Sony has been trying to get two film adaptations off the ground for a long time: Masters of the Universe, which will star Noah Centineo as He-Man, and Uncharted, which would see Tom Holland taking on the role of Nathan Drake. Well, word’s come in that the former movie has been delayed yet again, but that will benefit the latter movie.
When we last checked, Sony had slotted Masters of the Universe for March 5, 2021, while Uncharted was supposed to drop on December 18, 2020. Well, according to Deadline, neither movie will make those release dates. Instead, Uncharted has been moved to that March 5 date, and Masters of the Universe has been taken off the calendar entirely.
So while Uncharted is now coming out three months later, Sony is still determined to deliver it to the masses. A delay seemed inevitable, as last month, Bumblebee’s Travis Knight, who was tapped to direct Uncharted back in September, exited the project due to scheduling conflicts. He was the latest in a long line of directors who have come and gone on Uncharted, which has been in development since 2008.
Tom Holland, who’s been a Sony mainstay for nearly half a decade now thanks to his time as Spider-Man, was announced to be playing Nathan Drake in Uncharted back in summer 2017. Then last November, Mark Wahlberg, who was attached as the same character long before Holland entered the picture, was reported to be in talks to play Nathan’s mentor, Sully. As for who will replace Travis Knight as director, supposedly Ruben Fleischer, who already has a relationship with Sony thanks to Venom and the Zombieland movies, is being considered for the job.
As for Masters of the Universe, that’s been in the works for even longer than Uncharted and has gone through even more directors. The original Masters of the Universe movie came out in 1987, and while there have been various other He-Man stories to come out since then both on screen and on the printed page, the film reboot just can’t seem to catch a break on leaping past these developmental stages.
It was also reported last October that Sony Pictures chairman Tom Rothman was considering selling Masters of the Universe for Netflix. So there is a scenario where the reboot never gets put back on Sony’s calendar and instead, outside of a possible limited theatrical release, will be a streaming-only offering.
Moving Masters of the Universe to Netflix wouldn’t be the weirdest move considering the platform’s connection to the entire franchise. In addition to being the home of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, which recently aired its fourth season, Netflix also has Kevin Smith’s Masters of the Universe: Revelations coming up, which is a direct sequel to the original ‘80s He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon, as well as a yet-to-be-officially-titled CGI He-Man reboot series in the works.
So for now, as far as theatrical release goes, Uncharted is coming a little later than expected, while Masters of the Universe remains in limbo. And for all we know, Uncharted might not even end up making that 2021 date. In other words, when it comes to both of these projects, don’t count on either of them actually happening until the cameras start rolling.
Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more updates on how Masters of the Universe and Uncharted are coming along. For now, you can plan your trips to the theater this year with our 2020 release schedule.
