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O(caps)nce MGM Studios lost the rights to adapt the “Tomb Raider” video game franchise, the future of all the projects in development became very uncertain. Then there was a high-profile scramble for a buyer to make themselves the new home of the IP, and well, it looks like Amazon has landed the rights. That grants them the ability to make both television series and new films featuring the British globetrotting treasure hunter Lara Croft.
The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Dmitri M. Johnson’s dj2 Entertainment and Amazon have agreed to partner on a new feature film that is expected to connect to the live-action series that Phoebe Waller-Bridge is developing for them as well. A creative team has yet to be announced, which signals the early days for this next “Tomb Raider” installment. The outlets add the video game property is expected to become its own cinematic universe, but the how/why is unclear at the moment, outside of being linked to the new show from Waller-Bridge (not involved with the new film) and a potential new video game as well.
Croft, as the title suggests, faces peril at the hands of human, nature, and supernatural threats as she attempts to recover various priceless objects of interest in ancient ruins worldwide. The games are obviously a female spin on the “Indiana Jones” archetype and distances itself by taking place in a modern setting rather than in the past. We’re still extremely curious who will play Croft in the series and future films, given that Angelina Jolie and Alicia Vikander previously occupied the role; the latter had been attached for a sequel until the rights were up for grabs and the production crumbled to dust.
You can’t really blame Amazon for trying to squeeze as much content out of “Tomb Raider,” the contemporary landscape has been extremely friendly to video game adaptations of late, with the wildly popular “The Last of Us” getting an early season two pick-up from HBO and has been seen as a massive achievement in the genre. Amazon has its own adaptations on the horizon. Those include Jonathan Nolan’s “Fallout” series, another show based on the Norse mythology era of the “God of War” franchise, and a potential “Mass Effect” project as well.
