BioShock: Netflix shares bad news about the franchise's movie

BioShock has positioned itself as one of the most popular franchises in the industry thanks to its attractive world, characters, story, and gameplay. For this reason, its fans have been waiting for years for an adaptation of the saga to film or television.

At the beginning of 2022, Netflix surprised all fans of the IP by confirming a BioShock movie along with Vertigo Entertainment and Take-Two Interactive. After months without information about the production, there is troubling news.

During a special panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2024, it was confirmed that the film will have a smaller budget and that it will be a more personal project due to recent changes at Netflix. This was revealed by Roy Lee, its producer.

BioShock movie will have a smaller budget on Netflix

Thanks to a report from Variety, we know that some internal adjustments at Netflix will affect the BioShock movie. Specifically, the budget reduction is due to the company changing the director in charge of its film business and a refocusing of that business.

Dan Lin will bet on a more modest strategy compared to Scott Stuber, the former head of that division. For this reason, the BioShock adaptation will have a smaller budget and is now described as a more personal project.

"The new regime has lowered the budgets. So we’re doing a much smaller version. … It’s going to be a more personal point of view, as opposed to a grander, big project," commented Lee.

Despite this significant adjustment, Francis Lawrence will remain as the director of the project. For now, the creative has not given his opinion on this unexpected adjustment. Unfortunately, there were no further updates or other news shared about the film, which many fans are eagerly awaiting.

The original news that the production was in the hands of Netflix worried some BioShock enthusiasts, as the company has both stumbled and triumphed when adapting important video game sagas.

As expected, the recent report on the film's budget is also alarming for some fans, who fear that the project will simply not meet expectations or reach the quality standards that the saga has in its games.