Despite the Uncharted video game series still going strong after nearly a decade, its movie has had trouble getting off the ground for many years. One of the more frequent obstacles has been keeping a director. Baywatch's Seth Gordon last held that position, but he departed from the project in June 2015, while David O. Rusell was on board before him. Over a year later, that particular issue has finally been resolved, as Night at the Museum's Shawn Levy has been tapped to helm the picture.
Sony has hired Shawn Levy to direct the Uncharted cinematic adaptation, according to Deadline. He'll work off the latest draft of the script written by Joe Carnahan, who was originally interesting in directing the movie, but later decided to oversee Bad Boys for Life. The report also named Charles Roven, Avi Arad, Alex Gartner and Ari Arad as producers.
Shawn Levy's main body of movie work has revolved around comedies, like the Night at the Museum trilogy, Cheaper by the Dozen, Date Night and The Internship. However, he has dipped his toes into drama before. Levy helmed 2011's Real Steel, and most recently, he directed two episodes of the Netflix series Stranger Things (a show he'll remain involved with during Season 2). Hopefully his experience with humor and drama will be enough to capture the right tone for Uncharted.
The Uncharted series kicked off in 2007 with Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Three more games followed in the main series, while a number of spinoffs were on other platforms, including a card game. This universe has also been explored through novels and comic books. The Uncharted tales revolve around Nathan Drake (voiced by Nolan North), a treasure hunter who travels across the world in search of priceless valuables, hidden cities, etc. If it helps, think of him as a modern Indiana Jones, only without the fedora and whip, and instead cracking more jokes. Oh, and he's also not nearly as graceful as his fellow video game explorer, Lara Croft.
It hasn't been revealed yet if the Uncharted movie will be a straightforward adaptation of the first video game or if it will take creative liberties so that the story will be more accessible to moviegoing audiences. Regardless, since the video game series concluded earlier this year for the foreseeable future with Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, bringing the property to the big screen is the next best way for it to shine for the masses.
Uncharted was originally scheduled to come out on June 30, 2017, but as of last month, it has reportedly been pulled from the schedule. However, the Deadline headline noted that Sony intends to "fast track" Uncharted, so keep checking in with CinemaBlend for all the most relevant updates surrounding the project.
