Francis Lawrence has been hard at work on developing the upcoming BioShock adaptation. The feature film will be headed to Netflix, although details surrounding the project are still scarce. The director recently sat down with Collider, sharing his plans for the film and his love for the video games from which the adaptation stems.
“First of all, I think it’s one of the best games ever created,” Lawrence says. “It’s also, I think, one of the most visually unique games ever created.” The first two entries in the franchise focused on the underwater city of Rapture, while the third game, BioShock: Infinite, took audiences to the floating city of Columbia. The set pieces for the upcoming film could act as a character of their own, as the world created by Irrational Games and 2K Games are memorable, to say the least. Lawrence shared a brief update on the progress of BioShock, saying the project is still in the writing stages at this point.
“Well, Michael Green, who wrote Blade Runner 2049, among other things, and who’s been a friend of mine for years, he’s writing it, and he’s in the middle of writing it right now. We already have our take, outline, and all that kind of stuff, so that’s all done. He’s now just actually writing. That’s why I said it’s a real possibility of [it] being what’s next.”
Netflix has seen success with video game adaptions, with the latest being Dragon Age: Absolution. The series debuts on Dec. 9, following the Tevinter Empire and the different inhabitants. Castlevania premiered in 2017, running for four seasons with a spinoff, Castlevania: Nocturne, expected to arrive on Netflix sometime in 2023. The Witcher, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, and Arcane are just a few more successful video game adaptations for the streaming service, which Lawrence hopes to continue when BioShock arrives.
Francis Lawrence Has Proven He Can Helm a Successful Adaptation
Suzanne Collins provided all the material necessary to make a blockbuster franchise with The Hunger Games. The films of the same name, which translates three books into four movies, saw Jennifer Lawrence in the lead role as Katniss Everdeen. The films skyrocketed the actress into the mainstream, as she portrayed the character from 2012 until the final movie in 2015. Francis Lawrence joined with The Hunger Games: Catching Fire in 2013 before returning for the last two films.
Michael Green, who pens the script for BioShock, has seen similar success in Hollywood. He wrote the screenplay for Murder on the Orient Express and the subsequent sequel, Death on the Nile, both adaptations of stories from Agatha Christie. In 2017, he penned Blade Runner 2049, regarded as an excellent sequel to the original film starring Harrison Ford. The upcoming BioShock movie has all the talent needed to make a successful Netflix adaption, and fans will patiently wait to see how the project turns out.
