devilshalo

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

"Tomb Raider"
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."

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With Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.. maybe they can get the original Lara Croft, Rhona Mitra?

FinkPish

Is this the fastest "reboot" in history? The original movie only came out 8 years ago. Whoever takes over this franchise needs to realize that a good story and interesting characters and not just outrageous stunts and bigass explosions are going to make this a good series. Keep it simple; don't try to outdo every similarly-themed movie that has come before it.

LickTheABCs

I'd see it if Megan Fox was cast as Lara Croft, but since that rumor has since been proven false I'll just say "nope, I'm good.."

Maybe if they cast Diora Baird. I'd be there opening night.

tylergfoster

You don't think the five-year-gap between Hulk and The Incredible Hulk was shorter?

My Other Self

^Yeah Hulk first came to mind.

They're probably going to make it like the Bourne movies or some shit. I didn't like the first two so I'm indifferent to this one.

Superman07

Sounds good. While I enjoyed Jolie in the first two I think they might be able to get one more film out of her, whereas 2 or more with somebody else. I'm surprise Paramount didn't try to get the rights back - $400M isn't small change.

DJLinus

I don't have much interest in the games or Jolie movies, but that'd be enough for me to buy a ticket.

The Thomas Jane and Ray Stevenson Punisher movies were only 4 years apart. (I pretend the Dolph Lundgren one never happened.)

jjcool

Wasn't the original Lara Croft actually Nell McAndrew?

devilshalo

Nope... I remember her being the first back when she was dressed at E3 in the Eidos booth before Nell.

islandclaws

The first TR was an unwatchable piece of shit. I didn't even bother with the second, as it looked much worse. I suppose they can only improve with this reboot, but it depends on who they cast.

hitmanjules

They may want to lean more toward 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' instead of 'Bourne Supremacy' - isn't she a 'Tomb Raider' and not an MI6 operative?

PopcornTreeCt

I thought the 2nd one was better.

It's funny that one movie had Daniel Craig had in it and the other had Gerard Butler in it.

I can't believe they would reboot it. Those movies aren't the greatest but I don't see how they could be approved upon.

DJariya

I would definitely watch this id either Rhona Mitra or Megan Fox were casted.

I thought the 1st Tomb Raider was awful. The 2nd one was slightly better.

I'm quite surprised that Warner Bros. would even commission a re-boot for this franchise and an iffy one at best (financially) considering they slashed over 800 jobs and are cutting costs.

chris_sc77

The Second jolie Tomb Raider was MUCH, MUCH better than the first. I guess I'd be cool with this reboot if it is closer to the 2nd Movie than the first.

fumanstan

Eh, I don't think this is a franchise that can come back and be a big hit. Even the game series has lost a lot of interest from people.

HN

what would be really cool is if beckinsale took the role.

mdc3000

So true...but the first one really turned a LOT of people off... Me and all my friends saw the first Tomb Raider on opening night and HATED IT... then when the sequel rolled around, none of them wanted to see it with me (I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt with Jan De Bont at the helm - Simon West is 10 times shittier)... Now they still haven't seen it even though I told them it was ACTUALLY GOOD. I think a reboot would be a mixed bag, but am interested to see what they come up with.

islandclaws

I, for one, approve of rebooting this franchise.

LickTheABCs

If that happens, I'd actually have to force myself to see a Tomb Raider film in theaters.

dsa_shea

No, the reason being is that Lara was never "tatted up" like Megan nor could Megan come close to the body that Lara has had since being introduced to the gaming world. There's no way that I would buy her as Lara.

tylergfoster

I can't believe people thought the second Tomb Raider was better than the first. My memory of it was that it may have been among the 100 worst films I've ever seen. But what do I know, I don't like Megan Fox either (Odette Yustman > Camilla Belle > Megan Fox).

riley_dude

If she was in I would not want to see it. She is the flavor of the moment. Very little acting skills and a nice body but that's not nearly enough to sustain a major role in a movie.

GoldenJCJ

If that pic is any indication of what Lara Croft would look like, I'll pass :shudders:. I didn't care for the first movie (never bothered with the second) but I think Angelina Jolie made a pretty darn good Lara.

...and I'm probably the only heterosexual man in the world who doesn't think Megan Fox is very attractive at all!

Mr. Cinema

How about the chick from The Unborn and Cloverfield?

Adam Tyner

Yeah, droidguy1119 mentioned her a few posts up.