Once upon a time, in 2008, film director Gore Verbinski took on the project of directing a live-action film based on the hit video game franchise BioShock. The movie never happened, but at least now we have these gorgeous pieces of concept art showing us what could have been.
The images come from Kasra Farahani, who worked as a conceptual illustrator on the film under Verbinski.
The BioShock film, funded by Universal Pictures, came with a screenplay written by John Logan (who also created Penny Dreadfall and wrote the Skyfall screenplay). However, fighting over budget and the rating of the film eventually led to Verbinski abandoning the project, much to the chagrin of BioShock fans everywhere.
The problem came with Universal Pictures not wanting to commit a large budget to a film with an R-rating, which Verbinski insisted it needed (anyone familiar with the video games would agree).
"I couldn't really get past anybody that would spend the money that it would take to do it and keep an R rating," says Verbinski. "Alternately, I wasn't really interested in pursuing a PG-13 version."
The problem with budget comes because R-rated movies are limited to their audience, which means they generally take in less income than PG-13 films. This means that studios are less likely to spend the same kind of money on an R-rated film than one with a more family-friendly rating.
Eventually Verbinski stepped down as director and became producer on the project, with the new director being Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, who directed horror flick 28 Days Later. Then BioShock creator Ken Levine stepped in and was unsatisfied with the choices made and ended the project, potentially for good.
This was especially bad news considering that Levine eventually disbanded Irrational Studios, the developer of the BioShock games, which led to rumors that the series was done for and that the popular BioShock Infinite would be the last game in the franchise. However, 2K Games, who produced BioShock, promises more.
"BioShock is one of our most beloved and critically acclaimed franchises, and we are indebted to Ken and the talented team at Irrational Games for their contributions to the series with BioShock and BioShock Infinite; the latter being one of the most decorated games of 2013," says a spokesperson for 2K. "The BioShock universe remains a rich creative canvas for many untold stories, and we look forward to exploring the next BioShock experience."
