Sony Pictures CEO calls the Uncharted movie a ‘franchise’, suggesting a sequel is coming

The CEO of Sony Pictures has referred to Uncharted as a ‘franchise’, suggesting a sequel is on the way.

According to Deadline, Tom Rothman sent a companywide email following the film’s US box office success this weekend, praising staff for its performance.

“With over $100 million in box office worldwide in just one weekend, and a 90% positive audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, Uncharted is a new hit movie franchise for the company”, Rothman said.

“This marks a great victory for every single division of the company, as the film was our first major production entirely shut down by the advent of Covid, yet we persevered to complete a picture the audience loves and marketed and distributed it with strategic verve worldwide, despite the pandemic.”

Rothman added: “I want to thank all of the filmmakers, the wonderful cast and crew, and especially our friends at PlayStation Studios and Sony Interactive Entertainment for their support. And of course, I want to thank each and every one of you for your creativity, dedication and belief.”

The use of the term ‘franchise’, which is generally used to describe a series rather than a standalone film, suggests there are already plans to make a second Uncharted movie.

A post-credits scene at the end of Uncharted also teases a potential sequel, and director Ruben Fleischer told Entertainment Weekly (warning: its article spoils the scene) that it was designed to “let audiences know that this, hopefully, wouldn’t be the last of them hearing of [Drake and Sully]”.

The Uncharted movie, which had a $120 budget, launched in 15 markets on February 11 and made a solid start internationally. It has earned $139 million worldwide to date.

The it then hit US theatres on February 18 and reportedly recorded the fourth biggest opening weekend for a video game adaptation at the US box office, generating $44 million in its first three days to top the weekly sales chart.

Only 2001’s Tomb Raider ($47m), 2019’s Detective Pikachu ($54m) and 2020’s Sonic the Hedgehog ($58m) have enjoyed stronger US openings.