Either this news went way under our radar, or I haven’t been paying attention. Anyway, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter … WE’RE GETTING AN UNCHARTED MOVIE!!!!
At least, all signs are pointing in that direction. After waiting for so, so, so, so, so, so, SO long to see Nathan Drake on the big screen, fans of the beloved video game series might actually see their dream come true. Sony has tentatively scheduled the movie to release on December 18, 2020.
Who will play Nathan Drake? None other than your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, Tom Holland. Now, I know what you’re thinking: tOm HoLlAnD iS tOo YoUnG tO pLaY nAtHaN dRaKe! That’s because you, my friend, might be thinking about the games in the order in which they were released rather than the chronological story. Uncharted 4 gave us a lot of backstory about a young Nathan Drake, so it makes sense that we get to see his story play out mostly chronologically as opposed to flashbacks like we did in the game.
I know this means we’ll probably never see Nathan Fillion as Drake, and that is the crime that has been committed by this movie taking too long to happen. I like the direction they’re going, though. By sticking with the younger Holland, we get a chance to see Drake grow into the adventuring treasure hunter we know and love and see the story play out for years to come. We’ll get to have Sully stick around for the long-haul. We’ll see Nate’s various romantic encounters and the awkwardness of Elena and Chloe and all that good stuff.
So, while I’m beyond excited to see Uncharted finally looking like it’s going to be a concrete thing, I have lots of worries. First worry: It’s a video game movie. Video game movies tend not to be very good. Did you know that before Detective Pikachu (66%), the top-two highest-rated video game movies on Rotten Tomatoes were Tomb Raider and Rampage … both tied at 52%? Hollywood tends not to adapt video games well.
Second worry: The inevitable Indiana Jones comparisons. And that’s completely fair. It’s the story of an adventuring archeologist searching for lost artifacts that end up being not really worth the search due to the immeasurable destruction they’re going to cause if they fall into the wrong hands. For the uninitiated, there’s really no point to even try. But, like I hinted at above, the Uncharted games are full of tremendous characters and, with the right cast, each character has the potential to be a scene-stealer. The folks backing the movie are going to have a hard time getting out of Indy’s (and even Lara Croft’s, to some extent) shadow, but I believe it’s doable.
Third worry: This movie has been in development purgatory for basically an eternity. Here’s a short list of people who have been attached to either write or direct or do both: Thomas Dean Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, David O. Russell, Neil Burger, Seth Gordon, Mark Boal, Joe Carnahan, and Shawn Levy. As it currently stands, 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg is set to direct with Jonathan Rosenberg and Mark Walker set to write the movie. Rumors say that the most current Carnahan screenplay was a bit too much even for Rafe Judkins to re-write. I guess Rafe is too busy to make Wheel of Time happen. But regardless, this has passed through a lot of hands, so I don’t know how many writers will appear by the time the credits roll. The fewer, the better. So let’s hope they start from scratch while working closely with the source material.
Fourth worry (somewhat related to the third): Is this ACTUALLY going to happen? I believe this is the closest we’ve been with writers, a director, a star, and a release date all announced … but I’m hesitant to give my full trust that this will happen.
So, there we are. I remain cautiously optimistic about this whole thing happening. If it crashes and burns like a train going through the Tibetan mountains (still one of the best video game openings ever), at least I have the games available to help me wash away my sorrows.
What do you all think? Will it happen? Do you like the Tom Holland decision? Why doesn’t every household have a Playstation and these wonderful games? Let us know in the comments below!