Video game movie franchises almost always get a bad rep and it's not exactly unwarranted. For decades, these movies have either been horrible or massive box office flops, if not both. But, in recent years, we've seen a series of video game adaptations buck the trend. There was last year's Mortal Kombat, which is getting a sequel, and 2020's Sonic the Hedgehog, which is also getting a follow-up later this year. The latest to join the list of well-done video game adaptations is the Tom Holland-led Uncharted.
After premiering on February 18 following unflattering critical reviews, Deadline reports that Sony's Uncharted made $55.4 million at the international box office and $51 million in North America, giving it a running total of $106.4 million in its opening weekend.
With a $120 million budget and a running total of $139 million at the global box office, Uncharted is well on its way to becoming a box office success. More importantly, it's on track to become Sony's second straight blockbuster movie following Spider-Man: No Way Home, which recently over-took Avatar at the domestic box office.
It's been a long and arduous road for Uncharted to get to this moment. The movie adaptation of one of Sony's most profitable and beloved video game series has been in development hell for the better part of the past two decades. Things even got to the point where the actor initially tapped to be the series lead, Mark Wahlberg, aged out of the role and instead filled the spot of Victor "Sully" Sullivan, with Tom Holland portraying a younger Nathan Drake that's far from the globe-trotting treasure hunter that players got to know and love from the games.
Uncharted's box office earnings come as a pleasant surprise with the film last to make a significant impact being Scream back in January, which ironically was the first to oust No Way Home from the top spot. Since then, films such as Jackass: Forever and Death on the Nile have posted respectable but not exactly jaw-dropping numbers, which makes Uncharted's box office debut, both locally and internationally, such a big deal.
Having said that, Sony will be gunning for a third straight box office success with Morbius set to hit theaters in April following a lengthy delay.
Speaking of Sony, we still have no clue about whether Uncharted is getting a sequel. However, at the risk of spoiling the movie, the film does have a post-credits scene that alludes to a follow-up. Judging by the positive reception to the first film and as long as Holland is open to it, we might just see him return as Nathan Drake for another big-screen outing soon enough.
