Netflix announced a while back that it was taking on the unenviable task of producing a film based on the BioShock franchise. Now, the streaming giant is pulling out all the stops to make its movie adaptation successful.
According to Netflix, it has acquired the services of Francis Lawrence and Michael Green.
BioShock — our live-action feature film adaptation of the renowned video game franchise — will be directed by Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Slumberland) from a script written by Michael Green (Logan, Blade Runner 2049, American Gods). pic.twitter.com/mDh4ut6ayJ
— Netflix (@netflix) August 25, 2022
Both Lawrence and Green have impressive resumes, working in some of the biggest films in recent years.
The director
Francis Lawrence, 51, started his career as a director for music videos working with the likes of Rihanna, The Backstreet Boys, Lady Gaga, and Shakira. He also has experience with TV ads for major corporations such as Coca-cola, McDonald’s, and Disneyland.
His film directorial debut was in the movie Constantine starring Keanu Reaves. He worked on blockbuster films I Am Legend, three of the Hunger Games films, and most recently Red Sparrow.
He will next work on The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes which will be showing in 2023.
The screenwriter
Michael Green is an Academy Awards nominated screenwriter. He started writing scripts for television series such as Sex and the City, Smallville, Kings, and Heroes where he received an Emmy Award nomination.
Green’s debut as a movie screenwriter came in The Green Lantern with Ryan Reynolds. He has also worked on movies such as Alien: Covenant, Bladerunner 2049, and Logan where he along with his co-writers were nominated for Best Screenplay at the Academy Awards.
Green also works as a producer for movies and television.
Bioshock
This isn't the first attempt at a Bioshock movie.
Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski was set to direct a film adaptation by Universal Studios. The film suffered from budget constraints and an R-rating, which did not sit well with Universal. The current partnership between Take-Two's subsidiary, 2K Games, with Netflix has made fans hopeful that the award-winning video game franchise will finally get a much-deserved movie adaptation.
Netflix has an excellent track record when it comes to live-action and animated adaptations of known gaming franchises. The streaming giant has had a hand in bringing the likes of The Witcher, Resident Evil, Tekken, and Castlevania, among others, to life. Netflix is currently working with Sony on a live-action adaptation of the Horizon franchise with Steve Blackman at the helm.
As for the video game series, the next BioShock game has been in development since 2019. The franchise recently celebrated the 15th anniversary of the original game which came out in 2007. The brains behind the first three BioShock games, Ken Levine, is currently working on a different game with Ghost Story Games. Levine's upcoming title has reportedly run into development issues.
