Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

7/7/11 - Neil Burger is in final negotiations to write and direct the action-adventure movie Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, being made by Columbia Pictures, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  A treasure hunter named Nate Drake -- a descendent of explorer Sir Francis Drake -- believes he has learned the whereabouts of the fabled golden South American city El Dorado from a cursed statue. His search for El Dorado becomes competitive when a rival hunter joins the fray, then is racheted up several notches when creatures -- actually mutated descendants of Spaniards and Nazis -- begin attacking those hoping to learn the treasure's true secrets.

5/26/11 - David O. Russell who was writing and attached to direct the adaptation of the Uncharted: Drake's Fortune video game has parted ways with Columbia Pictures, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  According to insiders, one reason for the split was Russell, who was hoping to reteam on the project with his Fighter star Mark Wahlberg, submitted a 200-page draft to the studio with a slew of new characters that did not appear in the video game.  This departure shows how difficult it is to develop video games into movies and how the genre, despite such hits as the Resident Evil flicks, is still in its early gestation.  Avi Arad, Charles Roven, Ari Arad and Alex Gartner are producing.

11/24/10 - Mark Wahlberg confirmed that he is Drake in Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.  Written and directed by David O. Russell, Uncharted features Nathan Drake, the descendant of Sir Francis Drake, who's a modern-times Indiana Jones-type treasure hunter with a sharp tongue.  Wahlberg told MTV, “David is one of the best writer/directors I've ever worked with. The idea that he has is just insane. So hopefully we'll be making that movie this summer."

11/24/09 - Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer have been given the keys to Uncharted: Drake Fortune, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  Columbia Pictures has tapped the screenwriting duo to pen the adaptation of the video game.  Uncharted follows a treasure hunter named Nate Drake, a descendent of explorer Sir Francis Drake who believes he has learned the whereabouts of El Dorado, the fabled South American golden city, from a cursed golden statue. The search becomes competitive when a rival hunter joins the fray, then is ratcheted up several notches when creatures -- actually mutated descendants of Spaniards and Nazis -- begin attacking those hoping to learn the treasure's true secrets.  The game, from Sony Computer Entertainment, sold 1 million copies in the first 10 weeks of its release at the end of 2007.

6/29/09 - Columbia is developing a movie based on Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, the action-adventure video game, setting Kyle Ward to write the adaptation, according to The Hollywood Reporter; the story follows a descendant of explorer Sir Francis Drake, a treasure hunter named Nate Drake who believes he has learned the whereabouts of El Dorado, the fabled South American golden city, from a cursed golden statue.

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