NEW YORK (Associated Press) - Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., whose latest "Grand Theft Auto" video game reaped $500 million in a week, said Friday it signed a deal with Universal Pictures to develop a movie based on "BioShock," another hit game.
Financial terms and the movie's expected release date were not disclosed.
Gore Verbinski, the director of "Pirates of the Caribbean," will direct and produce the film, Take-Two said. "BioShock," a critically acclaimed first-person shooter, starts off with the player surviving a plane crash to find an undersea city, Rapture, a "failed utopia whose citizens had embraced genetic engineering before the city descended into pure anarchy."
The game has sold more than 2 million units since its launch last August. By comparison, "Grand Theft Auto IV" sold 6 million units in its first week in stores.
Take-Two is the subject of a hostile takeover bid by larger rival Electronic Arts. A $2 billion tender offer for Take-Two's shares expires May 16.
Shares of New York-based Take-Two rose 19 cents to $26.79 in early afternoon trading, more than a dollar above EA's tender offer price of $25.74. 