Uncharted sets course for Hollywood

  • By Mark Walton, Tor Thorsen, GameSpot UK
  • Posted Jun 26, 2009 5:05 am PT

Sony-owned Columbia Pictures hires Hitman 2 writer Kyle Ward to pen big-screen adventure based on Nathan Drake's original PS3 outing.

Video game film adaptations haven't exactly reached the heights of cinematic art form. Though some bigger-budget efforts, like the original Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Resident Evil, saw box office success, the majority of movies based on games are box-office duds and whipping boys. The most infamous are a string of cheap cash-ins by German director Uwe Boll--including BloodRayne, Postal, Alone in the Dark, has made his name a virtual punchline. Though not helmed by Boll, the last major game-based film to hit theaters, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, was both pummeled by critics and shunned by audiences.

Nathan's adventures may soon hit the big screen.

That said, several upcoming game adaptations may buck the aforementioned trend. Uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer has commissioned respected director Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Queen) to work on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for Disney subsidiary Buena Vista Pictures, due out next summer. A big-screen version of BioShock is also in pre-production at Universal Studios, although it is currently on hold due to budget overruns and director Gore Verbinski's possible departure.

This week, another promising game-based film was revealed. Today, the Hollywood Reporter reports that Columbia Pictures--a division of Sony Pictures--is developing big-screen version of Drake's Fortune, the PlayStation 3 exclusive from Sony Computer Entertainment. Screenwriter Kyle Ward has been asked to pen a script which will follow the story of the video game, which starred Nathan Drake--an adventurer and descendant of British naval hero Sir Francis Drake--in search of the fabled lost city of El Dorado.

Ward is no stranger to game adaptations, having already written the in-limbo Kayne & Lynch movie and the just-greenlighted sequel to Hitman. He also wrote the script for the upcoming Michael Bay-produced thriller Fiasco Heights, which is currently in pre-production.

In 2007, Uncharted was released to critical acclaim and popular success. At its press conference during the Electronic Entertainment Expo earlier this month, Sony announced it had sold over 2.6 million copies worldwide. Its sequel, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, was the toast of the expo, and was named Best Game of E3 2009 by the Game Critics Awards jury. For more information, check out GameSpot's latest hands-on and the video preview below.

318 Comments

  • bored_gamer

    Posted Dec 21, 2009 4:14 pm PT

    personally, I think Josh Duhamel would be perfect for the role of Nathan Drake but that's just me

  • Sir_Demii

    Posted Oct 31, 2009 8:37 am PT

    I'm not that sure about Drake (perhaps Johnny Knoxville), but I'd like to see Sarah Carter as Elena.

  • majorgunner

    Posted Sep 14, 2009 1:36 pm PT

    If it does make it. I hope Nathan Fillion plays drake!
    He owns and you know it...

  • dannycabes

    Posted Sep 12, 2009 6:00 pm PT

    Stereotypically video games make horrible movies, I cannot think of one good video game movie, probably thanks to Uwe Boll that German prick Nathan Drake is being played by Nathan Fillion, which is perfect.

  • 60spaure

    Posted Sep 11, 2009 7:07 pm PT

    a MGS movie would be awesome too

  • 60spaure

    Posted Sep 11, 2009 7:07 pm PT

    If they'd make a movie with real people that'd be awesome! It'd be sure to come out on bluray! xD

    And I'd buy it for sure.

  • altoids007

    Posted Aug 28, 2009 12:17 pm PT

    looks insane

  • Euroshinobi

    Posted Aug 23, 2009 9:33 am PT

    it will be called an indiana jones clone, go ahead and get yourself sued naughty dog lol

  • crazycrazycrazy

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 4:01 am PT

    i think the guy who plays jhon sheepard from SgA would make a perfect nate

  • sanim02

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 12:36 pm PT

    Topher Grace would make an EXCELLENT Nathan!! Both like to use wise cracking remarks, have a funny vibe and look pretty similar too.

  • jokerman_28

    Posted Jul 2, 2009 1:03 am PT

    if they do make an Uncharted movie, hope it will be good like the game. hope they make an Assassin's Creed movie. that will be epic.

  • keyblade42

    Posted Jun 30, 2009 9:00 pm PT

    Sometimes I think that games might not need movies. Not that I wouldn't watch them, but games like MGS series are already sort of movies in themselves. Older games like Earthbound could be turned into movies though...I just hope it doesn't ruin them.

  • etai79

    Posted Jun 30, 2009 11:23 am PT

    "I'm still waiting for Half-Life the movie.
    And I think I will be for a very long time." -spitfireM21

    There's actually a novel and a movie out. Stephen King's "The Mist."

  • aaronobst

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 10:23 pm PT

    @ RJLateralus

    Well that's a stupid analogy because I play Tomb Raider and went to see the Movies of it and Doom and Resident Evil and Hitman and Final Fantasy and Max Payne and.............

  • TTDog

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 3:30 pm PT

    Presumably they'll just rip ideas off other sucessful franchises like they did with the game.

  • spitfireM21

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 8:54 am PT

    I'm still waiting for Half-Life the movie.
    And I think I will be for a very long time.

  • Extreme124

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 8:45 am PT

    cooool

  • kweeni

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 8:37 am PT

    after playing and beating uncharted(really awesome game, WILL buy uncharted 2) i just knew they would make a movie about it, was almost like it wanted to get filmed

  • RJLateralus

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 8:01 am PT

    The funny thing is that Hollywood havent realized that the fans that follow a game dont go to the movie adaptation, the ones that go to see a game movie are the ones that dont play the game...

  • acemasta21

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 7:35 am PT

    ill see it =L

  • mehrdad1987

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 5:31 am PT

    it may be cool... i should see it

  • warp10ck

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 4:05 am PT

    Why do they even want to make a movie about Uncharted it is an entertaining experience allready great voice acting, great story and great characters, oh yeah you can control it too because its game. The movie may be good because it has lot to build on but I just dont think the franchise really needs a movie because the game stands well on its own .

  • scrubs_06

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 3:59 am PT

    Lets just hope its Nathan Fillion That Plays it. If we cant stop production we can only hope and pray they make it damn worthwile! Firefly/Serenity STAR - PLEASE JEBUS!!

  • Joshuayeah

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 3:39 am PT

    i love how every one thinks a bad movie will ruin the game.
    a bad movie is just a bad movie, its not going to bleed into the game and make that crap too.
    The game is amazing and one of the best i've ever played. i can see this being an amazing film, or a bad one. not inbetween. but you have to stop saying "dont ruin the game for me" if you've already played it and its fun why will you stop liking it if its a movie too?

  • Kurzicide

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 2:08 am PT

    @ zaiwen

    Don't kid yourself. Knowing the position Sony is in with the PS3 not putting up profits, they won't care as long as it meets a certain "line" of acceptability. They want the easy cash-in. Any movie-to-game or vice versa is a calling for the franchise to be bastardized, because they never turn out any good. But we're only humans, and we make mistakes, sometimes several times over.

    You can only hope "budget-issues" or just plain cancellation to keep the series from being bastardized. Happened to the Halo movie, can only hope for it to happen for this, and the Gears of War movie (come-on, Gears script-writing in-game sucks already, don't even try).

  • raghraghragh

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 12:46 am PT

    There already is an Uncharted movie. It's called Indiana Jones.

  • ShockG707

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 10:47 pm PT

    Bad..bad idea, hollywood if your listening dont do it. I will not go see this, I will not rent this. I dont care if they cast Jesus for the role of Drake no one wants another videogame movie.

  • ESGC82

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 10:35 pm PT

    If they really intend to make a movie from Uncharted, they could possibly screw up the story like many other game and book titles. I hope Sony don't keep with that idea.

  • chimpanchu

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 9:32 pm PT

    Noooo... Hitman movie writer writes for Uncharted movie! What the hell Sony doing hiring this guy.

  • dragonx500

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 8:02 pm PT

    This is one of those video game to movie adaptations that could actually work, as Uncharted feels very much like a summer adventure movie.

    However, there is no reason to make a movie based on Uncharted. It's like making a movie based on Metal Gear Solid (which is happening).

  • jerkface7

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 7:48 pm PT

    the prince of persia movie wot be that bloody or brutal if its made by disney, i cant imagine a kane and lynch movie and doom was the best video game ive seen

  • kiramasaki

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 7:46 pm PT

    @timmy
    at E3 gore said he was unlikely to direct because to save on costs they plan to film in Australia and he doesnt want to travel, the article was actually posted here on Gamespot

  • zaiwen

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 7:25 pm PT

    Uncharted was one of a kind, & Uncharted 2 looks out of this world, but games to movies & movies to games just wont cut it.. it will only bastardize Naughty Dog's masterpiece.. still i think SCE will personally look over the movie project so the movie will closely resemble within the game's story

  • -Russ93

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 6:26 pm PT

    this will be an interesting movie for sure

  • Deluhathol

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 5:32 pm PT

    To be blunt, I can see no good reason why they should even attempt to make a film out of Uncharted. So far, Uncharted is my favourite game that I have for my PS3, and I would have to say, one of my favourite games of all time; however, that alone doesn't mean they should make a movie out of it.

    First of all, Uncharted was designed to be a cinematic experience from the ground up. Why the hell would you take a great cinematic game and turn it into a movie? It was designed to be played, not watched. Why would anyone think you could just jam the Uncharted story into a movie and have it come out a success; this brings me to my next point..

    Second, why the hell would anyone think this would be profitable to make? Game-movie crossovers have a long history of being absolute crap, why would anyone think that is going to change anytime soon?

    All in all, this is just a bad idea. Personally, I feel that movies and games should stay completely independent of each other (just my opinion, I have never been a fan of movies, and I can't stand going to the cinema); they each have unique traits, but really they are polar opposites in many ways. The bottom line is, a movie written from the ground up will be better than an adaptation, and the same goes for video games. Please stop murdering my video games.

  • Zartan3000

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 5:11 pm PT

    it's funny because it's the most 'movie-like' of all the best of the 2007 PS3 releases....

  • SylvanMidget

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 4:24 pm PT

    It only a matter of time, this series had movie written all over it.

  • Mikethechimp

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 3:51 pm PT

    "omg i hope its gonna be good"

    It won't. Don't you learn from past misjudgments? It never is.

    People left these comments on the Max Payne movie announcement, the Street Fighter one, and even some of the late Uwe Boll films. And they will continue being optimistic about this **** well into the future. People are just that susceptible.

    R.I.P Michael Jackson

  • OrionNM

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 2:18 pm PT

    I'm cautiously optimistic about this one, as long as the right people are selected. Drake should be played by Nathan Fillion, I just can't picture any other actor (apart from his voice over actor) doing this any justice.

  • samfsg795

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 2:17 pm PT

    it would be good if they just replayed the cut-scenes from the game

  • kasiabartek

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 2:06 pm PT

    travisstaggs - I agree with you.

  • danwarecritic

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 1:49 pm PT

    I really hope this is better than most other video game movies but I'm not expecting it to be.

  • holypro

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 1:37 pm PT

    hope they nail this one

  • travisstaggs

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 1:22 pm PT

    Good games should not have movie adaptations.

  • Nihmmoh

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 12:13 pm PT

    games based on movies suck, movies based on games are even worse

  • jokers_anarchy

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 12:12 pm PT

    i love uncharted please don't ruin it

  • EddyG0RD0

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 11:46 am PT

    Uncharted has good lines and plot , dunno if a movie can surpass it.

  • alien100000

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 9:47 am PT

    it will suck, the movies always suck.

  • timmy_the_gamer

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 9:38 am PT

    @Kiramasaki
    Whoever said that Verbinski was dropping Bioshock? Last i heard they were going through budget problems (uh-oh, this sounds like Halo...) but that Gore Verbinski was still commited to making this flick. I heard he even turned down another Pirates of the Caribbean movie(as if we need another...) to do Bioshock.

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