Just a couple of weeks after we heard the encouraging Gore Verbinski news we receive a bomb-shell from Universal Studios. It appears that the budget for the underwater feature has been spiraling out of control, reaching values around $160m, and in a move to cut costs (to say $100m) a number of production staff have been let go. Other measures include scouting for cheaper filming locations, e.g. London.

Verbinski states,

“We were asked by Universal to move the film outside the U.S. to take advantage of a tax credit. [...] We are evaluating whether this is something we want to do. In the meantime, the film is in a holding pattern.”

Both the game and movie studios vow that this will not descend into another Halo movie fiasco which has seen production indefinitely halted.

It was previously rumored that Verbinski would be helming the project, but here is the big news we’ve been waiting for – he has given up his directing chair on Pirates of the Caribbean 4 to take on the BioShock project – Gore Verbinski shall be helming the video game adaptation. Verbinski directed all three Pirates of the Caribbean movies as well as the US Ring remake.

A year since the announcement that a movie would be made it looks like the ball might soon be rolling into the realms of pre-production.