By George Bate
Submerged in development hell for years, it appears the acclaimed video game Bioshock will finally find life as a movie.
Netflix revealed today that a live-adaptation of the horror video game will be directed by Francis Lawrence, who previously helmed I Am Legend, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and Slumberland. Bioshock will come from a script written by Michael Green, whose works include Logan, Blade Runner 2049, American Gods, and the recent Agatha Christie adaptations Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile.
Deadline reports that pre-production for Bioshock will kick off once Lawrence finishes work on his current film Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.
Prior to Netflix’s attempts to adapt Bioshock, the beloved video game franchise was a passion project for Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski. That version of the film never saw the light of day, although Verbinski has revealed details about his plans in various interviews.
Bioshock is set in an alternative 1960 and followed Jack, a survivor of an airplane crash who soon discovers an underwater city called Rapture. In this submerged, futuristic city, Jack discovers a generic material that grants him superhuman powers, but that also gave rise to horrible, violent creatures.
A trailer for the video game that will serve as the basis for the new Netflix film can be seen below.