Uncharted is expected to have the biggest domestic box office opening in 2022 so far. The movie has grossed $45 to $50 million in four days, exceeding Sony’s mid $30 million forecasts. Despite the fact that the movie features Spider-Man: No Way Home’s Tom Holland as the main lead, the videogame adaptation was never expected to be a Marvel film. Rather, Sony has a solid start to a franchise here.
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was the first game in the Uncharted action-adventure video game series, which was launched on PlayStation 3 in 2007. The game’s success and popularity spawned eight sequels, the most recent of which, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection was released in January of this year. Nathan Drake, a treasure hunter who travels the world in search of riches and solves various historical mysteries, stars in the game series. The games are widely credited with PlayStation’s long-term success over the past two decades, and it seemed only a matter of time until a film adaptation was planned.
Due to the games’ reputation and response, a film adaptation was in the works as early as 2008 but it went through development hell, with a slew of filmmakers connected and then unattached. The film gained momentum when Mark Wahlberg was attached to play Drake early in the process. However, once British actor Tom Holland was cast as Drake in 2017, Wahlberg moved to the part of Sully. The film then spent a few more years in development before going into pre-production, and was expected to release in October 2021. The film’s premiere was delayed numerous times because of the COVID-19 outbreak before ultimately arriving in theatres on February 18, 2022, and since then, projections have looked better than predicted.
Uncharted is considered as a test of Holland’s film office appeal outside of spandex after anchoring a Marvel trilogy. Apart from last spring’s Chaos Walking, which sat on Lionsgate’s shelf for years and barely made any news in the thick of a pandemic, this is his first starring role in a non-Marvel theatrical blockbuster.
On the first day, Sony Pictures’ Uncharted collected $15.4 million from 4,275 locations, putting it on track for a No. 1 opening. Since Tom Holland’s last picture, Spider-Man: No Way Home, which dominated the Christmas season and became the third highest-grossing domestic film release in history, the Tom Holland vehicle has had the biggest opening at the box office.
Audiences genuinely seem to enjoy Uncharted unlike the critics on Rotten Tomatoes – 88% to 39% Rotten. CinemaScore gives the movie a solid B+, while Comscore/Screen Engine has a 79% positive score overall and a 61% recommend rating, while kids under 12 say the movie was well worth their time, with a huge 96% and a 57% recommend. So far, Imax and PLF have represented 37% of the Ruben Fleischer directed film, with Imax charting seven of the top 10 runs. West, Southeast, and Canada were the best play markets. Uncharted grossed $22 million in 15 offshore locations over the weekend.
Although no official sequel has been announced, it has been noted that the film’s finale leaves room for future installments to explore the tale and characters. Fleischer has indicated an interest in directing a sequel based on elements from Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End but the success of this one will determine whether or not a sequel is made. Wahlberg and Holland could possibly be open to returning, with the latter nearly through with his role as Spider-Man. The numbers are encouraging for Uncharted, but audiences may be fickle, so it’s still unclear how much the film will gross worldwide.