Author: Trafficblast

In big video game movie news today, Sony announced that Dan Trachtenberg had signed on to direct the upcoming Uncharted movie featuring Tom Holland as a young Nathan Drake. It wasn’t the only big news about the movie today, as Variety also reported that the script was re-written. The website reported that newcomers Jonathan Rosenberg and Mark Walker wrote the most recent script.

Like the director’s chair, the script has changed hands a few times already. Joe Carnahan (Smokin’ Aces, The A-Team) wrote a draft, before Agents of Shield writer Rafe Judkins put in a draft. Rosenberg and Walker are just the latest to pen a draft of a script for the film. There is no word on the specific plot points for their script, but Variety reports that the film will follow a young Drake who meets Victor Sullivan, or Sully as he’s known in the games, for the first time. As such, it’s not a story already told by any of the games.

Carnahan said his draft of the Uncharted movie script was praised by management at Sony, while Uncharted director Amy Hennig and Nathan Drake actor Nolan North apparently praised it as well. However, Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann said no one at Naughty Dog had seen the script, and he wished Carnahan would stop implying that he had the studio’s support.

As for the news about Trachtenberg joining the Uncharted movie as its director, Druckmann said he’s stoked to see what Trachtenberg does with Uncharted.

Trachtenberg is just the latest director that Sony has hired for the long-in-development Uncharted movie. At different periods of time, David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook, The Fighter), Neil Burger (Limitless), Seth Gordon (The King of Kong), and Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum, Stranger Things) were all attached to direct.

Production on the Uncharted movie could start in 2019, which would be good news considering it’s been many, many years since the project was first announced. As of yet, there is no word on who else may star in the film, but if shooting does indeed start this year, all of those details and more should become available soon.

Trachtenberg directed 10 Cloverfield Lane, as well as a video game-themed episode of Black Mirror. He also directed a short film based on Valve’s puzzle game Portal. In the embedded tweet above, you can see Trachtenberg praise Uncharted back in 2007, also saying at the time that he’d love to have the opportunity to make the movie. And back in February 2018, Trachtenberg and Druckmann appeared on stage together to talk about crafting narratives for video games, film, and television.

A movie based on Naughty Dog’s other big franchise, The Last of Us, is also in the works.

Mario Tennis Aces launched for Nintendo Switch last year, and it’s steadily added new DLC characters over time. Now, data-miners have discovered references to a pair of new characters that could come to the whimsical tennis game some point in the future.

Link, the hero of the Legend of Zelda franchise, might become a playable character in the future, the data-mine suggests. Also discovered were Dark Link and Champion’s Tunic outfits that would presumably be able to be unlocked. It’s also been reported that Baby Mario might be coming to Mario Tennis Aces, based on data apparently found in the game.

Datamine evidence suggests Link may become a playable character in #MarioTennisAces , with Dark Link and Champion’s Tunic alts being provided through the Online Tournament (requiring 500 and 2000 points respectively to unlock them). pic.twitter.com/qx54WAWrQB

However, as the MarioTennisClub Twitter fan account reminds everyone, data mined from the game’s files might not necessarily be representative of what’s actually coming to the game in the future. Sometimes content found in game files, especially for developer Camelot, is never released publicly.

If Nintendo is set to announce new content for Mario Tennis Aces, January might be a fitting time. After all, one of the biggest tennis tournaments of the year, the Australian Open, is taking place right now in Melbourne, so Nintendo may see that as an opportunity to piggyback on the elevated interest in tennis worldwide.

A number of DLC characters have already been released for Mario Tennis Aces, including Birdo, Shy Guy, Koopa Paratroopa, and Petey Piranha.

Mario Tennis Aces released in June 2018 exclusively for the Nintendo Switch. In our review, author Justin Clark stated, “Off-beat stages and creative use of characters from the Marioverse ensure that you’ll never lose sight of simply having fun, but don’t let the adorable exterior trick you; Aces takes its unorthodox tennis very seriously.”

The Sopranos, regarded as one of the best TV shows of all time, is coming back through a prequel movie, and now we’ve learned about two other actors who will star in it.

Variety reports that The Punisher actor Jon Bernthal and Oscar-nominated actress Vera Farmiga will have roles in the movie, though there is no word on what characters they’ll play. Bernthal and Farmiga have appeared in mobster media before, with Bernal starring in the Frank Darabont TV show Mob City and Farmiga in Martin Scorsese’s Boston mafia movie The Departed.

All we know so far about the Sopranos prequel movie, which is called The Many Saints of Newark, is that it’s set in the 1960s during the Newark race riots. Sopranos TV show creator David Chase co-wrote the script with another Sopranos veteran, Lawrence Konner.

The film is being directed by Alan Taylor, who directed episodes of Game of Thrones and the Marvel movie Thor: The Dark World. Perhaps more relevant to this movie, he also directed episodes of The Sopranos.

Alessandro Nivola (Jurassic Park III) will play Dickie Moltisanti in The Many Saints of Newark, but, as mentioned, it’s unclear who Bernthal and Farmiga will play. Dickie Moltisanti is the father of Christopher Moltisanti, who was played by Michael Imperioli in the TV series.

The Sopranos ran for 86 episodes, from 1999 to 2007. The late James Gandolfini starred as mob boss Tony Soprano, a role for which he earned multiple awards. Nivola told The Associated Press (watch the video above) that Tony Soprano will be in the new movie, but it’s unclear who may play him. Whatever the case, the film will go into the history between Dickie Moltisanti and Tony Soprano. Filming begins in April.