BIOSHOCK Movie Gets Put on Hold by Universal Pictures! Noooo!

It looks like even the big studios in Hollywood are starting to pinch their penny's. Unfortunately Universal Pictures has brought Gore Verbinski's video game adaptation film Bioshock to a screeching halt. The movie has been in pre-production, and Gore Verbinski recently turned down directing another Pirates of the Caribbean for Disney so he could put all his focus on the film. Now half of the production staff has been let go. Universal Picture Executives and Verbinski have now gone back to the drawing board to see if they can come up with a more reasonable budget.

The movie was going to shoot here in Los Angeles and the budget rose to $160 Million dollars. Verbinski and Universal are now starting to consider shooting in alternative locations like in London, to bring the costs down. Variety reports Verbinski saying:

"We were asked by Universal to move the film outside the U.S. to take advantage of a tax credit. We are evaluating whether this is something we want to do. In the meantime, the film is in a holding pattern."

I hate hearing this kind of news. This is one of the main reasons a Halo Movie never got made. Halo was supposed to be done with Universal as well, but they dropped out because they didn't want to deal with over budget fears. Verbinski says that Universal is determined to make the 'Bioshock' movie, but I guess thay aren't determined to give it the money that it needs to be done right. I imagine the budget will be dropped to between $120 - $130 million. As an example, Ridley Scott's 'Robin Hood' film has a budget of $130 million, and that seems like it should be a low budget movie compared to what Bioshock needs to get done right, it is a much bigger more elaborate effects driven film.

I hope Bioshock gets made and all parties involved with it say that it will not become another 'Halo' situation. Fact of the matter is... it already has.

Source: Variety