More video game franchises are heading to the small screen.
Netflix announced this week it is developing a TV movie based on the alternate-history BioShock franchise, specifically the first game. Released in 2007, BioShock was a first-person shooter set in the underwater, utopian city of Rapture, a city founded to allow scientific and sociological research unfettered by the laws or morality of society at large. Needless to say, Things Go Wrong. BioShock 2 (2010) was well-received, although developed by a different team. The original development team reconvened to release BioShock Infinite (2013), a quasi-prequel set in the flying city of Columbia. A fourth game has been in development off and on ever since. The series has sold 34 million copies to date.
Gore Verbinski, director of the original Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, worked on a theatrical film version of BioShock for several years, but butted heads with the studio over budget and the film's rating. No writer, director or producer is on board with this latest iteration.
Meanwhile, Amazon has signed a first-look deal with dj2 Entertainment, the production company recently responsible for the Sonic the Hedgehog movie. The company is currently developing three game projects for the screen: co-op platformer It Takes Two (2021) from Hazelight Studios, which focuses on teamwork and cooperation between two players; major RPG success Disco Elysium (2019) from ZA/UM; and Life is Strange (2015), an adventure game from Dontnod Entertainment.
Of the three, Disco Elysium is the most intriguing. The game is set in a large city recovering from a brutal war. The game plays an detective suffering from amnesia and a possible split personality who investigates a brutal murder. The game is notable for its offbeat setting and atmosphere and its complete lack of combat in favour of using dialogue and negotiation to overcome obstacles.
The move comes after the enormous success of Arcane on Netflix, a TV show based on the League of Legends video game franchise. Some recent game-to-film adaptations, like Werewolves Within (2021), Mortal Kombat (2021), Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) and Pokemon: Detective Pikachu (2019) have all picked up good reviews as well as solid box office, although Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021) and Uncharted (2022) have had rougher receptions.
The marketplace is going to get even more crowded in future, with a TV adaptation of Halo launching in late March, and HBO's The Last of Us set for an early 2023 release.
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