Why Uncharted's Box Office Is Way Better Than Expected
Warning: This post contains spoilers for Uncharted.
Sony's Uncharted is already proving itself to be something of a box office success and is performing far better than originally expected. Uncharted's box office opening weekend was the highest for a video game movie since 2020's Sonic The Hedgehog, making much more of a splash than expected. A loose adaptation of the games that introduces Nathan Drake as a young treasure hunter, Uncharted sees Tom Holland's Drake team up with Mark Wahlberg's Victor "Sully" Sullivan to search for the lost treasure of Ferdinand Magellan.
The film acts as a prequel to the popular video game franchise, establishing how the two treasure hunters met and, despite Uncharted making changes to the characters' origin story, it captures the adventuring spirit of the games. While critical reception for the film has been generally poor, audiences seem to enjoy Uncharted, contributing to its early box office success. Initial box office projections for the film suggested that Uncharted would open within the range of $30 million, but these estimates quickly increased as the film's opening weekend got underway.
Exactly how and why Uncharted has defied its initial box office expectations is a combination of numerous factors. One of the biggest is the apparent underestimation of how anticipated the film was by Uncharted fans. An adaptation was first announced back in 2008, so patient fans have waited over a decade for the film, but there's actually far more to Uncharted's early success than meets the eye.
Compared to other video game adaptations, the Uncharted movie's budget was relatively high, although it was lower than that of similar adventure films. With a reported production budget of $120 million, Uncharted cost considerably less to make than the comparable Jungle Cruise, but more than other video game movies Mortal Kombat ($55 million) and Sonic the Hedgehog ($85-90 million). In terms of the blockbuster experience it offers, Uncharted's budget could be considered middling, although the higher the budget, the better a film needs to perform to be considered a success.
Generally, a film needs to earn at least double its production budget in order to break even. While Uncharted is yet a long way off from earning that much money, its opening weekend was more successful than was originally expected, which sets the film up for a profitable theatrical run. Despite early reviews of Uncharted being predominantly bad, it earned a respectable $44 million in its 3-day opening weekend domestically. Globally, Uncharted earned an estimated $99.6 million in its opening weekend.
Despite its apparent early success, Uncharted was a big box office risk. Movie adaptations of video games are always something of a gamble, as there's almost always some backlash from fans of the property over the handling of the source material. However, Uncharted was a particularly big risk, as its production budget was considerably higher than other video game movies - not to mention the various issues that plagued the film's development.
After initially being announced back in 2008, Uncharted saw a number of directors and potential stars come and go before finally landing on Holland as Drake with Ruben Fleischer directing. It was then announced that Uncharted would make changes to the games' story and characters, prompting mixed reactions from fans. Production issues and negative fan reactions were bad enough, but Uncharted's unfavorable reviews seemed to spell disaster for the film's box office - even if its opening weekend has since proved otherwise.
While Uncharted's reviews have been less than glowing, the film has still performed far better at the box office than was initially expected. This is ultimately down to Uncharted's risks paying off: its particular brand of big-budget adventuring may not have captivated critics, but fans have proved far less cynical, and the film was able to entertain fans of both the video games and those uninitiated in the Uncharted franchise.
In fact, one of the film's biggest strengths is its nods to the Uncharted games - including a cameo from Nolan North - which proved that while the story may have been changed a little, the film was made with respect for the source material. Including generally earning the respect of the franchise's existing fans, the on-screen chemistry between Holland and Wahlberg received praise, and a number of Uncharted's stunts and set pieces were visually spectacular in a way that lent the film added action-adventure credibility. All of these factors combined to make Uncharted more of a box office success than expected: existing fans were eager to see just how well the end result of over a decade of troubled development came out, but the film also appeals to a more casual audience. Thus, the film was able to strike a good balance between respect for its source material and remaining accessible - even to those who haven't played the Uncharted games, the film makes sense.
While the overall outcome of Uncharted's box office won't be entirely clear until its theatrical run is over, early indications of its potential success are encouraging. That Uncharted was able to exceed early box office expectations is undoubtedly a good sign, and while its reviews haven't been entirely positive, they have praised key aspects of the film that will likely encourage even more fans to catch it in theaters. With bankable stars in prominent roles and its impressive set pieces well-publicized in Uncharted's trailers and promotional material, it seems likely that the film will continue to perform well at the box office.
While its franchise hopes will likely depend on its box office success, Uncharted's post-credits scenes tease possible plot elements of potential sequels. While Uncharted's narrative is generally a self-contained one, a few burning questions were deliberately left unanswered. The film's post-credits scenes offered teases for two separate potential storylines that seem to be more directly in line with those of the games, which is a promising prospect for fans. The overall question of Uncharted's box office success remains to be unanswered, but it's already defied expectations, which is certainly positive news for fans of the franchise.