator and last samurai and the director of pirates of caribbean i think this could be the first good video game movie and halo is so big they will have no choice but to give it to a good director so they can make sequels.

  9. Shovels Popcorn says:

    As a huge Bioshock fan…I hope this goes well. I really hope this goes well…please…

  10. WomanizingFreak says:

    Im a big fan of bioshock and i think (If done right) this could be a great film. Its got some great twists and is very cinematic……. Its got everything it needs for a great film

  11. Jaime says:

    hey everyone.

    first time submitter to a chat room, so am a virgin. just wanted to know if anyone knew anythin about a dvd i got on at the moment called “fire in the sky”. I’m in Aus we’re a little moe limited in our releases but did this old thing even get a release or any buzz over there stateside?

  12. Jaime says:

    oops, and i think i just realised that i shouldnt have asked that question in this particular sugject chat, sorry guys. just reading watchmen for the first time, even my fiance is hooked, any games based on that book?

  13. bigsampson says:

    fire in the sky is a awesome movie….true story man and the dude still believes he was abducted….as for bioshock…….no cgi on bigdaddies is right…metal on metal action baby

  14. 790 says:

    (((Would You Kindly))) all agree that Bioshock will beat TDK at the Box Office.

    Steve, right on bro, loved the game 36 achievements 730/1000 gamer points. Loved it.

    Mr Chris I agree with you on the first point you made.

    This film could be real cool, if they do it right. I’d rather have them try Bioshock than sit thru a Meatballs reboot.

    Suck me ,, GunRunner46. Lol.

  15. Surely this is interesting, but as always the curse of games to movie goes – it will suck in a manner that we can’t comprehend. Most of it did, but a few had proven to be “nice” like Resident Evil, 1st Tomb Raider movie, and… hmm i think thats it. So now we have Bioshock, hopefully not BioSUCK. It all comes down to story and characters, which Bioshock has alot to offer, so i’m thinking this may turn out great if its executed perfectly in balance to story and SFX. Halo too have a good premise, so i’m counting on that too :) .

    Actually i’m pretty sure it has nothing to do with games or comic or old-cartoon tv series that makes bad adaptation, its how movie-makers present the story to the audience. Unfortunately, game-movie has it bad luck with bad adaptations and lack of enthusiasm in delivering it, a reason for this is that, games are made to “play”, so the mentality is different when it comes to movie where we as audience are “expecting” something for 2 hours or so. Comics and cartoons have it similar to movies, which involves story telling. Not to say games don’t have it, but like i said, its made to “play”. So i think its about time, we see games such as Bioshock, Halo, Prince of Persia, Splinter Cell, Mass Effect, Half Life, Gears of War (i’m sure theres more) story-driven-games make it to the big screen with a Bang!

    Game-movie that suck in the past always had no story to tell, and for the most part, it was executed so poorly that in the 1st few minutes your soul tells you that this movie sucks! Some game story works well as only a game, but when the transition happens, its a disaster cause movies are almost always catered to matured audience (heck even kids story now days is clever enough, Avatar anyone?). I think Doom was cool, but not a good movie, but Alone in the Dark, Bloodrayne, Dungeon Siege, Mario Bros and Street Fighter (to name afew), was just totally and utterly … UweBoll???
    Man i wont’ even go there but you get what i mean, its just bad.

  16. 790 says:

    I loved the Doom movie!!!

  17. Freeman says:

    I hope the movie adaptation has the wrist tattoos :)

  18. Shovels Popcorn says:

    I agree with the wrist tattoos, I agree that the big daddies should not be CGI. Also, I want the poeple that did the sounds for bioshock to do the sounds for the movie.

    Why do I think Tom Hanks should play Andrew Ryan? I know it’s a bad idea, but now I can’t stop thinking about it…

  19. miles says:

    i loved bioshock. it had a great concept, and i think that this is the best chance ever for a video game movie not to suck.

  20. Dragonslayer says:

    I figure it might be good. Gore Verbinski is a good director and did well with the Pirates movies (Yes, I did like all of them).

  21. WomanizingFreak says:

    I want tom hanks as andrew ryan.

» Leave a Reply