Having directed all three of Disney’s blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Gore Verbinski is on board to adapt one of the past year’s most popular video games. Universal Pictures has tapped the filmmaker to direct and produce a big-screen version of Take-Two Interactive’s award-winning sci-fi first-person shooter Bioshock.
The Bioshock game puts the player in the role of the sole survivor of an ocean plane crash, who discovers an underwater city built in the 1930s. As the mystery unfolds, gamers discover that the submerged metropolis was the scene of horrific events brought about by science gone terribly wrong.
Screenwriter John Logan (Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, The Aviator) is in negotiations to adapt the game for the screen. It was recently reported that he and Verbinski were collaborating on an unnamed animated feature, which has some wondering if this might be it. Bioshock creative director Ken Levine is said to be consulting on the film project.
‘BioShock fans appreciate the depth and complexity of the game, and our partnership with Gore Verbinski will introduce the world of Rapture to an even wider audience,’ says Christoph Hartmann, president of Take-Two’s 2K Games label. ‘In addition to his impressive body of work, Gore is an avid video gamer and true fan of BioShock. That was extremely important to us in deciding to move forward with this project.’
Take-Two, which has never before licensed film rights to a game despite Hollywood interest in the Grand Theft Auto franchise, will receive a multimillion-dollar advance against gross points on the Bioshock movie. The deal nearly matches the one Universal and 20th Century Fox struck with Microsoft for the Halo movie, which both studios ultimately backed out of.
Take-Two, which recently rejected a $2 billion acquisition bid by Electronic Arts, has a Bioshock sequel slated for release in 2009 under its 2K Games label. In addition to selling two million units worldwide since its launch in August, the first game won awards for Best Audio, Best Visual Arts and Best Writing at this year’s Game Developers Conference, and racked up a number of Game-of-the-Year kudos throughout the year.
