VenomdirectorRuben Fleischeris the frontrunner to direct Sony’s long-gestatingUnchartedmovie starringTom HollandandMark Wahlberg, reportsDeadline.
Fleischer is a trusted face on the Sony lot thanks toVenom, which grossed $856 million worldwide, as well as theZombielandfranchise, which has been a modest hit for the studio. Last year’s sequel scared up $121 million worldwide despite arriving a decade after the first film, which also cleared the $100 million mark. The director bit off more than he could chew with WB’s crime dramaGangster Squad, but that was for a different studio.
Unchartedhas been a problem project for Sony, which has cycled through at least a half-dozen directors. The latest to exit wasTravis Knight, who coincidentally, lost theVenom 2gig toAndy Serkis, and blamed his exit on scheduling. The point is, only time will tell whether Fleischer actually gets this project off the ground, or whether it remains stuck in development hell.
Sony had been hoping to shootUnchartedbefore the thirdSpider-Manmovie, which will swing into production this summer. The film will be the first from Sony PlayStation Productions, which is slated to produce alongsideChuck Roven,Alex GartnerAvi AradandAri Arad.
Rafe JudkinsandIron ManscribesArt MarcumandMatt Hollowaywrote the script, which will followUnchartedprotagonist Nathan Drake as a young man who is just starting to turn into the famed treasure hunter from the beloved Naughty Dog video game series, which has sold over 41 million copies to date.
Before Knight came aboard, theUnchartedmovie was poised to be directed byDan Trachtenberg(10 Cloverfield Lane). Other filmmakers who nearly directed Uncharted includeSeth Gordon,Neil Burger,David O. RussellandShawn Levy, so Fleischer is hardly the first to flirt with this material, and frankly, he may not be the last, either. But if I were a betting man, I’d say this one actually sticks, even if the shooting schedule sure sounds tight.
