Netflix reduces budget for BioShock film, making a "more personal" story

The upcoming movie adaptation of Bioshock has seen its budget slashed as Netflix focuses on making it a smaller, "more personal" project.

Variety reports the revelations come from a Thursday panel at this year's San Diego Comic-Con, where the film's producer Roy Lee said the BioShock project was being "reconfigured" following a change in leadership at the streaming firm.

In March, Netflix named Dan Lin as its new film boss, with the producer of the company's live action Avatar: The Last Airbender remake replacing Scott Stuber, who was in charge when the BioShock film was announced back in 2022.

At SDCC, Lee siad: "The new regime has lowered the budgets. So we're doing a much smaller version... It's going to be a more personal point fo view, as opposed to a grander, big project."

There's no word on a release date but Francis Lawrence, who directed all of The Hunger Games sequels, is still on board as director.

This is not the first time a BioShock movie has been in the works, or gone through budget issues. A film based on the game was previously announced in 2008 – a year after the first game launched – with Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski leading project. This was put on hold the following year following Universal Pictures' concerns with the budget.

Verbinski stepped back to serve as producer and was replaced by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo as director, but he also left the project saying it was on hold again as the relevant parties couldn't settle on a budget or a target rating for the project.