Bioshock Netflix film recruits Hunger Games director and Bladerunner 2049 writer

While TV and film adaptations of video games have historically received mixed reactions from gamers, if there’s a story that ought to translate well to the big screen, it’s probably Bioshock.

Featuring an iconic and unique setting in the form of the underwater city of Rapture and a universe teeming with interesting lore, it’s no wonder Netflix is interested in turning 2K games’ much-loved hit into a feature film.

Now, said film officially has both a director and screenwriter, with a couple of tenured Hollywood names officially stepping up to take the plunge to the ocean’s depths.

Remember Bioshock? It's back! In film form

As announced via a news post on Netflix’s website and on social media, the directing duties for the live-action feature will fall to Francis Lawrence, who you might know as the director of three different films in the Hunger Games series, in addition to the Will Smith classic I Am Legend.

Meanwhile, primary script writing duties will be handled by an equally prestigious name, Michael Green, whose established credits include 2017’s Bladerunner 2049, Logan, and 2011’s Green Lantern.

In its news post, Netflix also discusses some of the aspects of Bioshock that attracted the company to make a film based on it, saying: “The original BioShock is more than just a superb first-person shooter game. It’s also a sneakily compelling morality tale, told deep under the surface of the ocean in a creepy underwater city called Rapture.”

Citing the games in the series as having sold “a combined 39 million copies worldwide”, Netflix argues that Lawrence will be a good fit for it due to his experience working on dystopian tales.

While the Bioshock film has no official release date as of yet, the post suggests that Lawrence is currently engaged in filming for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, meaning that’ll have to wrap before the work in Rapture can commence.

Regardless of how hyped you are about possibly seeing Andrew Ryan on the big screen, make sure to follow us for more coverage of games like Bioshock and Fallout.