From Hollywood to Rapture: BIOSHOCK still on

Gamers and uber nerds alike can breathe a sigh of relief that although Gore Verbinski recently dropped out of the project, Bioshock is still going to find it's way to the big screen. Verbinski will still be on to produce the project and they are in talks with Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, director of the Spanish thriller Intacto as well as 28 Weeks Later, the sequel to Danny Boyle's film, to direct.

Having never seen Intacto, I can't quite properly judge the new director, but I enjoyed 28 Weeks Later for its style and its brutality so based off of that, trusting this guy to take charge and make a visually striking film won't be a stretch. The setting is rich and unique so putting a director who will take advantage of it at the helm is a great idea. Take-Two, the game's producer, holds the rights to director approval so it's ultimately up to them who gets the thumbs up or down.

The production was originally halted due to the bloated budget that just wouldn't seem to stop going up, finally reaching a $160mil price point and shutting things down. The sky-rocketing prices can likely be attributed to the vast underwater world that needs to be created in order to accurately represnt Rapture, the city in which Bioshock takes place.

Set in an alternate history 1960, the game places the player in the role of a plane crash survivor named Jack, who must explore the underwater city of Rapture, and survive attacks by the mutated beings and mechanical drones that populate it.

Sounds like it could be a really fun horror/thriller. I'll be keeping my ear out for the 100% on this news and let you know once casting gets started.