Levine explains why he killed BioShock movie
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Irrational Games boss Ken Levine says after Gore Verbinski left the project, he "didn't really see the match" with the new director.
Irrational Games creative director Ken Levine has explained why he decided to kill the BioShock movie, which Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski was at one time set to direct with Universal Pictures.
Speaking at a BAFTA event in London last night, as reported by Edge, Levine said the commercial shortcomings of 2009's The Watchmen may have led to Universal executives getting cold feet about green-lighting the project.
"There was a deal in place and it was actually in production at Universal, and Gore Verbinski was directing it," Levine said. "And what happened was--this is my theory--it's a very big movie, and Gore was very excited about it, and he wanted to make a very dark, what he would call a 'hard-rated' horror film, an R-rated film with a lot of blood. Then The Watchmen came out--and I really liked The Watchmen--but it didn't do well for whatever reason, and the studio got cold feet about making an R-rated $200 million film."
Levine said Verbinski was not interested in making a BioShock movie with a reduced budget, believed to be somewhere around $80 million, and so he left.
"And so they brought another director in, and I didn't really see the match there. Take-Two is one of those companies that gives a lot of trust to their creative people, and so they said to me, 'If you want to kill it Ken, kill it.' And I killed it."
Levine did not name this new director outright, though it was previously revealed that Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later, Intact) was brought on following Verbinski's departure. Fresnadillo dropped out a year ago this month.
"Which was weird, having been a screenwriter going around begging to rewrite any script to being in a position where you're killing a movie that you worked so much on," Levine said of canceling the movie. "It was saying, 'You know what? I don't need to compromise.' I had the [BioShock] world, and I didn't what to see it done in a way I didn't think was right."
The BioShock film was first announced in 2008, with Verbinski attached to direct. Production was halted the following year due to concerns over the project's ballooning $160 million budget. Verbinski clarified the film's fate last year, revealing that the BioShock movie's budget would only be approved for a PG-13 take on the material, a compromise he felt was unacceptable.
The BioShock series continues this month with the release of BioShock Infinite. For more, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
144 comments
2 Like It's a shame it could have been a good film. Hollywood execs are fools for screwing it up like that. They only care about the money and not making a good film. That's why we see the same old formulaic crap all the time. The film industry in America is crap. It's not about making good films anymore. It seems there's no originality or creativity allowed. It's just big budget action movies with no plot, predictable, crap horror films, excrutatingly bad rom coms, terrible unfunny comedies, boring dramas, awful musicals. You do get a couple of good films but there's just a huge amount of crap movies out there. Why do they allow such a huge amount of crap movies to be made. A pg-13 Bioshock movie would have been crap and never have lived up to the game. He was right to cancel it.
1 Like I'm impressed to see Levine had that kind of influence, but not at all surprised he called it off. Bravo, Ken!
I'm slightly stunned at the notion that as a film's budget goes up, its age-rating has to come down in order to leave it accessible to enough punters to offset the cost. I know it makes sense from a business perspective, but I can't help think that maybe some of these studios need to do some of the growing up the games industry is told to do by others.
1 Like At last!!!! Some game developer stopping a posible sucking movie "just because it´s going to suck"!!!!! YEAHHH=) there´s still hope in this world
really? this is why we have stupid ass movies out that no one has ever heard of..Dark skies, Escape from Planet Earth, Safe Haven, Side Effects, Snitch, and Silver Linings Playbook.....DAFUQ?
Most Game Movies don't do so well anyway... (Yet somehow RE movies are still being made, and they are getting worse with every entry).
I think this movie had massive potential to get a following outside the gaming community. I would still like to see a movie for Bioshock one day. Who knows, maybe Mr. Levine will get his wish and the budget, and director will return and he can create something amazing.
R isn't really needed for this game. It doesn't even feel like an M game most of the time.
@SythisTaru Due to the drug use and the glorification of it in the US the movie would HAVE to have an R rating. Then when you add the violence, sexuality and gore, you need an R. If they don't make this movie they are idiots, the first look at the bouncer when you first arrive would be breathtaking.
1 Like Ubisoft is paying less than 200 million for something that should be incredible. If Ken wants the movie so bad why doesn't he and Take 2 put up some of the money and dictate IP and rating. Bioshock would be the best video game inspired film ever made if it was given the chance. I would see it in the theater and buy the Bluray as I am sure many others would. I would just hope we didn't end up with the same kind of end as we got with DOOM. Maybe Tim Burton would direct Sweeney Todd was very dark, well done and rated R.
3 Like It's rare to see a high budget R film. It's always a risk for the studios, which is unfortunate.
I admire Levine for making the call.
1 Like Why not put out a PG-13 movie in the theater but have an unrated version when it comes out on blu-ray and DVD?
3 Like "Would you kindly let us make a $200 million R-rated movie?"
That might have worked.
2 Like Wow,.it seams like this movie would had been quite rare; it would actually get serious attention to the source material. Real, honest respect was going into this project; that is unheard of for this type of adaptation. I don't know the series, but while a good choice, it does seam disappointing of a result.
1 Like let this one sink in for a minute then acknowledge the pure genius of it....
Bioshock directed by Quinton Terrentino. i know i know, why didn't you think of it first....
2 Like If it was the 28 weeks later director then he certainly did the right thing in killing the project.
2 Like very disappointed and mixed feelings on it. i totally respect levine's rights here and his delicate handling of his IP but I would have enjoyed watching damn near any treatment of the material, well as long as it didn't end up another resident evil piece of chit.
also, to all you @ssholes out there that did NOT watch Watchmen, one of the greatest movies of that year, thanks for killing THIS adaptation with your narrow minded view on movies. Watchmen was an amazing flick. nothing short of fantastic
@Epicurus-Reborn @philMcCrevis Ahhh! lol your breaking my heart man i loved that movie in so many ways. what did you not like about it? and don't say the blue guys schlong! lol heard that from too many friends already
2 Like @philMcCrevis @Epicurus-Reborn seriously, that was an issue blocking them from enjoying the film? Wow........that's just.......sad.
@philMcCrevis @Epicurus-Reborn I coulda swore i replied to this already. Any way, I just dont like the directing. Its very stylish and edgy and action oriented. Which would be cool for an action movie i guess. But watchmen has this incredibly dark and deep story, and i think the director just wanted an excuse to make something with lots of violence and sex. I love the story, i just hate the directing. I wish the movie took itself more seriously. Because really.... amazing story/characters. But I'll admit, as far as style goes that movie is very visually appealing.
1 Like Pretty old news right here, but i guess its relevant again what with infinite on the way.
Right from the horses mouth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STcOAq-Ranw
This just in! Ken Levine has been has been arrested and charged with one count of murder in the first degree. Also arrested were all of Take Two for conspiracy to commit murder.
Also, am I alone in thinking that this movie would perhaps work if it was a prequel of sorts that showed the rise and fall of Rapture leading up to the games?
@Fursnake you are right...i think prequel would be more interesting that the actual game time frame
7 Like I'm glad Ken had the balls to kill it. No need to release product that you don't have faith in.
A Mass Effect movie still has the potential to be good, and could feasibly get a $200 million+ budget since the material is already fairly PG-13 rated.
It's a very good call to kill this movie. While I always thought Bioshock was absolutely perfect to be made into a movie, it's no secret that movies don't make good videogames, and videogames don't make for good movies. And it's just that simple. And, no, 'Tomb Raider' was NOT a good movie.......
Yeah - You ever hear of books or comic books? Neither of those properties you mentioned were videogames before they were anything else and thus not applicable to the point I'm making. Thanks for playing though!
Ooooookayyyyyyy.......... You obviously aren't capable of following basic logic. So let's break it down for you : You quoted the statement I made so no need to rehash it. You then cited 2 examples you thought were applicable. I then mentioned that both of the properties you cited were NOT applicable as they were not videogames before they were movies OR vice versa - they were either books or comic books. The point I was making is that properties that are videogames first (Mortal Kombat, Mario Bros., Tomb Raider, etc.) never make for good movies. And videogames that are movies first (IE, all the tie-in videogames that are produced as an attempt to further cash-in on a movie coming out) are never good videogames - only 'decent' at best (X-Men Origins : WOLVERINE for example, since that's about the best I can think of off-hand). So do you get it now?
@DETfaninATL "movies don't make good videogames, and videogames don't make for good movies. And it's just that simple." I was responding to this! When did you mention comic books? pfff you argue like an irrational tweenie. thanks for playing though.
@DETfaninATL you suck...stop speaking in absolutes. games don't always make good movies but it can and does happen
OK there Mr. Pleasant. Way to come in and be nasty to someone, make a vague statement and then offer no examples of what you're trying to illustrate. You have FAILed. Completely.
4 Like Watchmen was utterly awful. Let us see. You have got one of the all time great graphic novels and indeed novels period which was dripping with social and political resonance of the period it was set in. So, do we update it to fit into a post 9/11 world? To make it as socially relevant to our generation and times as the original piece of writing was to the 80's? Nah. Let's just copy and paste, through in some wife fu and slow mo the shit out of it. Disgraceful garbage.
As for a Bioshock movie, there is too much to limit it to two hours. TV series would be grand. Expensive, but grand. But I trust Mr Levine with this. If it works, he'll push on with it. If it doesn't, he wouldn't bother and why should he? Sure, a lot of the time when I play a game I believe to be a true original piece of art (as I do the first Bioshock), I find myself wanting more people to know about it as it deserves a mass audience and appeal. But at what cost? Too much judging by quality of games to movies.
I will now go sit in a corner and pretend a Shadow of the Colossus movie isn't happening. Alcohol usually helps.
@N0tYrBeezin @AjenoMerveilles thank you i loved watchmen. these damn comic book dorks - if it isn't exactly like their beloved comic book, then its trash. never mind the fact that its almost impossible to condense that stuff into 2 hours.
@N0tYrBeezin @AjenoMerveilles The graphic novel was unlike anything out there when it came out in the 80's with context of the nuclear armaments, berlin wall, and the material generation as backdrop that was not fleshed out in the movie. While the movie was okay in ways it could have been a thousand times better, and this is not a book is always better then movie analogy, the decisions to focus on parts of the movie that did not push the characters simplified it to the point of mediocrity.
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