I’m convinced the Uncharted movie will never happen. I felt that way a few years ago as Hollywood struggled to find ANYBODY to stick with the video game adaptation for more than a week. But I temporarily got my hopes up with the recent pairing of Shawn Levy and Tom Holland because, well, if Alicia Vikander can get a Tomb Raider reboot going then this should be easy. Well, it wasn’t and it never will, at least not with that combination.
Levy has dropped out of directing Uncharted, adding his name to a growing list of departees that includes David O. Russell, Robert De Niro, Mark Wahlberg, Scarlett Johansson, Neil Burger, Seth Gordon, and Chris Pratt. The film, which follows treasure-hunting adventurer Nathan Drake, still has Holland on board so it’s technically not dead. Not yet, anyway.
The reason for Levy’s departure is a green light given to action-comedy Free Guy, that stars Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, and Joe Keery, who Levy knows well from producing Stranger Things. The project was first announced in October and now it’s good to go. Plus, it should scratch Levy’s video game itch as it follows “a background character who realizes he’s living in a video game. With the help of an avatar, he tries to prevent the makers of the game from shutting down his world.” Matt Lieberman wrote the script.
Basically, it’s Wreck-It Ralph meets Ready Player One, and that sounds much cooler than Uncharted any day. [THR]
