The Uncharted movie was shut down on the first day of filming

It would be difficult to name a movie that’s had as hard a time getting off the ground as Uncharted, Sony’s adaptation of its successful adventure video game franchise. The movie lagged in development hell for years, and just as we thought it was finally getting a move on, it’s gotten delayed again, and on the very first day of filming, no less.

Unsurprisingly, the coronavirus has shut down the shoot, as it has on many movies and TV shows around the world. (Remember to listen to your government’s guide to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.) We learned about this newest setback from star Tom Holland, who plays a young version of lead character Nathan Drake. (Mark Wahlberg will play Nathan’s mentor Sully.) He was doing a live Instagram Q&A with Justin Bieber at the time, because why not? Quarantine makes for strange bedfellows.

"Yeah, we went to work Day 1. I’m doing this movie called Uncharted, which is based on a video game. And we showed up for our first day of shooting and then they shut us down. I was in Berlin, so I had to come home and now I’m back in London."

And it’s a shame because it looks like Uncharted is going to be part of a trend of video game movies finally attaining some respectability. There’s been a stigma around them for a long time, from the disastrous Super Mario Bros. movie back in 1993 through more recent, middling efforts like Assassins Creed and Warcraft. But movies like Detective Pikachu and even Sonic the Hedgehog have found their audiences, and HBO is adapting Sony’s excellent The Last of Us for TV. Are things going to turn around?

Well, if they are, it won’t be for a while longer now. Uncharted was meant to hit theaters on March 5, 2021, but has now been kicked back to October. It’s been a cursed movie from the get-go. Let’s hope it proves worth the wait!

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