Damn, damn, damn.

I was all psyched for a BioShock movie, especially with all the footage from BioShock 2 (coming later this year) seeing the light of day at various video game sites around the net. Last we heard from BioShock, Gore Verbinski, the director of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, was on board.

Now, we’re hearing an all-halt which could be signaling the first appearance of development hell’s demon…

From Variety:

The picture was in pre-production, but the studio has halted that effort — and let some production staff go — as Universal and Verbinski figure out a way to make the film on a less costly budget.

The John Logan-scripted picture was gearing up to shoot in Los Angeles, but that changed when the budget rose to about $160 million. U and Verbinski are looking at alternatives, such as shooting in London, as a way to pare costs.

Story takes place in the underwater city Rapture, where a pilot crash-lands near a secret entrance and becomes involved in a power struggle.

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

This isn’t necessarily “bad news.” Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood also had similar problems with an over-inflated budget, causing the film to hold for about half-a-year while the production staff figured that shit out. While in a “holding pattern,” Russell Crowe, AKA Robin Hood, was able to replace Brad Pitt in State of Play.

So, at least work is getting done. But, they better make a damn BioShock movie, and it better be in an Art-Deco Rapture under the sea, goddammit.