Film adaptations of video games have a hard time. Not only do they come along once in a blue moon, but they also usually end up being of low quality. Several more of them are coming along the horizon, however, including a Monster Hunter and new Mortal Kombat film adaptation.
Along with these two is also an Uncharted film. Given the series' similarities to action films like Indiana Jones, Naughty Dog's PlayStation exclusive franchise seems a ripe fit for a movie. While still a ways off, more details have come to light about the project in recent months, giving fans a better idea of how the film is shaping up.
10 Tom Holland Is Probably A Younger Nathan Drake
Either the filmmakers are significantly fiddling with the story's timeline or the movie is set before the games. Tom Holland is only 24 years old, and Nathan Drake already appears to be in his mid-30s by the first Uncharted.
Lending more credence to this idea is the lack of Elena Fisher anywhere in the casting sheet, implying a prequel set before the two lovers meet.
9 Mark Wahlberg As Victor Sullivan
It would not be an Uncharted story if Drake's mentor and best friend, Victor Sullivan, was not in the picture. Stepping into the freewheeling thief's shoes is Mark Wahlberg, famous for movies like Boogie Nights, Ted, and The Fighter.
Wahlberg admittedly does not look the part, but that does not mean he still cannot embody the role and evoke the character's spirit perfectly. Everybody is hoping this movie goes better for Wahlberg than the last video game movie he starred in, Max Payne.
8 Filming Has Wrapped
Making a movie goes far beyond the process of filming, but it is a major step once the cameras have actually captured all the footage necessary to put a project together.
Only recently was the filming's wrap made public, signaling that the Uncharted movie has entered its post-production phase. Plenty can still go wrong during this stage, ruining the project, but at least this guarantees a film will actually come out.
7 Sophia Ali
Another familiar name from the franchise set to make an appearance in this movie is Chloe Frazer, who eventually starred in her own game with the spin-off Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.
Chloe and Nathan Drake have a long history with each other, something the games only mention. With Sophia Ali stepping into the role, perhaps this adaption will show the pair's first interactions.
6 The Director
Ruben Fleischer is the director tackling the project, a name that should be familiar to those who have seen Zombieland and Venom. In addition to these two darkly comedic adventures, he also did the historical crime drama, Gangster Squad.
The former two films' tones feel like a great fit for the Uncharted series' brand of humor mixed with high-stakes action. It takes a certain kind of filmmaker to make a likable, wisecracking hero out of someone who kills hundreds of people over the course of an adventure.
5 Release Date
Currently, the film is slated to come out on July 16th, 2021, priming it as a summer blockbuster. Assuming the marketing does its job and the film is halfway decent, there is no reason to think it will fail at the box office.
However, given the uncertain state of the world due to the current pandemic, there is no telling if the movie will actually come out on this day or if it will be delayed. The virus caused an unprecedented amount of movies to get pushed back to a later date already.
4 Chung-hoon Chung
Directors are extremely vital, but one must never forget a cinematographer's importance in a film's success. Chung-hoon Chung has taken on this role for the Uncharted film.
Chung started his career in his South Korean homeland, working on classics like Oldboy before starting work in the west. He has already worked with Ruben Fleischer on Zombieland: Double Tap. Chung's pedigree adds a lot of promise to the movie's chances of delivering the goods.
3 Antonio Banderas
As if Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg did not provide enough star power to fuel this adaptation, Antonio Banderas is also along for the ride. Unlike the other roles, the Spanish actor's part is currently unknown.
It would not be too big a stretch to think Banderas will play a villain, but nothing has been confirmed at this point. Regardless, he is an extremely talented actor and it is good for the movie to have him on board.
2 More Than A Decade In The Making
Those who follow Naughty Dog's series probably know that talk of a film has been going on for a while. Over ten years ago word spread about director David O. Russell's attachment to the project, with Joe Pesci taking a role. Joe Carnahan was also in talks at one point to write.
With so many false starts, fans would have been excused for not believing Tom Holland's casting until the recent photo came out from the production.
1 No Half-Tuck
No trailer has come out and fans are already taking issue with one aspect of the film. Tom Holland's Nathan Drake lacks the half-tuck for which the character is so well known. Without this bold fashion statement, he is barely recognizable as Nathan Drake.
While it may seem inconsequential, Drake's shirt half-tuck is as signature a look as Lara Croft's dual-wielding pistols or Solid Snake's Bandana. Still, it is presumably pretty difficult to keep half a shirt tucked in while dogging bullets and boulders in real life.