If a sequel to Uncharted ends up happening, you can count director Ruben Fleischer on board. Now playing in theaters, the new Uncharted movie is directly based on the popular video game series of the same name. Whether this new film ends up starting a new series of lives that the game which inspired it remains to be seen.
In a new interview with Collider, Fleischer addressed the potential future of Uncharted. Currently, there is nothing official in the works about a sequel, but Fleischer admits he thought a lot about story ideas for a follow-up film while working on the first movie. He makes it clear he'd be interested in returning to the director's chair if Uncharted 2 gets the green light at Sony, but suggests that this will ultimately depend upon how well the film is received with fans and if there's a push to make another movie.
“I’d be thrilled at the opportunity to make a sequel and you can’t help working on this film for two years…I can’t help but imagine different adventures these guys might find themselves on and I’d be thrilled to figure out a way to bring those to life. But ultimately the audience will decide if that’s something they’re excited to see.”
That there are several acclaimed video games in the Uncharted series means that there is also plenty of source material to draw from when making potential sequels. We will see just how well Uncharted ends up performing overall, but it seems to be coming out of the gate pretty strong with its U.S. release in terms of its box office profits. The negative reviews certainly don't help the film, but while it's sitting at a rotten 39% score on Rotten Tomatoes, its reception with filmgoers is much better with an 88% fresh audience score.
Uncharted Is Meant to Resurrect the Globe-Trotting Adventure Genre
Ruben Fleischer has said that one goal with Uncharted is to bring back these kinds of globe-trotting adventure films. Even without the strongest critical reception, there still could be a future here in Uncharted sequels and similar movies if this film draws well enough at the box office. What ultimately matters is how much money a movie will make, and the hope is that Uncharted will do well enough financially to inspire more movies of its type to be made.
"Well, my point being is that it’s a genre that they just don’t make that much anymore," the director told Uproxx. "So, I approach this more as somebody who got to make a treasure-hunting, globe-trotting adventure, more than a video game adaptation. And while it was based on a game that, lucky for us, it was incredible source material with a great sense of humor and some of the best action set pieces in all of video games. But, at the end of the day, I knew I had to make a movie that would be entertaining for people, whether or not they’ve heard of the game or anybody else. [...] I mean, National Treasure was, I think, the last one."
Uncharted is now playing in movie theaters.