Variety has reported that Universal Pictures’ upcoming ‘Bioshock’ film has found a new director.

The project, based on a popular video game, was originally set to be helmed by Gore Verbinski (’The Ring’, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’) but some serious financial troubles put a halt to that. Now Verbinski has been replaced by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (’28 Weeks Later’).

Here are the details taken from the Variety article

With “Bioshock,” Fresnadillo is stepping into one of the highest-profile projects on the Universal roster. Verbinski came attached as director when Universal made a multimillion- dollar against gross percentage acquisition from Take-Two. Verbinski then stepped away from directing his fourth “Pirates of the Caribbean” film because he expected to be in production on “Bioshock” last spring in Los Angeles.

But Universal put on the brakes during the pre-production phase because the budget rose to $160 million and the studio needed it to cost less (Daily Variety, April 27). At the time, Universal sources vowed this would not turn into another “Halo”– U and partner Fox dropped out of that vidgame adaptation, which was to be directed by “District 9″ helmer Neill Blomkamp with Peter Jackson producing. But the negotiations with Fresnadillo indicate the studio is determined to make “Bioshock” offshore.

Once it was clear Verbinski wouldn’t direct, he and the studio sparked to Fresnadillo, whose deal is contingent upon the thumbs-up from Take-Two, which maintains director approval. Fresnadillo’s producing partner, Enrique Lopez Lavigne, is in talks to become a producer.