Netflix’s upcoming film adaptation of Bioshock is still happening, but it won’t be as grand as originally planned. During a panel at the San Diego Comic-Con yesterday, the film’s director and producer revealed the movie now has a reduced scope due to budget cuts.

As reported by Variety, producer Roy Lee (Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, The Lego Movie) revealed during Collider’s Producers on Producers panel that since the film’s announcement in February 2022, a regime change at Netflix has affected the project. Netflix’s film chief at that time, Scott Stuber, has since been replaced by Dan Lin. While Stuber emphasized large spending for an expansive film slate, Lin has scaled back to a more modest strategy. This means the Bioshock film’s budget has been reduced, with director Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) stating its been reworked as a “more personal film”. 

“The new regime has lowered the budgets,” Roy Lee said. “So we’re doing a much smaller version. … It’s going to be a more personal point of view, as opposed to a grander, big project.”

A partnership between Netflix, Bioshock publisher Take-Two Interactive, and Vertigo Entertainment is bringing the Bioshock film to life. In addition to Lawrence and Lee serving as director and producer, respectively, Michael Green (Loga, Blade Runner 2049, American Gods) was announced as its writer in August 2022.

[Source: Variety]