Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

Welcome to the silver screen, Mr. Drake.

Each game console seems to have its own "pet franchise," a game series that is not only confined to one company or console but also a series that is well-recieved by the gaming community.

Microsoft and the XBox have Halo.

Nintendo and it's Wii and DS's have Mario (along with others, like Zelda).

And Sony and the PlayStation have Uncharted.

The Uncharted series has always had positive reviews from various proffesional reviewers. The first installment, Drake's Fortune, recieved a 89.70% rating from GameRankings and a comparable 88 from Metacritic. Among Thieves, the second game in the series, not only recieved a 96.46% and 96 scores from GameRankings and Metacritic, but it was also the recipient of the Overall Game of the Year awards from both IGN and Spike, among many other awards. With four games that have currently sold over 17 million units worldwide, spin-off novels, and a graphic novel series, Uncharted is a very popular franchise, one that the film industry is eager to cash in on as well.


Distributed by Sony Pictures and produced by Arad Productions, Atlas Entertainment, and Columbia Pictures, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune follows a plotline similar to the one in the franchise's inception game, and with the same title, too. The synopsis (courtesy of Movie Insider): "Treasure Hunter Nate Drake, a descendant of explorer Sir Francis Drake, believes he has learned the whereabout of El Dorado, the fabled South American golden city, from a cursed golden statue. The search becomes competitive when a rival hunter joins the fray, then is racheted up several notches when creatures -- actually mutated descendants of Spaniards and Nazis -- begin attack those hoping to learn the treasure's true secrets."

Sounds an awful lot like Indiana Jones, doesn't it?

While no cast has yet been hired, Neil Burger is currently in talks to direct the film. Burger has directed a few movies in the past, including Interview with the Assassin  in 2002, The Illusionist in 2006, The Lucky Ones in 2008, and Limitless in 2011. David Russell (I Heart Huckabees, The Fighter, The Silver Linings Playbook) was originally in talks for the director's chair, but has been passed up.

Burger is also in talks to join Uncharted as a screenwriter. The writing crew currently includes Kyle Ward, Thomas Dean Donnelly (Sahara, A Sound of Thunder, Conan the Barbarian), and Joshua Oppenheimer (Sahara, A Sound of Thunder, Dylan Dog: Dead of Night, Conan the Barbarian). Mark Wahlber and Hugh Jackman were both considered for the role of Nate Drake though, like David Russell, both men have not been accepted for the role.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune has been in the Development Phase since June 25, 2009, and it does not have an official theatrical release date yet. I'm thinking it might be in theaters sometime in 2014-ish, but right now it all seems to depend on whether or not Neil Burger is signed on as the director/screenwriter.


What do you think? Will the film likely be Good, Bad, or Ugly? Will it be able to compare to the original video game? Who would you cast as Nate Drake?




 - Edessa, signing off