Source: IGN
Speaking to IndustryGamers, Ken Levine stated that despite the fact that a Bioshock movie was a very hot property and a very real possibility at one point, things are not looking too promising at the moment.
"We got very close to having it get made – we had a deal in place and a director. But for us there's no burning [desire] to have a movie made just to get it made," said Levine.
Back in 2008, Gore Verbinski,(Pirates of the Caribbean and The Ring), was attached to direct the movie and stated, "I think the whole utopia-gone-wrong story that's cleverly unveiled to players is just brimming with cinematic potential. Of all the games I've played, this is one that I felt has a really strong narrative."
Unfortunately, the movie never got off the ground due to budget issues. Earlier this year, Verbinski lamented the project's difficulty, stating "I couldn't really get past anybody that would spend the money that it would take to do it and keep an R rating. Alternately, I wasn't really interested in pursuing a PG-13 version. Because the R rating is inherent."
Now Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later) is attached to direct, but Levine's latest comments leave the film in doubt.
"For us and for Take-Two, it's really got to be something that will a) give the fans something that they want, and b) for those who don't know BioShock, really introduce them to something that is consistent with the game, and is it going to be a good representation of the game," Levine said. "But you know, we don't have a need to get it made."
BioShock is a first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Boston (now known as Irrational Games) and designed by Ken Levine. It was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 on August 21, 2007 in North America, and three days later in Europe and Australia. It became available on Steam on August 21, 2007. A PlayStation 3 version of the game, which was developed by 2K Marin, 2K Boston, 2K Australia and Digital Extremes, was released internationally on October 17, 2008 and in North America on October 21, 2008 with some additional features. The game was also released for the Mac OS X operating system on October 7, 2009 by Feral Interactive. A version of the game for mobile platforms was developed by IG Fun. A sequel, BioShock 2, was developed by 2K Marin and released on February 9, 2010.
On May 9, 2008, Take Two announced a deal with Universal Studios to produce a BioShock movie, to be directed by Gore Verbinski and written by John Logan. The film was expected to be released in 2010, but was put on hold due to budget concerns. On August 24, 2009 it was revealed that Verbinski had dropped out of the project due to the studio's decision to film overseas to keep the budget under control. Verbinski reportedly feels this would have hindered his work on Rango. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo is in talks to direct with Verbinski as producer. In January 2010 the project was in pre-production stage, with director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and Braden Lynch, a voice artist from BioShock 2 both working on the film. By July the film was facing budget issues but producer Gore Verbinski said they were working it out. He also said the film would be a hard R. Ken Levine, during an interview on August 30, 2010, said: "I will say that it is still an active thing and it's something we are actively talking about and actively working on." Verbinski later cited that by trying to maintain the "R" rating, they were unable to find any studios that would back the effort, putting the film's future in jeopardy.