Hollywood's attempts to make video games into successful movies continues. While games have rarely won over critics or the box office, there is no shortage of adaptable material, and now, it looks like one of the longer in development projects might finally be getting underway, as the Uncharted movie is reportedly set to go in front of cameras in February.
The earliest story I can find on CinemaBlend regarding an uncharted movie is from a full decade ago. Since then, the project has been off and on again a number of times. In fact, it needs to be said there is more than one previous article claiming that filming on the Uncharted film, was set to get underway. So this is far from a confirmation of anything. We've been here before.
The project has gone through a number of different iterations over the years. At one point Mark Wahlberg was going to play the lead and David O. Russell was going to direct. Then Joe Carnahan, was brought in to write and direct the movie. Carnahan left and then the Uncharted movie was going to be directed by Shawn Levy. It was at this point that Tom Holland joined the project and we learned the movie would act as a prequel to the game series.
Holland is much younger than the lead character of Nathan Drake is portrayed in the games. Though one of the PlayStation titles does include a flashback sequence with a teenage Drake. This was apparently part of the inspiration for the idea.
Shawn Levy eventually left the project to be replaced by 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Tractenberg. Finally, Tractenberg left and was replaced by Bumblebee director Travis Knight. Now, you're caught up.
Now it looks like, with Knight at the helm, things might finally be ready to get underway. Discussing Film says Sony is looking at a February 2020 start date to filming, primarily in Berlin, with some shooting possibly being done in Colombia as well.
Of course, as mentioned, there have been reports of filming getting underway before, so it's possible this could be a false start as well. What will likely be the determining factor is casting. Holland is the only actor that has been officially cast in the film so far, so we'll likely be getting casting announcements for other major roles coming pretty soon if production is really looking to get going in about four months.
Nathan Drake, the Indiana Jones-like adventurer being played by Holland, usually works alongside a mentor figure named Victor "Sully" Sullivan so we'll need a casting decision for Sully before things get too far along. One assumes there will also be a villain in the movie who will need to be cast.
If these announcements get made in the next month or so, then it would seem a safe bet that the movie might really, finally, be getting under way.
Because the movie is set to be a prequel fans don't necessarily know what to expect, but all anybody is likely looking for is a fun adventure story If we get that Uncharted will probably be a success.
