""I think the whole Utopia-gone-wrong story that's cleverly unveiled to players is just brimming with cinematic potential."

Quotes like that basically mean "videogames aren't potent enough of an art form to do the exposition justice." I fucking hate the idea that if game has good narrative, it must become a movie. That's a disservice to videogames like BioShock.

Shockingly poor.

I doubt it will work, especially with Verbinski at the helm. He could pull of a decent BioShock action/adventure movie, but he lacks the capacity for the layered approach and for all the symbolism. It would become a watchable movie, but a mess compared to the game.

Now, a David Lynch version would be a perfect addition to the game. Can you imagine Lynchean little sisters? Can you?!

The movie will be as overrated as the game. Any bets?

Shitty-adaptation sense tingling... I still have a grudge against John Logan for Star Trek: Nemesis.

NO.

What the fuck. Seriously, I'm surprised we don't have BioShock fucking condoms on the market yet.

Leave this beautiful game experience the FUCK ALONE.

OLE MASSA FANBOI NEED HIM HIS MOVIE, I'S BE MAKIN', MASSA

It's not gonna work for a few reasons...

1. No supporting characters that interact with the player directly means they're going to be something more contrived for the movie. Movies "need"* a larger cast of people around the main character than a VG typically.

*There are plenty of good movies that go against this but they tend to be more of 'gamble' movies that need someone big backing them to make it out the door.


SPOILER alert (go play the game already ffs).

2. The whole impact of the realization that you aren't in control of your actions loses its impact when you aren't in control of the main character's actions to begin with.

3. They have to invent a decent ending and a more compelling early/middle. Bioshock's story was told through setting and I don't think that will work as well in a movie when you condense the whole thing down to 1 to 3 hours.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd get nasty with a BioShock cockwrap.

Come on baby, don't fear the Big Daddy!

Well, if its being made. I hope they can at least nail the atmosphere..

Opps.

@Logo & Others.

Has anyone considered that the a movie may be based on more then just the first game? We know that bioshock 2 is in the works and who knows where they will be going with that. It is also possible that the movie would only be based on the world of bioshock and could add to the space not by recounting the original gaming experience of bioshock but by adding/explaning background stories. Equally interesting would be if the movie built up the background story for the second game..... now that would be synergy.

and something I would definitely watch.

[i]""I think the whole Utopia-gone-wrong story that's cleverly unveiled to players is just brimming with cinematic potential."

Quotes like that basically mean "videogames aren't potent enough of an art form to do the exposition justice." I fucking hate the idea that if game has good narrative, it must become a movie. That's a disservice to videogames like BioShock.

Shockingly poor.[/i]

Truth.

I don't know. I mean it's already cinema-esq; kinda like Tomb Raider was. (I think I've made my point)

You know. I don't think they will be able to pull this off.

Jim:

Exactly. Like what I mentioned yesterday somewhere - I actually owned a paperback copy of Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. Pretty much just the script written out in a more readable form, with creative liberties taken by the poor soul hired to "write" it.

@DamnYouKryeck

I tend to actually agree the thought crossed my mind that there are some redeeming movie qualities to Bioshock. I honestly (as much as I hate to say it) think that Bioshock the movie should go against the game in many respects as the concepts that would give the movie redeeming qualities come from different time periods in the Bioshock game.

The things that i think would make it well as part of a movie are...

-Andrew Ryan as seen in the game, only after his power has been broken down somewhat is he really an interesting character. If he is the unchallenged ruler of rapture he's not nearly as interesting as when he's desperately trying to hold on to his remaining power.

-The drug-addict like decent from normal human to plasmid monstrosity and eventually even the big Daddy like there was in the game. One of the parts that really spoke to me about this in the game was how it was all fueled by necessity. Something about the way the player resigns to corrupting themselves to survive stood out to me.

-The little sister choice could still work out in the movie but I feel like it might come off as a little more cliched. Still there's room for this to play out alright.

-Rapture's Civil War and some of the build up to it. This is something that's going to have to be in the movie as it will provide action on the appropriate scale for a movie and plenty of characters for the 'player' to be associated with. Also it provides more environment and setting for the story as rather than have the diaries talking about people being rounded up and stuff you could actually show it.


So overall I think the way the movie is going to have to be done is to set it such that the player enters rapture DURING the height of the civil war between Fontaine and Ryan rather than in the aftermath.

@crunshii - HAHA! That almost sounds like something I would rent out of sheer curiosity.

As for Bioshock being turned into a movie, I guess it all depends on how well written the script is. The current track record for good adaptations is pretty slim though. Another problem is the silent protagonist (the player) is going to have become a spoken character on the big screen, negating the option of choice which is defines a part of Bioshock. I guess time will tell with this one. I'd hire the writers for Bioshock to pen this script and/or as consultants. Otherwise, I doubt anyone else could do it the justice it deserves.

@jim

"As such, I consider videogame movies generally pointless."

Well, yeah, but as of today the only videogame movies we've gotten range from such gems as the Mario Bros movie to Resident Evil and I would agree that so far... pretty pointless.

But that doesn't mean that somewhere down the line we won't see a movie based on a video game that actually does the source material justice.

Look at it this way. How long did it take for the movie studios to actually produce a decent super hero movie. I would argue at least 20 years, probably more. So don't you think that back in the early days of Comic Book movie adaptations the fans of Superman, Batman, and Spiderman thought to themselves: "Comic Book movies will never work, and damn them for trying."

But here we are in 2008 and living through a glut of really great comic book movies. Sure there are some stinkers out there but over all the genre is doing quite respectably.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm going to be the first one to cry foul if they do yet another shotty movie adaptation of a game. As of yet I haven't seen one that isn't complete shit (yes, the Silent Hill movie is COMPLETE shit).

But I will try to stay optimistic about a Bioshock movie as long as they give me reason to.

All movies based off of games (apart from Mario Brothers) have been fucking terrible. I hope they don't fuck this in the ass

A good deal of the dramatic impact of Bioshock came from experiencing the game as the protagonist. The gravitas of Bioshock's climatic moment would be drastically reduced if experienced from a third person perspective.

That is to say, while having a fantastic storyline, Bioshock is going to translate into a poor movie. Especially when Rapture gets turned into some research facility on a far-away Atlantean planet and the Big Daddies are dolphin-man crossbreeds.

did people really not see this one coming?

It could be good. It probably wont be, but it could be. I think if Hollywood is going to continue to make movies in to games then they need to have the people who actually made the game make the movie. I would watch a Bioshock movie if it were made by the Bioshock team because we all know they do good work. Also, instead of always going "live action" what's wrong with CG or Animated even? I think a lot of these games made in to movies would have actually been a success if they had strayed away from the live action side of it. I don't know, just my opinion.

bad idea, you play a guy who is solo, in videogame movies they allways have to include a group of characters only for the sake of it, because they are not good enough to say things without talking a lot.
Is not the idea of a bioshock movie that i dislike, is the idea that it will be cheesy.

I want to see Micheal Bay do this movie. We need 70 foot tall Big Daddys fireing all kinds of pyrotechnics out of every orifice they have. It is the only way to do the game justice.

With all of the terrible movie-to-game titles out there, I think it's lol-able that so many people are defensive about games-to-movies. Just don't watch it. It's promoting gaming and the source material to millions of people who otherwise wouldn't have experienced the game.
Sure there are plenty of stinkers, but so long as there are solid directors like Christophe Ganns, Gore Verbinski, and Andrew Lau( Double Dragon!!!) that want a shot at making a tribute to something they love... go for it.

It cheapens an experience like bioshock to know that someone is making a crappy movie about it. i thought this story could only be told in a video game?

it's not that i'm worried they'll fuck it up, i already know they will. it's that it's tragic that gaming can't have a wonderful narrative experience to call its own. video game movies are usually cash-ins, and it cheapens the real experience to know that it's been cut up and repackaged to be sold to a different audience. to some degree, it undermines the notion that there are stories that can only be told in games.

They can do nothing but make it worse. Please don't make this.

I'm definitely not a fan of video game movies wither, BUT before you jump on the hate train you people have to keep in mind that there is obviously some talent involved in this movie - not some assholes who abuse game characters as protagonists for their next mediocre action/adventure flick.

I don't known what to say.

It seems by some of the comments here, that they are damned if they do or don't, try to make a decent film based on a decent game with a good story.

I'd much rather give this a chance to blossom into something, than that awful upcoming SF flick.

I don't understand. Bioshock has earned its spurs, is a decent game with a unique and good story. There's no reason why a film couldn't pull something cool off. Sure, we all fear changes and such, but we won't know til they try. So long as it doesn't end up like that awful Doom flick, I'll be happy.

I also feel Jim, that games are just as deserving as comics for movie adaptions based on their worlds. While they are different media, if the right people and choices are chosen, it could be something special.

Cheapening the game. Why would I want to watch this? I already played the game and at least I know the story is accurate.