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"Uncharted: Drake's Fortune: The Motion Picture" (1 Viewer)

ChadMcCallum

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Wahlberg is a good actor but he's horrifically mis-cast in this. There's just no way he could pull of the charm or cockiness of Drake.

Honestly, Nathan Fillion is the perfect choice for Drake. He look's like him, he sounds like him, they have the same sense of humor and comedic timing. Fillion plays video games so he's probably played both Uncharted games and knows what they're about and who Drake is. He's hardly unknown now either. Castle has got really strong ratings so its not like people haven't seen him before and I seriously doubt he would have a hard time getting a talk show appearance to promote the film.

Its a shame they seem to being going out of their way to make this a bad movie. I've been playing video games for more than 20 years and while many games promise the "you're playing a movie" experience the Uncharted games are only ones to really deliver on that promise. I hope progress on the film stalls, it gets stuck in development Hell and everyone leaves the project and people who actually want to make an Uncharted film, and just use the title and try to piggyback off the success of the games are brought on board.
 

Chris Farmer

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Originally Posted by Aaron Silverman

Yes, theoretically speaking, a movie starring Nolan North could become a breakout hit. But a movie starring Mark Wahlberg is GUARANTEED to sell a certain number of tickets because Mark Wahlberg fans will go see it -- and it still might become a breakout hit. Where is a movie studio going to lay its $100 million bet?


I wasn't suggesting Adrian Grenier for the part (I guess maybe, but IMO he looks too young); I was just saying that if Wahlberg resembles Grenier's character, who is supposed to be Wahlberg, then maybe he has it in him to be Nathan Drake.)


Yep. That's why The Happening and Max Payne (to name two) were such break-out hits. All the Mark Wahlburg fans really pumped up the box office there. Surefire hit; can't go wrong.

[/QUOTE]

That only reinforces my point. Mark Wahlberg fans went to see those films and buy the DVDs -- without a star in them, they would have made even less money than they did. It's about studios hedging their bets on films that *don't* become breakout hits.



Show me the evidence that there are a financially relevant number of Mark Wahlburg fans. Because right now all I'm seeing is this: Mark Wahlburg is a star, therefore his presence guarantees a certain number of fans will see his movies, therefore he is a safe bet, therefore he gets cast, therefore he's a star. It's a circular argument with no way to evaluate the fundamental premise. Any evidence that says maybe he doesn't have major draw is dismissed as saying "Well yeah those did poorly, but think how badly they would have done without him! And think of the talk show time! 15 minutes of free advertising!" To which I respond, who cares? Show me any data that says that any of that has a meaningful impact on box office numbers. Show that it makes the movies successful. Because I don't see a single break-out hit that Wahlburg carried. What I do see are a number of movies that he's been in (including a video game movie, which is particularly relevant here) that crashed and burned.


As for Hollywood having all those years of experience in casting etc, again I'm not the least bit sold. They make too much crap with too many bad decisions. They don't know their source material, they don't trust their characters, and they don't understand their audience. Hollywood has a tremendous history of completely screwing up video game adaptations. Most recently, look at the trainwreck that was Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. That was a game that showed genuine promise for translating very well into a film, and the movie was a disaster. Although not a bomb, it significantly underperformed at the box office. It didn't strike a chord with new audiences and failed utterly at appealing to fans of the game, and instead was left homeless where it didn't make anybody happy.


Uncharted is already showing all those bad decisions all over again. Again you have a premise that could turn into a very entertaining movie a la Indiana Jones or Breandan Fraser's Mommy movies, but the plot outline sketched out above shows that they're mostly throwing it out wholesale. The casting shows no insight into the characters. They're tossing in a needless family element (Sully is far more fun, because he's NOT related to Drake and therefore you can never completely trust him). The only thing it shares with the games is the title.


The most amusing part here is that nobody is actually defending the decisions that have been made. All that's been said is that Hollywood knows what they're doing and that Mark Wahlburg's star power will help the film. Except there's no evidence that either is true and considerable evidence that both are factually incorrect. When you're left with having to say "Trust Hollywood to make good decisions" then hope is already lost.
 

TravisR

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Originally Posted by Chris Farmer

Yes, theoretically speaking, a movie starring Nolan North could become a breakout hit. But a movie starring Mark Wahlberg is GUARANTEED to sell a certain number of tickets because Mark Wahlberg fans will go see it -- and it still might become a breakout hit. Where is a movie studio going to lay its $100 million bet?


I wasn't suggesting Adrian Grenier for the part (I guess maybe, but IMO he looks too young); I was just saying that if Wahlberg resembles Grenier's character, who is supposed to be Wahlberg, then maybe he has it in him to be Nathan Drake.)


Yep. That's why The Happening and Max Payne (to name two) were such break-out hits. All the Mark Wahlburg fans really pumped up the box office there. Surefire hit; can't go wrong.

[/QUOTE]

That only reinforces my point. Mark Wahlberg fans went to see those films and buy the DVDs -- without a star in them, they would have made even less money than they did. It's about studios hedging their bets on films that *don't* become breakout hits.



Show me the evidence that there are a financially relevant number of Mark Wahlburg fans. Because right now all I'm seeing is this: Mark Wahlburg is a star, therefore his presence guarantees a certain number of fans will see his movies, therefore he is a safe bet, therefore he gets cast, therefore he's a star. It's a circular argument with no way to evaluate the fundamental premise. Any evidence that says maybe he doesn't have major draw is dismissed as saying "Well yeah those did poorly, but think how badly they would have done without him! And think of the talk show time! 15 minutes of free advertising!" To which I respond, who cares? Show me any data that says that any of that has a meaningful impact on box office numbers. Show that it makes the movies successful. Because I don't see a single break-out hit that Wahlburg carried. What I do see are a number of movies that he's been in (including a video game movie, which is particularly relevant here) that crashed and burned.


As for Hollywood having all those years of experience in casting etc, again I'm not the least bit sold. They make too much crap with too many bad decisions. They don't know their source material, they don't trust their characters, and they don't understand their audience. Hollywood has a tremendous history of completely screwing up video game adaptations. Most recently, look at the trainwreck that was Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. That was a game that showed genuine promise for translating very well into a film, and the movie was a disaster. Although not a bomb, it significantly underperformed at the box office. It didn't strike a chord with new audiences and failed utterly at appealing to fans of the game, and instead was left homeless where it didn't make anybody happy.


Uncharted is already showing all those bad decisions all over again. Again you have a premise that could turn into a very entertaining movie a la Indiana Jones or Breandan Fraser's Mommy movies, but the plot outline sketched out above shows that they're mostly throwing it out wholesale. The casting shows no insight into the characters. They're tossing in a needless family element (Sully is far more fun, because he's NOT related to Drake and therefore you can never completely trust him). The only thing it shares with the games is the title.


The most amusing part here is that nobody is actually defending the decisions that have been made. All that's been said is that Hollywood knows what they're doing and that Mark Wahlburg's star power will help the film. Except there's no evidence that either is true and considerable evidence that both are factually incorrect. When you're left with having to say "Trust Hollywood to make good decisions" then hope is already lost.



You win. Movie star Mark Wahlberg doesn't get talk show appearances/free commercials for the movies that he's in, his status as a movie star doesn't sell more tickets (especially in foreign territories) and Hollywood doesn't know as much about their business as you do.
 

Don Solosan

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"All that's been said is that Hollywood knows what they're doing and that Mark Wahlburg's star power will help the film."


That's not what I said. The cardinal rule of Hollywood is that no one knows anything (William Goldman). That applies to stories, characters, etc. What they do know (and this is sort of like the Las Vegas casinos) is how to stack a deck. On average, a movie with certain "elements" will outperform a movie without those elements. State of the art digital effects (versus guys in rubber monsters costumes, etc) is one of those elements. A hot director is one of those elements. A recognizable face is another. Mark Wahlburg has a recognizable face. It's as simple as that. It doesn't mean the final product will be any good, it just maximizes return on investment.


You're right: Uncharted will probably suck. Better get used to the idea...
 

Aaron Silverman

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Actually, he's from Boston.


He was interviewed on some show recently (might've been 60 Minutes) and they went to his house. He had a full-sized basketball court in his yard, colored green with a giant Celtics logo in the middle. 'Twas a thing of beauty!


Anyone would get on the talk shows, but Nolan North wouldn't get people to tune into them like a name star would. It's a vicious circle. :)
 

Ruz-El

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thanks for the correction ha ha, I was trying to place his tough guy, mans mans accent. ;)
 

TravisR

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Originally Posted by Russell G

As far as Wahlberg being hired so that he can get on chat shows. I'd argue that any hi-profile film (which this would be) would get whoever the elad actor is on the chat shows.


But the movie star is always going to be the first guest (over almost every TV star, musician or comedian) and since there's more people watching at the beginning, that's important.
 

Edwin-S

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I'm glad this thing is on hold. If the main criteria for picking the lead actor is the number of eyeballs he can attract on talk shows, instead of actually being able to play the character, then there is no great loss if it never gets made. The last thing needed is yet another in a long line of shitty movie adaptations of video games. This one sounded like it was going to be particularly bad because they can't even get the actor right, let alone the story.
 

Chris Farmer

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Agreed, no big loss. This movie shared nothing in common with the games other than a title and character names. Hollywood has a long and illustrious history of taking video games and screwing them up on screen, even the good ones (and then wondering why they bombed), and everything about this project said it was going to follow in that grand tradition. Nothing I read said it understood its characters, and everything said it was going to be a terrible movie. All the big mid-name actors and talk-show appearances in the world wouldn't save what was looking to be a total dud of a movie.
 

Ruz-El

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Another update on IGN, kind of. Amusing in it's own way.


http://movies.ign.com/articles/114/1141051p1.html
 

Edwin-S

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Why could this director be expected to know who Nathan Fillion is? He doesn't even have a clue what the property he is supposedly developing is about. "Uncharted" is a family film? He needs to smoke less crack.
 

younger1968

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i think Drake could be the next version of Indiana Jones, so you will want an actor in their early 30s to play this role, like may be johnny knoxville and you could cast scarlett johansson as elena. Sully could be Bruce Willis!!


I think there is a good opportunity to make a few movies from this game. I have played both uncharted and love the game. I actually can't wait for the next version, which should be out in a couple of years.
 

mattCR

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Bruce Willis could be a good sully.. for those that haven't seen on PS3, go to the store, trailers and media for Uncharted 3 is out now...
 

Aaron Silverman

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Uncharted 3 is due in less than a year!


Scarlett Johansson as Elena ain't a bad idea. (If you look upthread, you'll see that Johnny Knoxville is actually 40.)
 

younger1968

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Originally Posted by Aaron Silverman

Uncharted 3 is due in less than a year!


Scarlett Johansson as Elena ain't a bad idea. (If you look upthread, you'll see that Johnny Knoxville is actually 40.)

oops, my mistake about johnny knoxville. I would still cast him as Drake, because i think he would be a great drake.


I think you could do two-three films around the drake character similar to that of Indiana Jones. I have played the first two games and they would be great story lines for the movie along with the third one.
 

Sean Bryan

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If they stick with this "Drake and his extended family garbage" then would they even use Sully? Unless they stick with the formula and characters of the games, then I'm expecting this to be throwaway junk
 

Aaron Silverman

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The latest news is that all of this information is bogus. Who knows what the real truth is. At any rate, it looks like it'll be quite a while before anything actually happens.


Paul, according to some things I've read, the game designers actually based Drake on Johnny Knoxville! (Really!)
 

Aaron Silverman

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Hey Paul!


Latest rumor is that David O. Russell wants to cast Scarlett Johansson as Elena. Nice call! :)
 

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