There are few video game characters who have enjoyed greater success than the upper-crust, swashbuckling jewel thief Lara Croft. Since video gaming’s most fearless Sloane first hit our screens with the first-ever Tomb Raider game back in 1996, the franchise has gone on to sell more than 75 million games.
Meanwhile, the three films in the series have collectively grossed more than $1 billion. Additionally, with around two dozen games in the series so far, it would be difficult to say that fans of the franchise have been starved for content.
Nonetheless, Tomb Raider fans once more have something to look forward to following the surprise announcement of yet another Lara Croft film, with Alicia Vikander of Ex Machina, star of the 2018 reboot, set to reprise her titular role once more. Here’s everything we know about the new Lara Croft film so far.
Tomb Raider 2022: The Basics
As far as hard facts go, information about the upcoming Tomb Raider film is thin on the ground. According to the video game insiders at TechRadar, the working title and the script have only just been finalized, while the cast is still coming together.
Fans can look forward to watching Tomb Raider: Obsidian, at some point in mid-to-late 2022, where Alice Vikander, star of the 2018 film Tomb Raider (which received pretty lacklustre reviews) will be back in the role of our hero.
Meanwhile, there is a new director in town. Ben Wheatley, director of the previous film, has stepped down and will be replaced by Misha Green, the award-winning director of HBO’s Lovecraft Country, in her first-ever feature-length directorial role.
We also know that Dame Kristin Scott Thomas will be returning in her role as Ana Miller, the ice-cold villain from the previous film. Other than that, we’ll just have to wait and see!
What Has to Change?
Even long-time fans of the Tomb Raider franchise would be forgiven for feeling somewhat apprehensive about the return of Croft to the silver screen. After all, the previous film was hardly Oscar material, garnering a mix of bang-average and negative reviews despite being a relative box office success.
That’s to say nothing of the original Angelina Jolie films, which attracted widespread vitriol, with The Guardian review describing it as “weak”, “humourless”, “bizarre”, and “disempowering”, among plenty of other choice adjectives.
With the most recent film, for which Obsidian will be acting as a sequel, critics roundly described the reboot as “bland” and “dull”, although praise was reserved for Vikander, who was clearly trying her best with the material she was given.
Despite critical acclaim in the world of video games, Croft has yet to have enjoyed a single critical success in the world of film. Is the material simply not film-friendly, or does it just need to be placed into the right hands? If the latter is the case, is Misha Green the right director for the job?
A Growing Multimedia Empire
Although critical success on the silver screen has been elusive for Lara Croft, her success in other media has been much more dazzling. The original game series became an instant classic upon release in the late 90s, with many of those early titles still featuring on lists of the best games ever made.
Meanwhile, the jaw-dropping Square Enix reboot of the franchise in 2013 became one of the most critically acclaimed games of the entire decade, introducing an entirely new generation to Croft and propelling the games back into the cultural repertoire.
Beyond console games, the popularity and success of Croft are abundantly clear. For example, Croft’s success in the genre of online casino gaming is a testament to her enduring cultural staying power. The popular Lara Croft: Temples and Tombs online slot game at Betway Casino puts you in Croft’s shoes in an entirely different context, giving fans the chance to win cash prizes on a 5-reel slot.
There’s the Tomb Raider: Reloaded arcade game for Android, released in early 2021, which has already emerged as one of the top mobile games of the year. That’s to say nothing of the upcoming Tomb Raider Series, to be released sometime in the next year.
If Croft can succeed in all these different media outlets, why can’t she make a success of the silver screen? It is still unclear whether it’s the content, the directors, or the scripts up until now. However, Misha Green may change Lara’s fortunes in the film industry, which would be not only refreshing but ground breaking in the franchise’s history.