Hollywood hasn't had the best luck when it comes to video game movies, but one of the few times they got it right was with 2001's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. The combination of the games' popularity and the casting of Angelina Jolie - who was just coming into her own as a star - meant that the timing couldn't have been better, and the film was so successful that it spawned an (admittedly lacklustre) sequel.
Interestingly enough, the circumstances surrounding the upcoming 2018 Tomb Raider reboot are similar. Having just won an Oscar Alicia Vikander is arguably even more of a star than Jolie was when she was cast for the role, and Lara Croft's recent surge in popularity is all thanks to the recent games which we now know the movie will be taking its cue from:
"They told me they were doing the film based on the reboot of the game from 2013 that is more of an origin story", Vikander revealed to HitFix. "You get into an emotional aspect of getting to know Lara hopefully in an in-depth way. So I hope that doing a film of the rebooted game will bring something new and fresh that’ll stand on its own two legs".
As someone who had a lot of fun playing Rise of the Tomb Raider - and who is looking forward to playing the sequel when it finally arrives on PS4 - this is great news. A Lara Croft origin story is a smart starting point for these movies, and using the recent games as a blueprint could pay dividends.
Directed by Roar Uthaug and starring Alicia Vikander, Tomb Raider will open in cinemas on March 16, 2018.
Images: Crystal Dynamics
