The long-in-the-works Uncharted movie has just faced yet another set back as director Dan Trachtenberg has left the project. Trachtenberg, known best for his work on 10 Cloverfield Lane, boarded the video game adaptation back in January. Tom Holland, who is surely already having a rough week, given what’s going on with Spider-Man, is still attached to star and Sony is already looking for a replacement director. Still, this doesn’t bode well for a project that has, so far, been a revolving door for various filmmakers.
According to a new report, a replacement for Dan Trachtenberg is actively being searched for, with meetings currently taking place. Though, no specific names were revealed as to who Sony might be eyeing. The report notes that the studio still hopes to begin production early next year. Another development is that Sony PlayStation Productions, the studio division founded last year solely focused on bringing the company’s video games to the screen, has officially boarded the adaptation. This will serve as the first movie project for PlayStation Productions. The company will now produce Uncharted alongside a team that includes Chuck Roven, Avi Arad, Alex Gartner and Ari Arad.
Tom Holland, known best for his role as Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, in movies such as Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home, has been attached in the lead role of Nathan Drake for some time. The idea is that the movie will focus on a younger version of the character as he matures into the treasure hunter gamers are familiar with, in the hopes of creating a long-term franchise. The current script is attributed to Art Marcum, Matt Holloway and Rafe Judkins. Uncharted is one of Sony’s most popular video game franchises, as the various titles have sold more than 40 million copies worldwide.
Unfortunately, things have been rocky for Sony Pictures and Tom Holland over the past few days. Recently, it came to light that Sony and Disney could not come to terms on a deal regarding the future of Spider-Man on the big screen. Sony controls the movie rights and had been in a unique creative partnership with Disney’s Marvel Studios, which allowed for the character to appear in MCU movies like Avengers: Endgame, while Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige produced the character’s solo efforts for Sony. Now, the future remains very uncertain, as Sony can’t connect future solo movies to the MCU, and future MCU movies can’t use Peter Parker. Holland has yet to weigh in on the matter publically.
It is a good sign for Sony, to some degree, that Tom Holland is still attached to star as Nathan Drake. At least for now. Previously, directors such as David O. Russell (American Hustle), Shawn Levy (Stranger Things) and Joe Carnahan (The Grey) have all been attached to the project. We can now add Dan Trachtenberg to that ever-growing list. Uncharted is currently set to arrive in theaters on December 18, 2020. We’ll see if that sticks. This news comes to us via Deadline.
