Back in March came the news that Graham King Films (THE DEPARTED, DARK SHADOWS) had picked up the rights to the TOMB RAIDER brandname, with an eye toward rebooting the movie franchise in 2013. There’s been little news on that front since (mostly everyone has since forgotten about it, I expect) but now with the King-produced HUGO hitting theaters this week, the producer now has an opportunity to chat about the slinky heroine’s return to cinematic glory.
ComingSoon.net had a recent opportunity to ask Mr. King about the impending Lara Croft flick, and here’s what the man divulged: “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, so it is a character piece. It does have a lot of really great characters, but it’s a lot of action and a lot of fun, and for me, it’s something very different. I’ve not really done a movie like that before, but I really gravitated to rebooting this franchise and we’re going to give it a shot.”
So, not unlike BATMAN BEGINS and CASINO ROYALE and almost every other resurrected film property before it, TOMB RAIDER will go the origin story route and give us a peek at what made young Lara such a gifted – and hot – adventurer. That might mean hiring a slightly younger actress than Angelina Jolie was when she was cast (Jolie was 25), but first they have to bring aboard a writer and director. As far as we know, they’ve filled neither vacancy.
We’ll keep you posted as we await more news on the project.
Amber Heard