Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft in MGMās 2018 Tomb Raider. | Image: Warner Bros
Tomb Raiderās movie rights are up for grabs. According to a report from TheWrap, the Amazon-owned MGM waited too long to create a sequel to its 2018 Tomb Raider film, freeing up the rights for the next Hollywood studio that wants to take a stab at creating an adaption of the long-running video game franchise.
Several studios are currently engaged in a bidding war to snap up the Tomb Raider rights, TheWrap reports. And since the license come with no obligation to retain the same cast and crew, the next Tomb Raider film could be a total reboot that passes the Lara Croft baton to yet another actress.
The 2018 Tomb Raider stars Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft, and was met with mixed reviews that criticized its weak portrayal of the seriesā titular archaeologist. As we noted in our review at the time, MGMās Tomb Raider seems to blend elements from the 2013 game with the early 2000s Tomb Raider film adaptions starring Angelina Jolie (which also didnāt get the best of reviews).
MGM originally planned to release a sequel to its film in 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic likely got in the way of production. In 2020, the filmās director, Ben Wheaton, told The Vergeās sister site Polygon that heās still committed to making the film, but itās āin the mists of COVID.ā Itās possible that Amazonās acquisition of MGM in March also had something to do with the studioās decision not to greenlight another Tomb Raider.
On the small screen, Netflix is still working on an animated Tomb Raider adaptation. The series, which still doesnāt have an official release date, will take place following the gameās trilogy reboot that concluded with Shadow of the Tomb Raider.