Levine explains why he killed BioShock movie

Watchmen was utterly awful. Let us see. You have got one of the all time great graphic novels and indeed novels period which was dripping with social and political resonance of the period it was set in. So, do we update it to fit into a post 9/11 world? To make it as socially relevant to our generation and times as the original piece of writing was to the 80's? Nah. Let's just copy and paste, through in some wife fu and slow mo the shit out of it. Disgraceful garbage.

As for a Bioshock movie, there is too much to limit it to two hours. TV series would be grand. Expensive, but grand. But I trust Mr Levine with this. If it works, he'll push on with it. If it doesn't, he wouldn't bother and why should he? Sure, a lot of the time when I play a game I believe to be a true original piece of art (as I do the first Bioshock), I find myself wanting more people to know about it as it deserves a mass audience and appeal. But at what cost? Too much judging by quality of games to movies.

I will now go sit in a corner and pretend a Shadow of the Colossus movie isn't happening. Alcohol usually helps.

One down. Now when will someone see sense and can the proposed Shadow of the Colossus movie?

What about about Gulliermo Del Toro? If you have seen some of his better movies doesn't it seem like a perfect match?

The POC movies weren't the best, but I did love the atmosphere of the series, shame they couldn't get that to work, at least it would have been a movie of atmosphere if the plot didn't work out. Hopefully something will happen to get a decent Bioshock movie.

I'd never, ever, ever go see a movie just because it has the name of a popular video game - quite the opposite in fact. Just go make a good movie and stop ruining the good reputation of games with crap films.

Contrary to what a lot of people are saying on here, odds are a Gore Verbinski-helmed big budget R rated Bioshock movie would be amazing. It's a real shame things never worked out. Gore Verbinski is an extremely talented director and his style would have been perfect for Bioshock. I'm sure the second director was some hack like Len Wiseman or Paul W.S. Anderson.

"2009's The Watchmen".... Oh Eddie.....

Didn't R rated movies used to be blockbusters like back in the early 90s? What happend?

Shame the film's not being made(yet anyway) but good that he stuck with his gut feeling instead of doing it JUST for the riches.

Levine's the man.

Levine... A real man surrounded by a sell-out industry (movies and games these days). Thank you for making the hard, but correct choice. I too really enjoyed 'Watchmen'... Fantastic characters, plot, and script. Get Zach Synder to direct the Bioshock movie next time! That would be a 'hard R' rated film, and it would look fantastic.

Watchmen has to be one of the worst films I've ever seen. The only character that made it watchable was the guy with the mask. Glad this movie isn't gonna be made. Hollywood is full of terrible directors except for maybe Jackson, and the screenwriters... Just wow.

Good move Levine...Kojima should do the same with that Metal Gear movie aberration. blergh. :(

Last I heard about a Bisohock movie had wentworth miller's name attached to it, so no thanks

I'm sorry but Bioshock 1 & 2 were great as games. I really enjoyed the gaming experience. I don't see what a movie could possibly add to that. I'm not a big fan of making games into movies and movies into games. Doesn't usually work out...

I like his choice of action. Very responsible oriented and he thought ahead, good job!

I find it depressing that adult dramas (e.g. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy was barely able to get made) and rated R movies have become so rare. Throw in the rise of the YA genre in literature, even amongst adults, and a great many design decisions in video games (e.g. ease of play, lack of mature story-lines or dialogue), it's almost like our culture, as a whole, has decided that it doesn't want to grow up.

Weirdly enough, I prefer being an adult, and I'm always super freaked out when I notice people who should, ostensibly, be adults - politicians for example - acting like children.

It's sad that it will no longer be made, but at the same time I feel a sense of relief. So many game to movie transitions turn out to be a mediocre mess. Perhaps it's for the best.

2nd time I've said this today...

what the guy before me said

Why go to Hollywood? You have probably 3 studios that are great at CGI, who could make a movie that gamers would prefer to watch. Go hire a good author to write the script and start animating.

Agreed. Unfortunately, this has long been the case for movie studios' bottom lines. Case in point: 'Live Free or Die Hard' was intentionally written for a PG-13 rating to boost ticket sales, despite the fact the other films in the franchise were all rated R. Hopefully, these corporate decisions will not hinder too many worthwhile projects. There was also concern regarding the content and rating of 'Prometheus' for fear it would not be as successful at the box office.

Good!!! This movie DOES NOT NEED TO BE MADE. It has nowhere to go but down, since the original Bioshock remains one of the best stories/worlds/experiences in gaming history.

The only reason why I like Watchman is that Rorschach stole the spotlight from everyone and he was the only reason Watchman was the number one movie in 2009. Bioshock does not need a movie and Ken Levine did the right thing.

Movie licenses hardly ever live up to the games that they are based on, so this is no surprise...

Still gives me a big sad face that this isn't happening any time soon.... I WANT A MOVIE DAMN IT >.<

Why don't Ken Levine himself direct it ? i mean duh!

Ken Levine made a wise choice. Gore Verbinski is a terrible director, as seen in the Pirates films.

i really wish more devs would follow his lead. All this talk about Deus Ex, Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed and many others being made into movies worries me.

Not about Bioshock (obviously). I'm going out on a limb here and saying that the Hitman movie adaption staring Timothy Olyphant actually wasn't bad for a B grade popcorn flick. The casting, locations and the actors performances were pretty good, just held back by a mediocre script tied to obvious game references (or in the context of a video game adaption's script, actually quite good).

"Verbinski clarified the film's fate last year revealing that the BioShock movie's budget would only be approved for a PG-13 take on the material, a compromise he felt was unacceptable."

Too bad. Honestly I don't think Bioshock even needs to be "R" in the theater. Cut out the F-bombs from the game and you still have a movie that could be done one-to-one in the PG-13 space.