Uncharted box office projections see a massive increase after the opening day, according to reports. The Uncharted action-adventure video game series was first released in 2007 on PlayStation 3 with the game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. The success and popularity of the game led to eight spin-off or sequel games, with a ninth, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, released in January of this year. The game series follows the adventures of treasure hunter Nathan Drake, who travels the world in search of riches and uncovers numerous historical mysteries. The games are widely credited with the enduring success of PlayStation over the past two decades, and it seemed only a matter of time before a movie adaptation was in the cards.
Due to the legacy and reception of the games, a movie adaptation entered development as early as 2008, but went through development hell, with numerous filmmakers attached and then unattached. The project began to gain traction when Mark Wahlberg was attached in the role of Drake early in the process, however, he switched to the role of Sully after British actor Tom Holland was cast as Drake in 2017. The movie then spent a few more years in development before entering pre-production, with a planned release date of October 2021. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the movie's release was delayed several times, before finally hitting theaters on February 18th, and since opening day, projections have looked better than first expected.
According to reports from Deadline, the movie is outperforming Sony's opening weekend projections with an estimate of $40 million over three days. After grossing $22 million from its opening weekend across 15 international markets outside of the United States and Canada, the movie also took in $3.7 million from domestic Thursday night previews. The movie is due to be released in 4,200 theaters across North America for opening weekend, and the initial projections estimated it would take around $30 million over that time. Four-day projections are also higher, with the number now estimated to be closer to $45 million, with some even believing $50 million could be possible.
Coming off the back of Sony could be onto a winner with Uncharted, and it seems audiences have received the Ruben Fleischer-directed movie warmly, and hopes must surely be high that the film will comfortably outperform its $120 million budget.
No sequel has officially been discussed yet, but it has been noted that the movie's ending does leave scope for revisiting the story and the characters in future instalments. Fleischer has expressed interest in directing a sequel based on elements from Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, but any possibility of follow-up movies would depend on the financial success of this one. Wahlberg and Holland could also be open to returning, with the latter nearly finished with his role as Spider-Man and no doubt seeking another franchise. The figures bode well for Uncharted, but moviegoers can be unpredictable, so it remains to be seen just how much the film will wind up taking globally.
Source: Deadline
