WB to reboot "Tomb Raider" franchise... (1 Viewer)

Lara Croft to return to the big screen

Lara Croft to return to the big screen
Warners, Dan Lin in early development on reboot
By Steven Zeitchik

Jan 28, 2009, 01:00 AM ET

Lara Croft could soon be going on a new big-screen mission.

Warners Bros. and producer Dan Lin are in early development on a a reboot of "Tomb Raider," the popular video game action franchise.

"Tomb Raider," which was published in 1996 by a London-based video game company called Eidos, was a wildly popular game that involved the daredevil archaeologist Lara Croft on a series of global missions. Several spinoff games have been published since, with a 10th-anniversary edition of the game released in 2006.

Paramount previously made the two movies based on the game, but the rights have since reverted to Eidos. When Time Warner upped its stake to 19.92% in Eidos in December, films rights to the property were included as part of the deal.

Lin will produce the project via his Lin Pictures banner while Stephen Gilchrist will co-produce; Ian Livingstone of Eidos will exec produce. Matt Reilly is overseeing for Warners. Lin is the producer behind Warners' upcoming Guy Ritchie-directed update of "Sherlock Holmes" and the adventure film "Jonny Quest."

The new project, however, is expected to revamp the character and her mission and bear little resemblance to the original pictures. It will reimagine the origins of the character, her love interest and the main villain.

As an open-writing assignment, the project is still in its nascent stages. An actress who could play the role Angelina Jolie made famous would likely come on after a writer and director are attached.

Jolie, of course, starred in the first two installments, "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" and "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life."

The first pic, which came out in 2001, grossed a whopping $275 million worldwide, while the 2003 follow-up earned a more modest $157 million.

The first pic concerned Croft's race against a secret society known as the Illuminati to find a key, while the second centered on her quest to find "Pandora's Box."

They salvaged the franchise with the latest few games. I can't knock the original pics as I've never seen them, but I hope they do right by them. I love the character and concept.

Same here. I love those video games and I have played all of them.

But - I didn´t really like the films, even when Angelina Jolie was a pretty good choice for the lead role.

"Rebooting" is a good idea IMO, IF they want to make more TR-films. And I´m glad that Megan Fox (as a new Lara Croft) was just a rumor (I believe). No talent.

I think the problem with movies based on video games is that the people involved think they have to be structured exactly like a game. I'd like to see them take the character concept and just decide to make a good adventure film. You would think the TR concept and character is ready made for film, but the actual resulting product has been disappointing.

I found the first film mediocre, and the second was worse.

I wonder about the other uses of "whopping" in the author's other articles. I mean really, $275M is not really that much in the scheme of things. What word would he use to describe Dark Knight or Titanic?

This is great news. I love the character and have been a huge fan since '96.

I didn't love either movie, but they were OK. This is a great opportunity to start fresh and really do right by the character.

And please God - keep Megan Fox the HELL out of those shorts. She's got no business playing Lara Croft.

Now that they're rebooting I would be the happiest person on earth if they would do the smart thing and cast Rhona Mitra. C'mon WB ... that's what you need to do!

Could work. She already did "Doomsday" and "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans", so she can handle the "action". But - Tomb Raider is all about the "adventure", so that´s what the lead actress should do best.

When it comes to the upcoming film: More "adventure", less "action", please. We all saw what happened to new Indy (fun movie and all that, but too much silly - and over-the-top action).

Agreed. I hope they really pay attention to what makes the games work (the good games, at least). I'm down with watching Lara gun her way through a few enemies, but there should be more emphasis on mystery and adventure than either of the Jolie movies.

And I think Rhona Mitra has the whole package to play Lara. The good looks, and the physique. Besides, with the last three games, I couldn't help but feel like Crystal Dynamics have made Lara bare more than a little resemblance to her.

Wasn't she the original Lara Croft model? Not for the games but for promoting the series at conventions and such.

Yes sir.

Rhona Mitra as Lara Croft gets my erm thumbs up too...

Then it's settled! Rhona it is.

Seriously, my one concern is that Hollywood won't want her becuase she's 33. If the new movie were to become a success and sequels were produced, she would likely be in her mid-40s by the time it's done.

Not that it's any issue in my eyes, mind you. But I can see WB having reservations about that.

In my eyes, however, they're got going to find a better fit for that part. Rhona or bust in my eyes.

Rhona Mitra is the overwhelming fan favorite to take on the role of Lara Croft in the new film(s). Mitra is coming off her best opening mark as a lead (the $20.8 million start of the new 'Underwolrd' movie), as well as the much maligned film "Doomsday" proving to be a surprisingly strong performer on DVD. Plus, she's British on top of already appearing as Croft in the video games. While Fox is seen as a star on the rise, she really hasn't proven that she has any real acting chops to speak of. Can she carry off a British accent for example?

Mitra is 32 (she'll be 33 in August) and that puts her right in the range of actresses WB will be looking at (mid-20s to early 30s). Angelina Jolie was 27 when she played the part the first time. I'm sure the studio will look at a lot of up-and-coming actresses for the role, but I think Mitra is clearly the best choice. We'll see what happens.

Laura Croft: The Teen Years sounds like it could be fun. Someone who looks like she could grow up to be Angelina Jolie.

Mitra is lovely, but has less acting range than even Jolie, and let's face it, audiences tire of seeing the same actress in every film. There's more than one go-to actress in hollywood.

Normally I would agree, but in this case I just think Rhona is far too perfect a fit. And I think she's got the acting chops just fine ... but to be fair, I would've agreed with you until I caught her on Boston Legal.

I haven't seen Boston Legal so I'll take your word on it that Mitra can act, but the earlier concerns other have raised about her being too old are true. If you figure they want to make a trilogy (if the first one does well), they'll need someone who won't have reached 30 by the time they're done. So they'll be looking for someone 19 to maybe 25 on the outsite.

As was noted earlier, Jolie was 27 when she played the part the first time, and they didn't manage to get a third film out of her before she hung up her boots. So they won't make that mistake again. They'll go younger.

I haven't seen Quantum of Silence yet, but Gemma Arterton looks like a possibility. She's 22 or 23 now.

Yes, "action" has always been "secondary" in the TR-games, clearly. It has always (well, at least "mostly") been adventure, mystery, ancient treasures, powerful artefacts, tombs, dungeons, puzzles and traps... Even some "supernatural elements".

Some of this was lacking from the earlier TR-films, IMO.

And while Lara (not "Laura", btw like someone said.. ) has always been "busty", it has been blown out of proposition. People don´t play the games just because they have this "busty femaler character". So the actress doesn´t have to be "super-busty" or something. I actually think that Jolie was spot-on, when it comes to psychical appearance.

Rhona Mitra probably would be a pretty good choice. But Hollywood might think differently.. Way differently.

Good lord you got that part right. She's proud of them!

As well she should be. That woman is a marvel in my eyes.

Thank you. The media played that up and the company sort of gave in as the series wore on, but the first game was just a revelation from a gameplay standpoint and a killer app at a time when Quake didn't even have 3D acceleration out of the box. I'll wager that Tomb Raider sold more 3Dfxs than Quake did. TR was unique and fun and beautiful. It was like getting to play Indiana Jones done right for the first time. A sexy lead was only icing on the cake. And besides being sexy, Lara was neat because of her accent, her attitude, and a lot of other things. Particularly once Crystal Dynamics got a hold of her, she became the smartest, most resourceful character in the game's world, and players all root for her because of that. By the time I stupidly jumped in the frozen water late in Legend, I had bonded with her so much that her dialogue for that action was heartbreaking.