MGM relinquishes film franchise rights to Tomb Raider thus releasing actress Alicia Vikander from her Lara Croft role.
A recent development from the film franchise indicates that the higher ups of MGM have decided to set Tomb Raider free. In Deadline’s report rights are now up for grabs and the supposed sequel starring Vikander no longer will push through.
MGM Relinquishes Tomb Raider Thus Lara Croft Is Up For Recast
Image: Crystal Dynamics
Three movies have been released throughout MGM’s time owning the film franchise rights. The first and second movies starred Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft. 2001 Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and 2003 Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life had a collective budget of $184M generating a total worldwide box office record of $430M. The most recent movie was in 2018 starring Alicia Vikander entitled Tomb Raider which featured the early years of Lara Croft. It had a $90M budget that churned in $273.5M in the worldwide box office. The 2018 movie was supposed to have its sequel until the pandemic came. Furthermore, the merger of the MGM and Amazon prolonged the stay of the project in production limbo.
Up until this recent development, Vikander has said that the sequel is “in someone else’s hands”. However, at the time, Misha Green was actively writing the sequel. Now, Graham King’s GK Films has the film rights and the company is searching for a new lead. Whether Green will still be on board to write and direct is also still uncertain.
In TheWrap’s exclusive, MGM took too long to create a sequel that it lost its rights to the franchise. Now, Tomb Raider is in position for a reboot once again. Even though a movie may be long overdue, there is a good story resource within the origin game’s history. However, as the franchise still has no new studio home, development and story will have to wait.
MGM Relinquishes Tomb Raider Thus Lara Croft Is Up For Recast
Image: Crystal Dynamics
Understandably, fans have diminished hope that the franchise will ever see the light of day again. Some have expressed that the IP was not given much justice over the years. The same fans have resolved to focus on the IP’s game properties. Still, we do hope Tomb Raider Lara Croft gets the movie project it deserves. If not a movie, as most IPs go nowadays, then perhaps a well-written mini series for epic television broadcast or online streaming.
