Back in early August, it looked like the Uncharted movie might be moving forward with newly attached screenwriter Joe Carnahan, but just one month later, it appears that the studio is pumping the brakes once again on the troubled big-screen adaptation of the hit game franchise.
After almost a decade of starts and stops in the film’s development cycle, Sony Pictures has reportedly removed Uncharted from its upcoming release calendar. The film was previously scheduled to hit theaters June 30, 2017.
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 with his best friend and mentor, Sully, on quests for historical — and occasionally mythological — artifacts. The pair often find themselves at odds with hardened criminals and secret societies who want the treasures for themselves.
The decision to delay Uncharted could be intended to allow Carnahan to slide into the director’s chair when he’s done with his next project, Bad Boys 3. The previous 2017 release date would have made that impossible, so the studio could be hoping to make Uncharted the filmmaker’s next feature.
Carnahan, who joined the project just last month, is the latest in a long list of writers attached to the project at various points. That list includes two-time Academy Award winner Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty), who penned an earlier draft of the script, as well as 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.
The studio hasn’t offered any official word on the project’s removal from its release calendar at this point.
