Tomb Raider star Alicia Vikander will no longer be Lara Croft after MGM lost the rights to the franchise.
According to The Wrap, the rights for the Tomb Raider film franchise have lapsed after MGM failed to greenlight a Tomb Raider sequel in time, and that means the franchise is now up for grabs.
MGM had until May this year to put a Tomb Raider sequel into production but has now lost the rights after failing to do so. This has sparked a bidding war in Hollywood with “a host” of studios now putting in bids for the popular video game franchise.
The next film, it seems, will be a complete reboot of the franchise without Alicia Vikander, who starred as Lara Croft in the last movie reboot of the series. Tomb Raider saw Vikander suit up as the iconic Lara Croft and earned a paltry $275 million at the box office, barely breaking even. On top of that, it suffered from lackluster reviews.
IGN’s own review said: “It’s a shame to see the trend of poor game-to-movie adaptations continue with a character as great as Lara Croft. In this new Tomb Raider origin story, Lara’s singular drive to find her father falls flat because their relationship isn’t interesting, and that failure is compounded by a lackluster story and characters.”
MGM had already begun looking at a potential sequel, with Lovecraft Country showrunner Misha Green pegged to write and direct, but that too has fallen apart. GK Films acquired the Tomb Raider rights in 2011 from Square Enix and is now considering offers.
Things look brighter on the gaming side for Tomb Raider. Embracer Group acquired Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics earlier this year, and the studio is working on a new Lara Croft adventure in Unreal Engine 5.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.