According to a Variety report, the currently on-hold Bioshock movie has recently had a new director attached to the project as previous director, Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) steps down, although he will still remain on the project as a producer.

Relative newcomer to Hollywood, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, director and writer on zombie movie 28 Weeks Later (the sequel to 28 Days Later), has been named as the new director of the movie adaptation of Take-Two’s underwater adventure FPS.

For budgetary and tax concerns, shooting for the movie has switched from within the US to less expensive ‘overseas’ locations, due to concerns over the proposed budget which had ballooned to $160 million during pre-production.

Filming outside of the US will drastically reduce this cost, but because of the switch, Verbinski won’t be able to be directly involved with the film (in a directorial role) due to his demanding schedule (he’s currently locked into directing the Johnny Depp-voiced animated movie, Rango), leaving it to Fresnadillo to take care of business.

This change in directors is still subject to a decision by Take-Two, who hold the rights to director approval.

Well, at least it’s nice to know the movie is going forward.