Bioshock movie gets a release update, but you might not like it

After a good chunk of radio silence, we’ve finally been given an update on the Bioshock movie. But it doesn’t sound like it’s coming out any time soon.

In conversation with The Direct, Bioshock movie producer Roy Lee commented that the movie won’t be filmed until after The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is done. And it’s all thanks to the work schedule of director Francis Lawrence, who also made the just-released Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk.

“The Long Walk became a reality because BioShock was delayed for a little bit, where we had to do some more script work. And so as the script work is being done, we shot The Long Walk,” Lee explains.

“[Lawrence] was already committed to doing the next Hunger Games movie. And so it's just waiting for him whenever the Hunger Games is completed, and the script is just being worked on right now.”

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is in production at present, and is pencilled in for a release in cinemas on November 20th, 2026.

This suggests we may not see the Bioshock movie released until 2028, given the time usually required for post-production.

That said, back in 2024, we heard the film’s plans had been cut back due to a budget rethink over at Netflix, which is producing the Bioshock movie. Smaller film, number production?

The chatter was that the film would focus on a smaller, more personal story rather than a world-building epic. Roy Lee also confirmed in the recent The Direct interview that it will be based on the very first Bioshock movie.

“Netflix wants us to keep everything under wraps. But it's definitely going to be based on the first BioShock game,” says Lee.

As any fan of the games knows, this means it’ll be set in and around the underwater city of Rapture, rather than the flying cloud city of Columbia — as seen in Bioshock Infinite.

Rapture has such a specific appearance and feel, though, it’s still not an ideal setting for a movie done on the cheap.

Another Bioshock game is in the works, too, but we’ve not had the best recent news from that project either. It’s in development at Cloud Chamber, a relatively new developer without any credits to its name yet.

A few weeks ago, we heard some of its employees were being made redundant — although these days it might be easier to point out the game studios that haven’t had layoffs in recent times.

The Netflix Bioshock film was first announced in 2022, with Lawrence on board as director and Black Runner 2049/Logan writer Michael Green down to write the screenplay. We'll bring more news on this one as we get it.

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