Lara Croft and Tomb Raider are in limbo after MGM lost the rights to the franchise and Alicia Vikander is no longer attached to the role.
MGM reportedly missed the window to greenlight a Tomb Raider sequel, meaning the franchise is up for grabs.
Citing insiders, The Wrap reports that the sequel is now a complete reboot, because the project that was initially going to be directed by Lovecraft County creator Misha Green, starring Vikander, is dead.
Multiple Hollywood studios are now involved in a bidding war to win the rights to the beloved character with one source describing it as a “feeding frenzy” to The Hollywood Reporter.
Vikander’s 2018 Tomb Raider was poorly received by critics and earned a lacklustre $275m (£228m) at the global box office, which is estimated to be roughly the figure the film needed to break even.
Before Vikander and MGM’s tenure of the franchise, Angelina Jolie starred in two films as the hardened adventurer: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003). Those two films earned a combined $432m (£358m) worldwide.
Vikander’s body came under scrutiny in her movie as some fans questioned the appearance of her breasts in comparison to the beloved Nineties video game version of Lara.
Vikander said that this discussion felt “invasive” during a conversation with The Independent in 2019, but added that “the more and more people who mentioned it, the more I saw opportunities to speak out against it, and people seemed to be encouraging that at the end. It was an opportunity to show off a new kind of female role model.”
