Movie adaptations of video games have either been a huge disappointment or success for fans of the games and other movie-goers alike (usually the former.) It mostly comes down to who directs each film and how well they are able to transfer a gaming property to the big screen.
In the case of Uncharted, it has been reported that Neil Burger, the director of Limitless, will now be taking the reins in writing and directing the Drake’s Fortune movie. Limitless scored big at the box office with $153 million in worldwide revenue after being produced for a scant $27 million.
The first draft of the movie to the highly successful video game series — which sold nearly six million copies worldwide between its first release (Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune) back in 2007 and 2009’s Uncharted 2: Among Thieves — was originally drafted by director David O. Russell, and written by Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer. David apparently left the project due to “creative differences.” Burger will start anew with a script that is either being reworked or rewritten entirely.
It is not currently clear whether or not the much-maligned Mark Whalberg is still set to play the titular role of Drake. Fans, of course, have long pined for Nathan Fillion to fill the role. Perhaps this directorial change will offer Hollywood a chance to fix that oversight.
This will be the first time that a PlayStation-exclusive game will be adapted into a movie, and it seems that Sony is very ambitious when it comes to the project. It is believed that they hope to spin it into their own modern day Indiana Jones-esque movie trilogy. The third entry into the game franchise, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, will be hitting the shelves on November 11th of this year.
[Source: Variety]
[Image via Ars Technica.]
