'BioShock' Netflix Movie: What to Know

Netflix recently announced that it is adapting the acclaimed video game franchise BioShock into a movie series, and fans' excitement is palpable. BioShock game studio Take-Two Interactive is partnering with the streamer on this Netflix Original film after about a year of negotiations. Sadly, it will be quite some time before we can see the finished product.

BioShock is an action and role-playing game set in a sci-fi dystopian alternate history world. It is set mostly in the underwater city of Rapture — an experimental habitat built by an eccentric millionaire in the mid-20th century. The first game was released in 2007 and since then several sequels and spinoffs have followed including mainline sequels BioShock 2 and Bioshock Infinite, as well as expansions BioShock: Challenge Rooms, BioShock 2: Minerva's Den, BioShock: Industrial Revolution, BioShock Infinite: Clash in the Clouds, BioShock Infinite: Burial. The most recent title, the compilation BioShock: The Collection, was released in 2016.

The games have a retrofuturistic setting with an art-deco aesthetic, and their dystopian story draws from the writings of Ayn Rand and George Orwell. The player-character finds himself in Rapture after a plane crash and gradually learns the backstory of the city and the civil war that brought it down. Subsequent games jump ahead in time and explore more political and science fiction implications of this world, with plenty of material to adapt to the screen.

So far, Netflix and Take-Two have only announced that this project is in the works and nothing more. There are no writers or filmmakers attached to the movies by name, but they will be Netflix original films produced by Take-Two and Vertigo Entertainment. Fans have wanted this adaptation for a long time, so naturally, they have some thoughts about casting.

The biggest name in tweets about this project is director Gore Verbinski, who was previously hired to adapt BioShock for Universal Studios. At the time, Verbinski reportedly butted heads with studio executives over creative choices including the movie's rating, which he felt should be R. He also struggled to secure the budget he felt he needed to do justice to Rapture.

Video game adaptations have been a tough sell in the past, but in recent years some have been successful – particularly at Netflix. The streamer currently has big plans for The Witcher franchise, and fans are hoping that BioShock will get the same treatment.