For now: Budget concerns stop production of BioShock movie

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Bad news, BioShock fans. It looks like Universal Studios has temporarily stopped production of the upcoming Verbinski-directed movie because of budget concerns. Apparently, Universal, consulting with its money men, need Verbinski to create the film on a much smaller budget, preferably by taking advantage of tax breaks that can be found outside the U.S. (London is a possible destination.) Are we looking at the next Halo, a movie that was in development for a while before Universal and Fox pulled the plug over budget concerns?

Well, according to Variety, no, we’re not. Universal, Verbinski, and the local candy shop owner all want the movie to get off the ground; Universal didn’t pay Take-Two Interactive all that money for nothing! And Verbinski didn’t refuse to direct the sure-to-be-huge Pirates of the Caribbean 4 in order to take a gamble on BioShock only to see the money men stop him.

(I write this as the UPS gentleman just dropped off BioShock (and an external hard drive enclosure) from Newegg, so hooray me.)

But, we’ll see what happens. I find that if you have zero expectations for a movie based on a video game you’re more likely to enjoy it. See: Silent Hill and Final Fantasy: Advent Children. Sure, they won’t win any Best Picture nominations, but you can walk away saying, “Well, that wasn’t a complete waste of time.”