Cancelled before its time? Fans of the series may remember that a film based off the original BioShock video game was to be released in 2011 directed by Gore Verbinski, but due to budget cuts, the film never made it past pre-production.

For people unfamiliar with the series, BioShock 1 sees you play as an un-named passenger on a plane that crashes while flying over the ocean. The player then discovers an underwater city called Rapture, built by a man named Andrew Ryan, and now in a state of complete ruin after a civil rebellion between two parties.

The city, now a shadow of its former glory is filled with its ‘drug’ addicted population (splicers), who’ve gone insane because of an addiction to a genetic altering substance called ADAM.

This substance, found at the bottom of the sea unlocks a person’s genome, allowing them to rewrite their genetic code and gain supernatural abilities. The game takes you on a journey through the ruined city to find its creator.

Just as movie tie-in video games are rarely anything special, the same can be said about film adaptations of video games.

Tomb Raider, Street Fighter, Hitman, Max Payne, Doom, Need for Speed and Super Mario Bros are all examples of great video game franchises that spawned extremely sub par tie-in films.

Some things just aren’t meant for the silver screen.

But as huge fan of the video game series, a part of me would love to see a film set in the BioShock world.There is however a lot of things that could go wrong when trying to adapt this universe to film, and honestly, I’m not convinced that any studio, director or cast could really do it justice.

Regardless, if for some reason Mr Hollywood called me and said “This movie is happening whether fans like it or not”, this is probably how I’d want it to be handled.

Don’t use the game’s storyline.

Rumors surrounding the production of the BioShock film before it was cancelled were that the film was going to be heavily based on the story from the original BioShock video game.

There isn’t really any point creating a film that fans already know the ending too, especially if that ending is a surprise twist. Give the fans a new story, but one that doesn’t require prior knowledge of the franchise, and can standalone from the wider BioShock universe. This way it doesn’t disadvantage those that are unfamiliar with the events of the video game.

Another problem with using the game’s storyline is that the main character from the video games; the character you play as, doesn’t talk. He doesn’t have a single line of dialogue throughout the entire game. This is of course an intentional creative choice by the developers, letting you feel a deeper connection to this character, because you feel as if you yourself are experiencing the course of the game through his eyes. Adding a voice to this character lessens the emotional connection you feel, making it harder to put yourself in the protagonist’s shoes.

How to get around this?

This one is easy, have the protagonist be a new character, and create a new story that’s based inside the BioShock universe, and the world of Rapture.

There are so many minor and unseen characters that exist in the universe that the player only briefly encounters through pre-recorded audio messages, or in a state of insanity. These recordings over the course of the game piece together a much larger story about the rise and fall of Rapture.

Create a new character who finds themselves trapped in this city, surrounded by existing characters that are known to fans, but based in a time before the events of the game, so people new to this franchise aren’t disadvantaged.

Set the movie during the fall of rapture

The games do an amazing job of exploring the ruined city, so there isn’t a real need to convert all that to film; just play the game.

However we’ve only seen small snippets of what the underwater city of Rapture was like before its collapse. A film could explore the city during utopian prime, showing the inner workings and the even its creation.

Starting just before the rebellion that destroyed rapture, and following the characters in the game, before the game series takes place. This would be a side of Rapture that has for the most part gone unexplored (besides what we saw in the BioShock Infinite DLC: Buried at Sea).

Think Titanic: A world existing in its own bubble of elegance and luxury, filled with the rich and sophisticated, completely isolated from problems of the outside world.

Then add an iceberg.

That sense of initial panic and hysteria, leading to the overwhelming feeling of hopelessness, as the bubble, being exposed to the harsh realities of the outside world, pops, and slowly sinks into ruin.

Now imagine that the ship is a city, and it’s already under the ocean, and it’s inhabited by crazy people, could be cool huh?

Make it more horror, and less action.

One of the biggest things about playing the BioShock games is that, damn, they are scary. The creaking of pipes, scuffling of unseen footsteps, flicking lights, the manic and insane conversations the splicers have to themselves or to one another, it all adds to the overwhelming sense of claustrophobia at being trapped in a leaking city, under the sea.

This film should have a similar tone to Alien, and not Alien 3.

The idea of a society created in an attempt to free ones self from the oppressors that live on the surface, a paradise that is slowly cracking under its own weight, unmasking the horrors that exist behind its own flashy facade.

In addition, this film would have to be a hard ‘R’ rating, something that a studio is unlikely to do as it cuts out a large portion of moviegoers because of their age. The city of Rapture is violent, and its inhibitors even more violent, a movie based in this world wouldn’t have a chance of recreating this world without the SAW like ‘torture-gore’ that exists within it, that would be like making a PG-13 version of RoboCop (Hmmmmm).

Well that’s what I’d do anyways.

But as it stands today, we probably aren’t likely to see a film adaption of this series for some time, which is fine, because I’d rather no film at all, than a film that doesn’t live up to its source material. I’m talking to you Shyamalan, how did you fuck up Avatar: The Last Airbender SO badly, that’s honestly a skill in itself.

Some cool concept art from the cancelled 2011 BioShock Film

You can find more of the concept art by Kasra Farahani, Jim Martin and Tim Flattery here, here, and here respectively.

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Also, check out this video of a fans casting choices for a future BioShock Movie, would definitely be an interesting ensemble of actors.