While Netflix certainly seemed excited when it announced its 2022 adaptation of “Bioshock,” the enthusiasm seems to have cooled. In a recent chat at San Diego Comic-Con (via Variety), the film's producer, Roy Lee, said that Netflix's “new structure has lowered the budget so ...... It will be a much smaller version than originally planned,” he informed fans.

That “new regime” is Dan Lin, chairman of Netflix Films as of April of this year; as of 2022, that responsibility was held by (under another name) executive Scott Stueber, who seemed far more bullish on Netflix's homegrown film production. Lynn's ambitions seem more modest, and Bioshock has been scaled back as a result.

According to Lee, the film will not be a “grand, big project” but will be produced from a “more personal perspective.” The Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence is still involved.

What happened to the first version of the film? Two years ago, Lawrence said that “Blade Runner 2049” screenwriter Michael Green was “in the middle of writing” and that the crew had “already completed takes, outlines, and everything else.” He even tipped his hat to the “real ideas and philosophy underlying the game property” that he is excited to capture on film.

Or perhaps the reduced scope allowed him to focus on the parts of “BioShock” that would be interesting to see on the silver screen, at the expense of the large, expensive set pieces?

I naturally hope it is the latter. Frankly, a film of “Bioshock” would be well suited to a reduced scope. Since “BioShock” is about a game, I wonder how well it would transfer to film material. Still, I think it has a better chance of being a good film if it shows something a little more introspective and creepy than a thumping collection of plasmid effects and gunfights.

And in any case, we can all share a laugh at how capital and market forces are conspiring to undermine Andrew Ryan's utopia once again. It's all very appropriate.