Paramount scored a hit with ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’ way back in 2001 and even the fairly terrible ‘Super Mario Brothers’ movie from 1993 has a cult following from those who grew up during that era, but by and large movies based on video games are box office poison, but that doesn’t seem to deter studios from trying again, over and over. Even the new ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ is swapping out the board game from the original film for a video game. Here’s hoping it’s more ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ than ‘Pixels’.
Most recently, ‘Warcraft’ and ‘Assassin’s Creed’ flopped, but Warner Brothers is revisiting ‘Tomb Raider’ with a reboot, featuring Alicia Vikander replacing Angelina Jolie. And now Sony is diving in with a film based on ‘Uncharted’ and they are hoping to get a fairly big name for one of the supporting characters.
The studio is hoping that they can entice Bryan Cranston to sign on for an undisclosed supporting role. Though it isn’t specified who this character might be, those familiar with the game franchise have surmised that it is Sully, the cranky treasure hunter and mentor to lead character Nathan Drake, who will be played by ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’‘s Tom Holland. However there is some question as to Cranston’s age and whether he will be able to perform the requisite stunt work that would be required should this film successfully spawn a franchise, which is, of course, Sony’s goal. It is possible that the studio wants him for a different part, possibly a villain. Cranston is best known for the hit series ‘Breaking Bad’ and was just seen in digital form in ‘Saban’s Power Rangers’ as Zordon.
Shawn Levy (‘Stranger Things’, the ‘Night at the Museum’ franchise) is attached to direct what is expected to be a prequel to the video games. Joe Carnahan (‘The A-Team’, ‘The Grey’) has been tapped to pen the screenplay. Judging by this pedigree, expect ‘Uncharted’ to be a mix of comedy and over-the-top action, a bit broader than the more serious games.
There have been four main immersive role-playing games in the series, all issued by Sony for the various PlayStation platforms. The games have sold multiple millions of copies. From the start, the ‘Uncharted’ series has been praised for its high standard of quality.
The ‘Uncharted’ movie is in the earliest stages of development, so there’s no telling how it will turn out, in terms of quality or popularity. Sony has not even locked the film in to a specific release date and both Levy and Carnahan have other projects lined up, while Holland is expected to return for at least two more ‘Spider-Man’ films and may very well pop up in additional Marvel movies.
We’ll update as more information is revealed.
How would you feel about Bryan Cranston in the ‘Uncharted’ movie? Is Sully the right role for him?
Source: The Hashtag Show
