BioShock movie too scary for Hollywood

The big screen BioShock movie failed to see the light of day because its makers refused to make it a family-friendly film.

That's according to Pirates of the Caribbean man Gore Verbinski, who stepped down as director on the BioShock movie in 2009 due to financial and scheduling problems.


Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, best known for 28 Weeks Later, then took over, but the project now looks dead in the water after Hollywood's reluctance to take on an R rating (17+).

"I couldn't really get past anybody that would spend the money that it would take to do it and keep an R rating," Verninski told Coming Soon. "Alternately, I wasn't really interested in pursuing a PG-13 version. Because the R rating is inherent. Little Sisters and injections and the whole thing.

"I just wanted to really, really make it a movie where, four days later, you're still shivering and going, "Jesus Christ!"... It's a movie that has to be really, really scary," he added, "but you also have to create a whole underwater world, so the pricetag is high. We just didn't have any takers on an R-rated movie with that pricetag."

Despite Verbinski leaving the project, the Bioshock movie was still being actively worked on as of late last year, according to game director Ken Levine.

"I will say that it is still an active thing," Levine told DC radio station 106.7 in August. "It is something we are actively talking about and actively working on."

Verbinski told Coming Soon that if he had've made BioShock he thinks it would've been perfect for 3D.

"[Bioshock] would be a great movie to do in 3D. I'd like to go into that world wearing a pair of glasses," he said. "I think in general, gaming is perfect for 3D. Anything where you're the protagonist. The kid in 'The Shining' on the big wheel, going around corridors. That's what 3D is perfect for. To make people feel on-edge."