Yet neither of those facts could save Gore Verbinski from the fact that the studio balked over two crucial elements: the proposed R-rating and the $200 million budget.
Back in 2008, after delivering the successful Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy to Disney’s eager hands, Gore Verbinski had a special project in mind.
An adaptation of the hit video game Bioshock was Verbinski’s dream, and Universal was looking to help him make it into a reality.
Part of the reason was probably because the series was so popular, making a huge impact on the pop culture of gamers at the time, but the other half had to have been the fact that the Pirates films did so damned well.