Night at the Museum and Real Steel director Shawn Levy has reportedly been hired as the film’s new director, likely making the big-screen adaptation his next project after executive producing and directing episodes of the hit Netflix series Stranger Things. The film still doesn’t have an official release date, and Levy is expected to shift between Uncharted and the second season of Stranger Things as both projects move forward.
Previously scheduled to hit theaters in June 2017, Uncharted was removed from Sony Pictures’ release calendar in September following almost a decade of starts and stops in its development cycle as various writers, directors, and cast members joined and subsequently exited the project. Levy’s attachment to the film was initially reported by Deadline.
The Uncharted movie is based on the hit series of games that follow treasure hunter Nathan Drake — a descendant of explorer Sir Francis Drake — as he travels the world in search of historical (and occasionally mythological) artifacts. Along the way, he often find themselves at odds with hardened criminals and secret societies who want the treasures for themselves.
The Grey and The A-Team writer Joe Carnahan is working on the most recent script for the film, and was initially expected to direct the movie as well. Carnahan is the latest in a long line of filmmakers attached to the project. Two-time Academy Award winner Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) worked on an earlier draft of the script. Other writers who have been involved with the project include five-time Academy Award nominee David O. Russell (American Hustle, Silver Linings Playbook), Doctor Strange screenwriters Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer, Safe House writer David Guggenheim, and National Treasure writing duo Cormac and Marianne Wibberley.
To date, the Uncharted franchise includes four major releases and various spinoff projects released for handheld consoles, card games, and other media. The second game in the series, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, is one of the highest-rated games of all time for the PlayStation 3, and received multiple “Game of the Year” awards after its release in 2009. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End was released in May.
