There is always a lighthouse, and now there’s a film. Netflix’s BioShock finally surfaces with fresh details.

The long-awaited BioShock film is finally starting to take shape, and it’s sticking close to its roots. Producer Roy Lee has confirmed that Netflix’s adaptation of Irrational Games’ celebrated immersive sim will be based directly on the first BioShock, rather than spinning up a new story.

The project has Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence in charge, with Logan screenwriter Michael Green handling the script. While details remain under wraps, fans can breathe a little easier knowing that Rapture, the underwater city of ambition gone horribly wrong, will be brought to life on the big screen.

When will the BioShock movie start filming?

In an interview with The Direct while promoting his latest project The Long Walk, Roy Lee revealed that BioShock will be Lawrence’s next major film after The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.

“It’s definitely going to be based on the first BioShock game,” Lee confirmed, adding that the script is still undergoing refinement. Work on BioShock was briefly delayed while Lawrence shot The Long Walk and began production on the next Hunger Games entry, which is currently filming in Spain for a November 2026 release. That puts BioShock on deck once Lawrence wraps his dystopian commitments.

The BioShock movie has been in the works since Netflix first announced it in 2022. For years, updates have been sparse, with fans unsure whether the adaptation would ever escape development limbo. Earlier this year, Lawrence himself called the project “tricky” but insisted it was finally in “a good place.”

Can Rapture work in live-action?

One of the biggest questions surrounding the adaptation is whether the world of Rapture can translate to film without losing its atmosphere, or blowing the budget. In a game, it’s all digital art; in a movie, it has to feel physically real.

Yet recent successes like The Last of Us and even Twisted Metal have proven that game worlds once thought impossible for live action can be pulled off convincingly. If Hollywood can make fungal nightmares and post-apocalyptic car wars work, a crumbling underwater dystopia may be well within reach.

The first BioShock, originally released in 2007 for Xbox 360 and PC, remains one of the most critically acclaimed video games ever made. Its story of Jack, an unlucky survivor stranded in the ocean who stumbles upon the decaying utopia of Rapture, is widely regarded as a benchmark for narrative-driven games.

Casting and a release date for the film are still unknown, but Netflix will distribute the project worldwide. With Francis Lawrence fresh off strong buzz for The Long Walk and Michael Green’s proven writing pedigree, there’s cautious optimism that BioShock could finally break the video game movie curse.

If the team can nail the oppressive mood of Rapture, the flickering neon, the dripping corridors, and the echo of a Big Daddy’s drill in the distance, then fans may be in for something truly special.