New Tomb Raider film to focus on Lara Croft's beginnings

If Hollywood's already keen on dragging you through another origin story with Spider-Man (who?), it can't surprise anyone by proposing a narrative backtrack for the lesser known Lara Croft. The new Tomb Raider film, vaguely positioned for 2013, will return to the posh explorer's formative years, though it might not fall in lockstep with next year's game, which also strips away the Croft cruft to focus on a harsh tale of survival.

Producer Graham King tells ComingSoon.net that the new movie is "something very different" from the ... commercially acceptable Angelina Jolie outings. "Listen, the box office, they weren't disasters but I find it interesting that the story that we're telling is really the story before she became Lara Croft," he says, "so it is a character piece."

And when she does become Lara Croft, we hope it's accompanied by a scene in which she repeatedly, explicitly imparts the correct pronunciation to the audience. Look, it's easy. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Laura Craft: Haberdasher.

Reader Comments (23)

Well unless you're counting her bra size it's not like Lara Croft has ever been a very multi-dimensional character . . .

@Faceless Troll
As long as it's not a horrific spin on plastic surgery & enhancements(see link below), I'm pretty sure it's going to be the usual standard cinema draw for that kind of subject. Especially if they aim for a springtime release... spend the money on the videogame than the film. It should be cheaper by then anyway.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/18/2509172/doctor-accused-of-injecting-womans.html

If they go for a similar angle as the upcoming game they might have something here

Is Hillary Swank confirmed yet?

@Altairio
Why? Does Lara Croft ride a horse?

@Ebok007

Aw, come on now.

http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2011/1/10/2e21c298-90df-4de4-88a8-d49a51bdcdd1.jpg

@Altairio
It was a dumb joke, but I had to make it. I *had* to.
She actually does look pretty spot on in that picture.

Meh. Where's the creativity at? I guess people will still find enjoyment, though it's a bit disheartening that we see so little bold directions and new stories out in film.

The most this news does for me is remind that I have not played the remake on my PSP that I bought nearly 4 years ago, guess I should do that. I'll put a timetable of somewhere-ish around 2013.

Didn't they already do a Tomb Raider movie about Lara's beginnings? It was pretty low-budget though. I think it was released in/around 2007 or 2008....

Just no Angelina, please.

Tomb Raider: The B Cup Years.

For the love of god, stop rebooting everything.

There was never anything wrong with Lara's original origin story, and on paper she never should have turned into a pair of tits and ass. The sole survivor of a plane crash that killed her close family and fiancé, rejecting her aristocratic origins, disowned by her family as a result and making her own money through writing, craving the social isolation of archaeological exploration and stuffed with cultural and historical smarts to boot. As a young girl growing up in a game culture dominated by beefy soldiers and helpless women, I totally idolised Lara for being the first real source of girl power in the industry. That she was designed by men and had huge boobs was just something I had to put up with. In spirit, she was groundbreaking.

The new Tomb Raider and inevitably the movie if it follows suit just seem like excuses to put a youthful-looking girl through some bloody torment. Lara did good back in the day, but I think it's time for her to retire.

New IP please, Hollywood and game industry.

@HSamster well, her past has been set in stone in the Tomb Raider universe, but the plot of each game is laughable. It's like a few James Bond movies, like Goldfinger-like baddies.

---

As much as some people dislike reboots and new games from the same IP, no other IP does what Tomb Raider does for me. Uncharted has more shooting than exploration in it, though it was toned down slightly in U3. But it had no grappling hook or any of the other motions that Lara does in TR. Recently the Arkham Batman games have had grappling hooks but it still does not compare to the things Lara does to me.

@HSamster I was going to say most of that but you already said it well. Reboots suck!

@Eniko Meh, real exploration-based Tomb Raider died after Chronicles, with Angel of Darkness being the first step into mediocrity for TR. Just go look at some of the environments in 1-5, how complex and massive in scope they were. You could actually get lost in places like the original St Francis' Folly and Colosseum, and the secrets were genuinely mindshatteringly hard to find.

It's a shame 'cause no game at the minute really fills that exploration gap in the same genre. The closest you can get is open world stuff and it isn't really the same thing.

I'm sorry. Cup size will be DIRECTLY related to my interest in this movie.

How many beginnings has she had now?

(accidentally wrote beginners at first)

is she playing dark souls?

@PedoJokerBear

She is trying to kindle the fire, but does not have enough humanity to offer.

Scrap all of this and make a metroid movie so we can have something fresh. Just don't make it like the Super Mario movie...oh god why!

Hayley Atwell is the only actress who should play Lara Croft. Anyone who has seen Captain America can confirm this.

@TheRedComet

This time, like, infinity.

Has everyone baught into the 2012 lunacy?

Is that why we are rebooting everything? so future peoples who discover our works can recreate sequels?

Tomb Raider (2013)

New Tomb Raider film to focus on Lara Croft's beginnings

Reader Comments (23)

Posted: Nov 21st 2011 1:57PM Faceless Troll said

Posted: Nov 21st 2011 2:32PM foxhound said

Posted: Nov 21st 2011 1:59PM runnergunner42 said

Posted: Nov 21st 2011 2:00PM Altairio said

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Posted: Nov 21st 2011 3:30PM Altairio said

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Posted: Nov 21st 2011 2:44PM HSamster said

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Posted: Nov 21st 2011 2:48PM Zoot Suit Jedi Grammar Hammer En said

Posted: Nov 21st 2011 2:50PM Undulation said

Posted: Nov 21st 2011 4:01PM PedoJokerBear said

Posted: Nov 21st 2011 5:06PM themisanthrope said

Posted: Nov 21st 2011 4:21PM Maxamas2003 said

Posted: Nov 21st 2011 6:05PM TheRedComet said

Posted: Nov 21st 2011 9:35PM Algemar said

Posted: Nov 22nd 2011 7:30AM The StainlessSteel Rat said

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