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.
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.