Alicia Vikander Is Out As Tomb Raider
Alicia Vikander was the first Lara Croft since Angelina Jolie, and the new Tomb Raider film was looking promising. Now, the franchise is in trouble and Vikander is out.
The Tomb Raider franchise has suffered quite a blow, as the movie rights have now fallen from MGM control. MGM apparently had until May of this year to renew the rights to continue another movie after the 2018 origin story reboot, but that has not happened. The rights to the video game now fall back to Graham King’s GK Films. This also means that Alicia Vikander is not going to be reprising her role as Lara Croft either, which is a letdown. She was quite fantastic in the role, and the new film was based on the new games that show a more realistic Croft. Who knows what is going to happen now?
The good news is that the release of these rights has caused a “feeding frenzy,” as plenty of film studios are now in a bidding war to secure the rights to make the new film. That could be because of the success of recent video game adaptations. Sonic the Hedgehog and Uncharted have proven that if a video game adaptation is done right, it can be massively successful. Even the 2018 Tomb Raider film landed $274 million in worldwide box office numbers. That is nothing to scoff at. Against a budget of $94 million, that is still a profitable movie. Alicia Vikander is an Academy Award-winning actress, so losing her in this process is surely a huge letdown. However, film studios might think about bringing her back, depending on which studio secures the rights to the next film.
Tomb Raider is one of the most profitable game franchises in history. The entirety of the games has a lifetime sales record of over 88 million. The franchise had just been sold from Square Enix to the Embracer Group. The most recent release is Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which came out in 2018. Since then, the game has sold 8.9 million copies. That proves that the franchise is still alive and well in the eyes of fans, which could be why studios are now aching to get their hands on the IP.
MGM was purchased by Amazon, which could be the biggest reason why there is going to be a shakeup in terms of what is being created going forward. Things also got messy with Discovery and Warner Bros. merging together. Tomb Raider is just one of those film franchises that is going to be given a facelift of sorts. That means Alicia Vikander is likely going to be recast with someone else, despite fans thinking she is the best fit. Angelina Jolie was the first Lara Croft, then Vikander, and now someone else. Sometimes it is good to have some variation.
The Tomb Raider franchise is going to continue with a new game, but the new movie is going to be on pause for some time. This could mean that whatever film studio acquires the rights to the franchise might think about bridging the gap between the newest game and film. But then again, Uncharted went a different route with portraying Nathan Drake and Sully, and that seemed to work out. Whatever happens, people are still going to want to see the new Lara Croft in action.
