The director behind the Thai-Inspired animated movie from Sony Pictures Animation has come forward and shed some light on why the studio decided to pull the plug on the project.

Animator Mat Braly took to Instagram to explain why his movie, which was two years in the making, is no longer going forward with Sony. “At the very start of 2025, I received the unfortunate news that the movie I had been working on for 2+ years at a major animation studio would not be moving forward,” said Braly. "The film was ultimately judged as not commercial enough to produce."

The artist also shared a string of visuals from the project, which you can check out alongside the full statement below.

The animator went on to say he feels "disappointed" that fans will never get to see the film, but ultimately understands that "these decisions are not made lightly," adding that he has "nothing but respect for the studio, which continues to put out amazing films."

The project, which was never given a title, was announced in 2023 and was set to follow a boy who travels through the world of Thai spirits in order to cure himself before undergoing a life-altering operation. The film was inspired by Braly's real-life struggle with chronic illness. Braly continued, "It was a deeply personal story for me as I was diagnosed with an incurable chronic illness at a very young age that brought permanent changes to my lifestyle."

Braly, best known for working on the Cartoon Network franchise Steven Universe as well as the 2021 Netflix animated movie The Mitchells vs the Machine, had already finished the script with fellow animator Rebecca Sugar. The duo hopes that someone else picks up the project. Braly concluded, "Hoping to bounce back hard this year, though, and will be announcing an exciting new thing tomorrow. Please look forward to it."

For more, check out our list of the best family animation movies that aren't Disney, and keep up with upcoming movies.

Great animation takes time, and that goes double for anything the quality of the beguiling KPop Demon Hunters. Netflix and Sony’s bubbly fusion of pop music and fantastical action has taken the world by storm, ensuring a sequel. Sadly, we won’t see the follow-up for some time, but fans know that’s for the better.

The belief currently is that Kpop Demon Hunters 2 won't arrive until 2029. In the meantime, the film has become Netflix's most successful movie ever, taking on the box office with sing-along screenings aplenty around the world.

From here, 2029 seems like ages away, but it's important to get Huntrix's next chapter just right. "I'm kinda glad they’re at least taking their time with it and not rushing one out. Quality content takes time to make," says one Redditor upon reading the news.

"The original film took seven years from pitch to release. By comparison, four years is pretty quick," says another. "I can be frustrated at having to wait, but still absolutely want them to take as much time as they need to so they're not overworking people, and so that they release the best possible version of the product they want to make."

People are hoping the longer pipeline will inspire the creative team to avoid clichés as well. "I DON'T want to see Rumi's dad or a Huntrix origin story, or some other lazy corporate Hollywood sequel," adds another Reddit commenter. "I want to see something actually original, like Huntrix battle a sentient ice cream snowstorm on Mars using opera songs or something."

The first film did indeed take the better part of a decade to reach our screen, creator and co-director Maggie Kang first batting around the concept in 2018. Eventually, Sony took it on board, then Netflix became the release platform. In June of this year, Kpop Demon Hunters arrived on the service, and it's become a phenomenon since, establishing a dedicated fanbase who'll wait as long as needed.

To see what other sensations are gracing your screen, we have an upcoming movies guide and a look at the best fantasy movies on Netflix, to keep you golden for the foreseeable future.

It looks like filming for the third and final movie in Sony's Venom series is coming to an end, as star Juno Temple confirms, teasing the "wild" upcoming anti-hero flick. 

In an interview with Variety On the Carpet at the 2024 SAG Awards, Temple revealed more about her experience in joining the super-alien trilogy. "We’re coming close to an end at the moment," Temple said. "It’s been a wild, wonderful ride. It’s so new to me. It’s a big set! This is crazy. It’s been so much fun and I got to work with such cool people. I’ve been so lucky in my career to just have the most incredible casts. I can’t wait for it to get out into the world. I think it’s going to be a good one."

The news that filming is almost over is certainly a sigh of relief for Venom fans after the stop-start nature of production due to the SAG-AFTRA strikes, which pushed Venom 3’s release date back 4 months.

Alongside Temple, whose character still remains unnamed, the cast includes newcomer Chiwetel Ejiofor in a mystery role, as well as lead Tom Hardy who is reprising his role as Eddie Brock.

Sony is keeping plot details for Venom 3 tightly under wraps, but if it picks up from where Venom 2 left off, we are sure in for a wild ride indeed. At the end of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, we saw Stephen Graham's Patrick Mulligan seemingly absorbing the powers of the villain Shriek, suggesting Graham may take shape as the next supervillain in the series. On top of this, Venom 2's post-credit scene, we saw Eddie and Venom get mysteriously transported to a universe where Tom Holland's Spider-Man exists. No Way Home's post-credits scene quickly whisked the pair back to their own universe, though a small piece of the symbiote was left behind in the MCU's mainline universe.

Venom 3 is due to hit theatres on November 8, 2024. Venom is ready to stream on Netflix right now, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage is available to rent on Amazon Video. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming superhero movies heading your way in 2024 and beyond.  

Madame Web may only just be swinging into theaters, but Spidey fans will already be keen to know when it might be landing on streaming platforms. The latest Spider-Man offshoot follows Cassandra Webb (played by Dakota Johnson), a New York City paramedic with clairvoyant abilities. After foreseeing a terrible event, she finds herself thrown on a path to protect three women from a murderous adversary.

The first reactions to the movie have been mixed, but fans of the web-slinging universe will still want to see the latest addition to the Marvel oeuvre. And while there's not currently a streaming date confirmed for Madame Web, we've seen enough of these superhero movies come out now to be able to take a pretty good guess. However, before we get into that below, be warned that this may take a bit of time as it's a Sony movie that is exclusively arriving in cinemas. 

Still with us? Well, here's all we know about the Madame Web streaming date.

When will Madame Web be on streaming?

Madame Web doesn't currently have a streaming release date. Currently, the only way to watch the movie is in theaters. If you're not keen on heading to your local multiplex though, the film will eventually be able to stream at home.

Its first release will be as a digital on-demand purchase. There's no date for that yet, but Sony At Home generally releases three to four months after its cinematic release. This means we could expect it from around May.

After that, it will head to a streaming service. Sony doesn't have its own service yet, but they do have a deal with Netflix, with movies heading there after a certain amount of time. For example, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse arrived on the streamer 150 days after its release. However, the minimum amount of time is 120 days, so we could see Madame Web available from mid-June.

Will Madame Web be coming to Disney Plus?

You'd be forgiven for being a bit confused about where Madame Web will end up because, although it's a Marvel movie, it's not actually in the MCU. This means it's owned by Sony, rather than Disney. As a result, it won't be heading to Disney Plus as quickly as other Marvel movies do. 

This is all down to a multi-billion dollar deal between Sony and Disney, which stipulates Sony movies released from 2022 to 2026 will only be available on Disney-owned services 18 months after release. This means Madame Web won't make it to Disney Plus before August 2025.

Madame Web is in theaters now. For much more on Madame Web, check out our chats with Dakota Johnson about her super suit and why she decided to tackle a superhero movie. We also spoke to director S.J. Clarkson about how her series Jessica Jones inspired the film.

We also have a guide to the Madame Web post-credits scene, the Madame Web Easter eggs, and a spoiler-filled Madame Web ending explained.

The first teaser for upcoming rom-com Anyone But You is finally here – and it's bound to please anyone who's super into the genre's classic enemies to lovers trope.

Fronted by Top Gun: Maverick's Glen Powell and Euphoria's Sydney Sweeney, the movie centers on Bea and Ben, who can't stand the sight of one another after an amazing first date turned sour. Problems arise, then, when the pair find themselves discover that they've been invited to the same destination wedding in Sydney, Australia.

To survive their stay down under, Bea and Ben... decide to trick their friends and family that they're dating. At 54 seconds, the promo, which you can watch above, doesn't find the time to tell us why exactly, but we're sure to learn more in future trailers. 

What it does manage to make clear, though, is that director Will Gluck, who previously helmed the likes of Easy A and Friends with Benefits, embraced somewhat of a Fifty Shades of Grey-esque tone with it. Set to WizTheMc's Death of Me, which sounds a lot like The Weeknd's Earned It, and surprisingly light on the comedy, the clip features several references to the popular franchise, from lavish locations, yachts and helicopters to its protagonists making eyes at one another while slinking around.  

"There's no way we can convince anyone we actually like each other," Ben states during one scene, to which Bea confidently replies: "Trust me, we're at a wedding, a million miles away from home... who knows what could happen?" With the crux of the plot still very much under wraps, you could say that again...

Written by Gluck and Ilana Wolpert (High School Musical: The Musical: The Series), the flick also stars Alexandra Shipp, Michelle Hurd, Darren Barnet, and Dermot Mulroney.

Anyone But You releases in cinemas on December 22. While we wait, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies heading our way throughout the rest of 2023 and beyond.

The digital version of Across the Spider-Verse has been controversial, to say the least. Upon release, fans noticed several changes were made to the cut they watched in cinemas – including more details in Gwen’s opening sequence and Miles’ heroic stand against Spider-Man 2099.

Speaking to GamesRadar+ ahead of the release of R-rated dog comedy Strays, producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller explain why the 'new' cut – which was also available in some theaters weeks after release – features so many minor tweaks.

"There was an international version that was made almost two months before the movie came out because it had to be translated into different languages and these French censors have to decide what the rating of the movie is in Europe," Miller says.

"The team at [Sony Pictures] Imageworks still had some shots that they felt they could do better for the finished version. So, they cleaned up and tweaked those things."

Miller also reveals that crew members chipped in with additional ideas to help make a final cut that people will "pore over forever."

"Certain crew members – people in the sound department or on the animation team – were like, ‘Oh, could we do this instead?’" Miller explains. "Let’s do the best possible version we can. Because it’s a multiverse movie, it’s like there’s a multiverse of the movie – that was really the reasoning behind it. It was trying to make the best possible version that everyone was going to be the proudest of."

Lord added, "I think most of the changes are improvements."

Strays opens in UK cinemas on August 17 and US theaters on August 18.

Strange Way of Life, Pedro Almodovar's queer Western romance, is getting a theatrical release from Sony Pictures Classics.

The short film will hit theaters in New York City and Los Angeles on October 4 before expanding nationwide on October 6. The Western, which first premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, sees Hawke play a sheriff named Jake while Pascal is a gunslinger known as Silva. The 30-minute English-language film sees Silva ride a horse across a desert to visit Sheriff Jake after 25 long years. Silva tells him that he's there to rekindle their friendship, but Jake knows it's something much more.

Almodovar, who was initially attached to direct Brokeback Mountain, previously referred to Strange Way of Life as his "answer" to the film as well as the queer Western genre.

"It's a queer Western, in the sense that there are two men and they love each other. It's about masculinity in a deep sense because the Western is a male genre," the filmmaker explained on Dua Lipa's At Your Service podcast (via The Gay Times).

Strange Way of Life will play in theaters alongside Almodovar's 2020 short film, The Human Voice, which stars Tilda Swinton as a woman experiencing abandonment. Sony Pictures Classics will distribute both nationwide.

Strange Way of Life hits North American theaters on October 6. You can watch the trailer here. For more, check out our list of all the exciting upcoming movies in 2023 and beyond, or, skip right to the good stuff with our list of movie release dates.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is finally coming to streaming. Months after its big screen release, the multiversal Spidey adventure will be available to watch from the comfort of your own home.

The streaming releases of Spider-Man movies are a little more complicated than other Marvel offerings due to the fact that the web-slinger is a joint property of both Sony and Marvel. But don't worry, you don't need to know the ins and outs of studio deals, because the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse streaming release date has finally been announced. 

When will Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse be on Netflix?

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is coming to Netflix on October 31. That means you can incorporate it into your Halloween movie nights, should you want to shake up the usual spooky fare. 

The movie hit the big screen on June 2, so 120 days after that was September 30, 2023; 120 days is the quickest titles can move from the big screen to Netflix, so it's arriving one month later than its earliest possible streaming date. 

Will Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse be coming to Disney Plus?

Despite featuring Marvel characters, the Spider-Verse movies (like the live-action Spidey films) are made and distributed by Sony. That means that it won't arrive on Disney Plus as quickly as MCU movies like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania or Black Panther: Wakanda Forever might.

This is because of a multi-billion dollar deal made between Sony and Disney back in 2021, which stipulated that Sony movies released from 2022 to 2026 would be eligible to stream on Disney’s services – AKA Disney Plus and Hulu – after an 18-month window. Sony has another deal with Netflix, which means the studio's movies will go to that streamer first – at a minimum of 120 days after theatrical release.

If you're waiting for the movie to arrive on Disney Plus, it might take a while yet – 18 months from June 2, 2023 takes us to December 2, 2024. 

For much more on Across the Spider-Verse, check out our spoilery deep dives and interviews:

• Interview with Miles Morales actor Shameik Moore
• Interview with Spider-Punk actor Daniel Kaluuya
• The Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ending explained
• All the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Easter eggs
• All the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse cameos 
• All the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse alternate worlds and Spidey variants
• Is there a Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse post-credits scene?
• Our guide to The Spot
• Our guide to Spider-Man 2099
• Beyond the Spider-Verse release date, cast, and more.

Spider-Man and Venom are finally getting the Disney Plus treatment.

Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, consisting of Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, and Spider-Man 3 are all set to hit Disney Plus tomorrow, April 21. The Amazing Spider-Man, starring Andrew Garfield, will also be added to the streamer. Spider-Man: Homecoming, starring Tom Holland, and Tom Hardy's Venom are set to arrive on May 12.

It'll be nice to finally see Tobey Maguire's Spidey on Disney Plus along with the rest of the MCU catalog, especially after Spider-Man: No Way Home confirmed that those movies are canon to the MCU – or rather, the Marvel Cinematic Multiverse. The events of the older films simply took place in a different universe than the one where Tom Holland is the web-slinger. The same goes for The Amazing Spider-Man, as Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker also teamed up with Tom and Tobey in No-Way Home.

The Venom movies also exist in a different timeline as part of Sony's Spider-Man Universe, though the Venom: Let There Be Carnage post-credits scene places Eddie Brock into the MCU. We see him sitting in a hotel suite, then being randomly transported to a new universe and finding out, via J. Jonah Jameson on television, that Peter Parker is Spider-Man – which occurred at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home.

Disney Plus also stated that additional titles from Sony Pictures’ film and television library are expected to hit the streamer later this year. This means Sony's Morbius could be leaving Netflix and coming to the streaming platform at some point this year.

Sony Pictures Animation and Sony Pictures Imageworks are set to release a new animated short film within the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse universe titled The Spider Within.

Per Variety, the short sees Miles Morales struggle to "balance his responsibilities as a teenager, friend and student while acting as Brooklyn’s friendly neighborhood superhero. After a particularly challenging day living with these pressures, Miles experiences a panic attack that forces him to confront the manifestations of his anxiety and learn that reaching out for help can be just as brave an act as protecting his city from evil."

The Spider Within is part of Sony's new mentorship program LENS (Leading and Empowering New Storytellers). The new program aims to provide "high-potential candidates from underrepresented groups an opportunity to gain valuable leadership experience."

Four selected candidates will get the chance to work under the guidance of program  creators and producers Michelle Raimo Kouyate (Puss in Boots, Silver Linings Playbook) and David Schulenburg (Spider-Ham: Caught in a Ham) to produce a short animated film.

The short, created by LENS candidates Jarelle Dampier, Khaila Amazan, Clara Chan, and Joe Darko, is set to premiere at the Annecy Internation Animation Film Festival in June.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is set to hit theaters on June 2, 2023. A third sequel, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse has already been set for a March 2024 release. A Gwen Stacy spin-off movie starring Hailee Steinfeld is also reportedly in the works. For more, check out our list of all the new superhero movies flying your way in 2022 and beyond.

Another Spider-Man movie is coming, Sony movies chairman Tom Rothman has confirmed. It's been a year since we last saw the character in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which ended with a spell that wiped everyone's memories of Peter Parker. 

"You bet," Rothman replied to The Hollywood Reporter when asked about another Spider-Man movie. "When you can expect it, I don't know. Serve no wine before its time."

It's unclear when – or even if – Tom Holland will return as the webslinger. Sony producer Amy Pascal said another trilogy would be happening, but Sony insiders said no plans were in place, and Pascal walked back the comments. 

No further Spider-Man movies have been announced by Marvel just yet, either, though the entire Marvel Phase 5 slate has been unveiled, along with multiple Marvel Phase 6 projects. Considering how No Way Home is the highest-grossing movie of the pandemic era at $1.9 billion, more Spidey adventures seem a given. 

In the meantime, Sony has a different Spider-Man project coming very soon – Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is releasing in 2023, and the latest trailer teases another multiversal adventure for Miles Morales. 

"Listen, all I'll say is that we have some very, very exciting things to be talking about," Holland has said of his Spidey role. "I don't know what those things are, or what they will transpire to be, but it looks like it's an incredibly bright future ahead. And, as I've said before, Spider-Man will forever live in me."

Next up on Marvel's release slate is Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which arrives in theaters on February 17. While you wait, check out our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and Disney Plus TV shows for everything else the MCU has in store. 

Parks and Rec and Severance star Adam Scott is the latest actor to join the cast of the Dakota Johnson-led Madame Web, a new Spider-Man spin-off from Sony Pictures (via Deadline).

Scott will play an undisclosed role alongside Sydney Sweeney, Emma Roberts, Celeste O'Connor, Isabela Merced, and Tahar Rahim. Jessica Jones director S.J. Clarkson is set to helm the project, with the screenplay penned by Morbius screenwriters Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless. 

In the comics, Madame Web is typically portrayed as an elderly woman with psychic abilities who rarely ever leaves her spider throne and or interacts with any of Marvel’s heroes or villains – save for Peter Parker. While few details have been released about the film, Deadline previously reported that the Sony movie will provide a backstory for the mystic and dive deep into her past, with Johnson possibly playing both young and old versions of the character, or Sweeney portraying the former.

Scott currently stars as Mark Scout in Apple TV Plus's Severance, a dystopian sci-fi thriller created by Dan Erickson and directed by Ben Stiller. The first season earned 12 Primetime Emmy Awards, with Scott receiving a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama series. The actor recently wrapped production on a revival of Party Down, a 2009 sitcom created by John Enbom, Rob Thomas, Dan Etheridge, and Paul Rudd. Scott starred in the series as Henry Pollard, a failed actor whose career is killed by an overplayed beer advertisement that earns him recognition but renders him unhirable. 

Madame Web is set to hit theaters on July 17, 2023. In the meantime, check out our list of the best superhero movies to watch right now.

Sony Pictures and PlayStation Productions have confirmed that a Gran Turismo movie is on its way – and it's set to be directed by District 9 helmer Neill Blomkamp.

According to Deadline, the official logline for the driving video game's adaptation reads: "Based on a true story, the film is the ultimate wish fulfillment tale of a teenage Gran Turismo player whose gaming skills won a series of Nissan competitions to become an actual professional race car driver."

Some fans of the source material reckon that might mean it'll follow a candidate from the GT Academy, which saw skilled gamers compete to join a real-life racing team, sponsored by Nissan between 2008 and 2016.

American Sniper scribe Jason Hall has written the screenplay, while PlayStation Productions' Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan are signed up as producers alongside Doug Belgrad, and Dana Brunetti. As it stands, the flick – a follow-up to the studios' last video-game-to-movie endeavour, Uncharted, which earned over $400 million at the global box office – is scheduled to release in US cinemas on August 11, 2023.

Gran Turismo, or whatever its official title turns out to be, is just one of the adaptations PlayStation has in the works currently. Back in May, it was announced that a TV series based on sci-fi game Horizon Zero Dawn is in development, filming on HBO's The Last of US wrapped recently, and Will Arnett has signed on to voice Sweet Tooth in a Twisted Metal show headed to Peacock. Last year, Sony revealed that a Ghost of Tsushima movie is in the pipeline, and there's also talk of a God of War series being made with Amazon.

Blomkamp's Gran Turismo movie will skid into cinemas on August 11, 2023. In the meantime, check out our roundup of other upcoming movies that are set to be released in 2022 and beyond.

Warning: Major spoilers for Morbius ahead! Bookmark this page and come back later if you haven't seen the movie yet!

Morbius is here, and it's raising all kinds of questions about the nature of the Marvel universe. The first trailer for the film sent theories into overdrive when graffiti of Spider-Man scrawled with "liar" was spotted, which seemed a blatant reference to Spider-Man: Far From Home. Then there's Michael Keaton appearing as Vulture, an MCU character. So what exactly is going on? Is Morbius in the MCU, or is something else entirely happening?

We explain everything you need to know about where Morbius fits into the Sony-verse and/or MCU right here – so scroll on to get up to speed on the living vampire's place in the superhero universe.

Is Morbius in the MCU?

Morbius is not in the MCU, but adjacent to the MCU and features an MCU character. 

The film stands apart from the Marvel Cinematic Universe that counts the Avengers among its heroes, and instead takes place in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, which so far also includes Venom and Venom 2.

Interestingly, the trailers featured Spider-Man graffiti, yet that's been cut from the final version of the movie, and there are no references to MCU events in Morbius – until, that is, the post-credits.

But Vulture is from the MCU, right? 

This is where things get complicated. In the Morbius post-credits scenes, we see the multidimensional rift that opened in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes is transported from the MCU to the Sony-verse. He then attempts to recruit Morbius into what's likely shaping up to be the Sinister Six, the infamous group that tries to take down Spider-Man. Vulture even says he thinks his sudden arrival has something to do with Spider-Man. However, there's no clue as to whether Morbius actually recognizes the name or not. 

It's also worth noting that, in the Venom 2 post-credits scene and the Spider-Man: No Way Home post-credits scene, Tom Hardy's Venom popped from the Sony-verse into the MCU and then back into the Sony-verse (though leaving a glob of Venom behind in the MCU). 

For now, the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Sony’s Spider-Man Universe are telling parallel stories, with characters crossing over thanks to Doctor Strange's antics in No Way Home, but that is the only real connection. These are separate timelines. We also don't know who the Spider-Man in the Sony-verse actually is. Could it be a Tom Holland variant? Or perhaps Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker?

There's likely to be more universe hopping in the upcoming Doctor Strange 2. Considering that film's official title is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, we can expect plenty of more crossovers to come, and some may well include the Sony-verse. 

Morbius is in UK cinemas from March 31, and US theaters from April 1. If you're all caught up, check out our ultimate guide to Marvel Phase 4 for everything the MCU has in store – and see our guide to the Morbius ending explained and the Morbius post-credits scenes. You can also read our interviews with director Daniel Espinosa on working with Jared Leto, the film's horror tone, and Keaton's cameo, and star Matt Smith on joining the Marvel universe and playing the villain. 

It’s official: Sony has a new "hit movie franchise" to treasure with Uncharted.

In a memo seen by Deadline, Sony Pictures group chairman and CEO Tom Rothman spoke of the movie’s "global triumph."

"With over $100M 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 wrote, hinting at a long-term cinematic future for the Tom Holland-starring video game adaptation. 

Rothman ended the memo by thanking "all of the filmmakers, the wonderful cast and crew, and especially our friends at PlayStation Studios and Sony Interactive Entertainment for their support."

No official word yet on an Uncharted sequel or whether director Ruben Fleischer would be attached, but its box office is now shy of $140m and continues to rise. It's surely only a matter of time before Tom Holland's Nate and Mark Wahlberg's Sully, complete with moustache, return for a follow-up.

Speaking to GamesRadar+, Fleischer outlined why some video game movies have players (and audiences) switching off.

"So it doesn't matter how much it looks like the video game. If the story at the center of it is not compelling and you're not invested in the characters, then no matter how authentic it is, it doesn't matter," Fleischer said. "I was really focused on making sure that the movie could stand on its own two feet."

He continued, "Whether you're the biggest fan of Uncharted or you've never even heard of it, it has to be a compelling story with a great emotional center and a real relationship to invest in."

If you’ve already seen Uncharted, then there’s more to discover: read our breakdowns of the Uncharted post-credits scenes, Uncharted ending, and all of the Uncharted Easter eggs found in the movie.

Sony Pictures boss expects more video game buyouts and acquisitions in the near future.

Speaking at the Bank Of America Merrill Lynch Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference earlier this month (and transcribed by VGC), Sony Pictures CEO and chairman Tony Vinciquerra was quizzed about consolidation in the movie industry. "I do think you’ll see some consolidation on that side. You’ll probably see a little more on our side as well," Vinciquurra started, before adding "but I think the next area of consolidation will be the games business."

Unfortunately, Vinciquerra didn't expand upon this statement, but it's clear that the Sony Pictures boss eyes the games industry as ripe for future acquisitions. Of course, the past 18 months have already seen a slew of buyouts in the games sphere, including Microsoft's purchase of Bethesda, PlayStation's acquisition of Housemarque, as well as PlayStation's buyout of Firesprite, and many others.

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic over the last 18 months, video game-related revenue has been booming. For example, in April 2020 during the height of lockdown throughout the U.S. and Europe, consumer spending on video game hardware alone increased by 163 percent compared to the same month in 2019, compared to a 73 percent increase for game software. 

It's perhaps not surprising, then, that the video games industry has turned to acquisitions and consolidations with all this extra revenue. Although the Sony Pictures boss expects more buyouts and acquisitions in the future, we'll be left guessing which developers and publishers could potentially be acquired, and by who.

For a full guide to all the games coming out over the remainder of the year, head over to our new games 2021 guide for more.

The CEO of Sony Pictures has revealed it's developing seven TV shows and three movies from its video game-related portfolio.

Speaking to CNBC on earlier this week (via MediaPost), Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra stated there'll be much more integration going forward between Sony's entertainment products, particular from PlayStation franchises. In total, Vinciquerra revealed there's a total of seven TV shows and three movies based on PlayStation properties in active development at Sony Pictures.

Vinciquerra added that there's a program within the company called "One Sony," which aims to bring together Sony-owned companies. It's through this program that the aforementioned TV shows and movies will be developed and released.

The question is, what could these ten total properties be? The Tom Holland-led Uncharted movie adaptation recently wrapped up filming, and it's not hard to imagine Sony potentially exploring a sequel to the movie. We're not sure whether Vinciquerra's figures include the forthcoming The Last of US TV show that's being developed externally by HBO.

Elsewhere in the CNBC interview, the Sony Pictures CEO comments on studios opting to release movies simultaneously across cinemas and streaming services. While Vinciquerra doesn't see Sony Pictures offering the same flexibility that other companies like Warner Bros. have with streaming new movies, he does believe that a new timed window of 30 days between cinemas releases and streaming releases makes sense for Sony.

Sony Pictures pushed back a number of movies into 2021 release windows, including Morbius, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, among others. Looking further ahead, a slew of Sony movies like the ever-expanding Spider-Man 3 still don't have firm release windows.

For a full look at all the movies set to release over the next year, check out our complete upcoming movies guide for more.