Alicia Vikander and Lara Croft it’s over. While the license of the saga is on sale again, the actress unfortunately loses the iconic role.
It’s official: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) no longer owns the rights to the Tomb Raider film franchise, comprised of three feature films, the most recent of which, starring Alicia Vikander in the lead role, was released in 2018.
The studio had until May of this year to produce and release a new Tomb Raider: it therefore lost its rights to the license and, as confirmed by Deadline, Alicia Vikander therefore loses the role of Lara Croft.
Graham King’s production company GK Films has put the rights to the saga up for sale and is now looking for a new headliner. A bidding battle is even underway according to TheWrap. Since 2011, Graham King has indeed owned the film rights to the famous video game from Square Enix Ltd. which was a huge success from its debut in 1996.
It was of course Angelina Jolie who launched the film series in 2001 with Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Two years later, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, the cradle of life was born. The two feature films were then co-produced by Paramount.
Alicia Vikander, meanwhile, reprized the role for the Roar Uthaug reboot with MGM, a production that grossed $274.7 million at the worldwide box office for distributor Warner Bros. A sequel, which was to mark the return of the Swedish actress in the shoes of the adventurous archaeologist, was then announced and had been in preparation since 2019. A release date had even been planned: March 2021, right in the middle of the pandemic.
On the production side, Ben Wheatley, then more recently Misha Green, showrunner of the HBO supernatural series Lovecraft Country, had been approached – Misha Green no later than last year.
In an interview with EW and published on July 19, Alicia Vikander spoke about the future of the sequel, hoping that it would take place soon.
With the takeover of MGM and Amazon, I have no idea. Now, that’s a bit of politics. I think Misha [Green] and I are ready, so it’s kind of in someone else’s hands, to be honest. -Alicia Vikander
The actress then briefly spoke about Misha Green’s vision for the project: “I’m excited to [la] present to the world. I like what she did with Lovecraft Country.“So this is bad news for the actress and those who wanted to find her in the cult role.
Since being acquired by Amazon, in an $8.5 billion deal struck last May, MGM appears to be in the process of revamping itself, a renewal that will unfortunately be without Lara Croft.