“Hunger Games” franchise director Francis Lawrence will direct “BioShock,” Netflix’s feature film adaptation of the beloved video game series.
Michael Green, whose credits include “Logan,” “Blade Runner 2049,” and “Death on the Nile” will pen the screenplay.
Netflix will produce the live-action film with the game’s publishers, 2K and Take-Two Interactive. Comprised of “BioShock,” “BioShock 2” and “BioShock Infinite,” the franchise is situated within a number of different dystopian landscapes. According to the official description, “BioShock” “blends sci-fi and horror to pose unique existential and societal questions that reshaped how game stories could be told – all amidst pulse-pounding action gameplay that rewards sharp shooting, clever planning, and lethal improvisation.”
Along with 2K, a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., Roy Lee will produce for Vertigo Entertainment, while Francis Lawrence will produce for about:blank. Executive producers are Cameron MacConomy for about:blank and Strauss Zelnick for Take-Two Interactive.
Developed by Irrational Games, the “BioShock” franchise launched in 2007 and has since sold more than 39 million copies worldwide. Cloud Chamber Studios is currently developing the next installment.
An adaptation of “BioShock” first went into development in 2008 at Universal Pictures with “Pirates of the Caribbean” filmmaker Gore Verbinski directing, but he left the project a year later and the film was scrapped altogether over budget concerns given the intended R-rating.
Between directing “I Am Legend,” episodes of Apple TV+’s “See,” and three of the “Hunger Games” films, Lawrence has plenty of experience with the dystopian genre. He reteamed with “See” star Jason Momoa for “Slumberland,” which will premiere on Netflix in November. He also directed Jennifer Lawrence in the R-rated spy thriller “Red Sparrow.”
Green’s recent projects include “Death on the Nile,” “Jungle Cruise” and series “American Gods.” He’s slated to co-write screenplays for “Carry On,” starring Taron Egerton, and Jane Wu’s star-studded series “Blue Eye Samurai.”
Deadline first reported the “BioShock” news.
