Remember the BioShock movie announced last year? We haven't really heard much on it since, and unfortunately the first word we now have on it again isn't pleasant. It's not cancelled, thankfully, but it seems we will have to wait longer than expected for its release: Universal Pictures has put the work on hold and laid off some production staff, as the estimated budget reached a rather hefty $160 million.

Either we underestimated Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski and he's really going all out to make this the best film possible, or it's all flash and not much substance. Only time will tell -- he has stated his determination in getting the film made, and with so much time and money sunk into it already, we can't imagine this won't surface at some point, especially given the popularity of the source material.

Universal appears encouraging, in any case (and they would be, having paid many millions for the license), pushing for production outside of the U.S. in order to obtain tax credits -- the director says they're considering London, as opposed to Los Angeles where it was about to begin shooting.

The studio is downplaying any worries, saying this is standard stuff -- their Robin Hood film, for example, was delayed and eventually brought down to a $130 million budget, much smaller than originally planned.