Sony is already calling 2022's Uncharted movie a new franchise following the film's overperformance at the box office. After years of trying to get an adaptation of Naughty Dog's acclaimed video game series to the big screen, audiences finally got a chance to see Nathan Drake in theaters. Uncharted stars Tom Holland as a younger version of the adventurer compared to what the games included. He's paired up with Mark Wahlberg's Sully and Chloe Frazer (Sophia Ali) for a globe-trotting adventure as they search for a lost treasure.
Despite COVID-19 further delaying Uncharted's release, the movie is now out in theaters. Critical reviews for Holland's video game movie have been quite divisive, as the film has a 39% rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, general audiences around the world are quite enjoying Uncharted and the original Nathan Drake adventure. Sony watched as the movie had a strong opening internationally prior to the domestic launch, which also exceeded expectations. Uncharted earned more than $50 million in its opening weekend domestically, surpassing projections of an opening in the $30M range.
Now that Uncharted's opening weekend has concluded, Sony Pictures is already celebrating the success by calling it a new movie franchise. Sony's CEO, Tom Rotham, sent a company-wide email to celebrate Uncharted's box office, which Deadline has since shared. In it, Rotham highlighted the movie as an example of movies still being able to be successful in theaters only. He also specifically said that "Uncharted is a new hit movie franchise for the company" after earning more than $139M worldwide so far. Sony has not yet officially announced plans for Uncharted 2.
Based on Rotham's comments, it is clear that Sony is already thinking about moving forward with the Uncharted movie franchise. The movie's ending and two post-credits scenes directly teased adventures that a sequel can include. This includes adapting some of Nathan Drake's adventures from the games and introducing other characters that gamers will recognize. It is not yet known if Ruben Fleischer would return to direct Uncharted 2, although he has expressed interest in doing just that. If the Uncharted sequel is announced, audiences should expect to see more of Holland's Nathan Drake, Wahlberg's Sully, and Ali's Chloe Frazier.
Sony's likelihood of turning Uncharted into a franchise makes perfect sense after the film's box office performance too. Not only is the theatrical business still recovering after COVID, but Holland is proving to be quite a box office draw. The combination of Spider-Man: No Way Home's record-setting theatrical run and Uncharted's overperformance positions the young actor as a bankable star for Sony. Since the studio already has plans to use him in another Spider-Man trilogy, Uncharted's box office success indicates that he should also have a future as Nathan Drake.
Source: Deadline