In this grand new age of video game adaptations, it appears Hollywood has taken up the opportunity to have another crack at the whip. With projects such as Splinter Cell and Justin Kurzel’s Assassin’s Creed making progress at Ubisoft Motion Pictures along with Duncan Jones’ Warcraft film, there are plenty of movies in the pipeline that could bring an end to the inexplicable curse that has lingered over the game-to-movie genre for the better part of a decade. One of these properties is Sony’s on-again, off-again adaptation of Uncharted.
Having flirted with the silver screen numerous times, the studio’s high-profile rendition of Naughty Dog’s acclaimed blockbuster series has been languishing in development for years at this point, with the most recent update arriving over the summer to inform us that Horrible Bosses‘ alum Seth Gordon had bowed out of the project.
Gordon joins a growing line of talent that was attached to Uncharted at some point – namely David O. Russell, Neil Burger and Mark Wahlberg – only to part ways with Sony’s video game adaptation when there was no sign of progress. Indeed, you’d be forgiven for thinking the movie was cursed in and of itself.
Now, Uncharted expert Nolan North – voice and performance actor for franchise lead Nathan Drake – has stated in an interview with Games News Official that fans aren’t too keen on the idea of a blockbuster movie “no matter who’s the star of it.” According to North, there are simply too many hurdles facing the project for it to really strike a chord with audiences, with one of the biggest issues being who to cast in the role of the cocksure adventurer.
“I think the emotional investment people have with Nathan Drake is so high that it would be very difficult for them to accept somebody else. Even me – my face as Nathan Drake. They might recognize the voice but I don’t even know if they’d accept me.”
Sony’s enthusiasm for an Uncharted movie has likely cooled following the middling performance of Hitman at the box office. Even still, Naughty Dog’s series has arguably become just as big a brand in recent times, not to mention the fact that adapting ND’s series hasn’t been done before – a privilege that Hitman can’t attest to, unfortunately. Will Sony still pursue the picture despite initial setbacks? Time will tell.
Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, meanwhile, is available now on PlayStation 4.