''Tomb Raider'' is a 2018
action-adventure film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...
directed by
Roar Uthaug
Roar may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Roar'' (film), an American adventure-comedy film starring Tippi Hedren and Melanie Griffith
* '' Roar: Tigers of the Sundarbans'', a 2014 Hindi-language Indian animal horror feature film
* ''Roar'' (199 ...
, with a screenplay by
Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Alastair Siddons, from a story by
Evan Daugherty and Robertson-Dworet. An American and British co-production, it is based on the
2013 video game of the same name, with some elements of
its sequel by
Crystal Dynamics
Crystal Dynamics, Inc. is an American video game developer based in San Mateo, California and part of Embracer Group. The studio developed the '' Gex'', ''Legacy of Kain'', and ''Tomb Raider'' series. Founded in 1992 by Madeline Canepa, Judy L ...
, a
reboot
In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...
, and the third installment in the ''
Tomb Raider
''Tomb Raider'', also known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series created by British gaming company Core Design. Formerly owned by Eidos Interactive, ...
'' film series. The film stars
Alicia Vikander
Alicia Amanda Vikander (, ; born 3 October 1988) is a Swedish actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Critics' Choice Movie Award, as well as receiving nominations for ...
as
Lara Croft
Lara Croft is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the video game franchise ''Tomb Raider''. She is presented as a highly intelligent and athletic British archaeologist who ventures into ancient tombs and hazardous ruins around th ...
, who embarks on a perilous journey to her father's last-known destination, hoping to solve the mystery of his disappearance.
Dominic West
Dominic Gerard Francis Eagleton West (born 15 October 1969) is an English actor, director and musician. He is best known for playing Jimmy McNulty in HBO's ''The Wire'' (2002–2008), Noah Solloway in Showtime's '' The Affair'' (2014–2019), ...
,
Walton Goggins
Walton Sanders Goggins Jr. (born November 10, 1971) is an American actor. He has starred in a number of television series, including ''The Shield'' (2002–2008), '' Justified'' (2010–2015), '' Vice Principals'' (2016–2017), ''The Righteous ...
,
Daniel Wu
Daniel Ng Neh-Tsu (, born September 30, 1974) is an American actor, director and producer based in Hong Kong. He is known as a "flexible and distinctive" leading actor in the Chinese language film industry. Since his film debut in 1998, he has ...
, and
Kristin Scott Thomas appear in supporting roles.
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...
lasted from January to June 2017 and took place at
Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden
Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden is an studio complex in Leavesden in Watford, Hertfordshire, in South East England. Formerly known as Leavesden Film Studios and still colloquially known as Leavesden Studios or simply Leavesden, it is a film ...
in
Hertfordshire, England, and
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
, South Africa. The film was also shot on location across
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, particularly
East London. The first ''Tomb Raider'' film not to be distributed by
Paramount Pictures, it was released in the United Kingdom on March 14, 2018, and in the United States on March 16, 2018, by
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of ...
, in
RealD 3D,
IMAX 3D,
IMAX, and
4DX
4DX is a 4D film format developed by CJ 4DPlex, a subsidiary of South Korean cinema chain CJ CGV. It allows films to be augmented with various practical effects, including motion-seats, wind, strobe-lights, simulated-snow, and scents. First i ...
.
The film grossed $274 million worldwide, the same as the 2001 film
of the same name and more than its 2003
sequel
A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
, although it needed to gross at least $275 million to
break even
Break-even (or break even), often abbreviated as B/E in finance, (sometimes called point of equilibrium) is the point of balance making neither a profit nor a loss. Any number below the break-even point constitutes a loss while any number above it ...
.
''Tomb Raider'' received mixed reviews from critics, with some describing the plot as painted "by the numbers", and others praising the action sequences, tone, grittiness, and realistic take on the franchise. Vikander's performance and the characterization of Croft drew a polarized response; some described her as a "capable, powerful, and unobjectified heroine", while others called her bland, and a "punching bag and onlooker". A sequel was initially in development with Vikander set to reprise her role, but was cancelled in 2022 after MGM's film rights to the ''Tomb Raider'' series expired with Vikander stepping down from her role.
Plot
Following the disappearance of her father, Lord Richard Croft,
Lara Croft
Lara Croft is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the video game franchise ''Tomb Raider''. She is presented as a highly intelligent and athletic British archaeologist who ventures into ancient tombs and hazardous ruins around th ...
makes a living as a
bike courier. She is arrested after a collision with a police car. Richard's business partner Ana Miller posts her bail and urges Lara to accept her inheritance. Lara believes her father to still be alive, but Miller warns Lara that if she does not claim her inheritance, the family estate, Croft Manor, will be sold off. Lara reluctantly accepts and gains access to a secret chamber in her father's tomb, where she finds a pre-recorded video message from Richard detailing his research into
Himiko
, also known as , was a shamaness-queen of Yamatai-koku in . Early Chinese dynastic histories chronicle tributary relations between Queen Himiko and the Cao Wei Kingdom (220–265) and record that the Yayoi period people chose her as ruler fol ...
, the mythical Queen of
Yamatai
Yamatai or Yamatai-koku is the Sino-Japanese name of an ancient country in Wa (Japan) during the late Yayoi period The Chinese text '' Records of the Three Kingdoms'' first recorded the name as () or (; using reconstructed Middle Chinese ...
who was said to command the power over life and death. Richard warns Lara to destroy his research, but she ignores his warnings and investigates further.
Not yet having received her inheritance Lara is forced to pawn the jade pendant her father gave her. With the money Lara travels to
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
where she hires Lu Ren, captain of the ship ''Endurance'', to sail into the
Devil's Sea and the island of Yamatai. The ship capsizes in a violent storm and Lara has washed ashore where she is knocked unconscious. She awakens only to encounter Mathias Vogel, the leader of an expedition to locate Himiko's tomb. The expedition has been funded by a shadowy organization called Trinity, which seeks to harness and weaponize Himiko's power. Mathias takes Lara prisoner, claiming that he killed her father and revealing that he intends to use Richard's research to continue his expedition. He adds Lara and Lu to his slave force. The two of them try to escape, but only Lara succeeds.
After surviving rapids and narrowly avoiding falling over a waterfall with the wreck of a wartime airplane, Lara is forced to kill a Trinity guard after nightfall. She follows a mysterious figure through the jungle and discovers that the figure is her father, who stayed on the island to prevent Trinity from finding Himiko's tomb. After Lara convinces him that she is real and not a figment of his imagination, Richard treats her injuries. Despite his protests, Lara sets off the next morning to steal Mathias' satellite phone. Lara makes contact with Lu, and he, along with the other slaves, stage a distraction that allows Lara to infiltrate the Trinity camp and take the phone. In the ensuing chaos, Lu grabs an assault rifle, provides cover for the escapees, and guns down several Trinity soldiers, while Richard makes his way to Himiko's tomb but is captured by Mathias, who persuades Lara to open the tomb, something she has prepared for since she was a child. At that point, the entrance to the tomb self-destructs and falls away, allowing them to enter the tomb which has not been seen for over two thousand years.
The party navigates a series of booby traps and locates Himiko's
sarcophagus. When a Trinity soldier attempts to remove her corpse, he is infected by a highly infectious pathogen that reduces him to an aggressive,
necrotic
Necrosis () is a form of cell injury which results in the premature death of cells in living tissue by autolysis. Necrosis is caused by factors external to the cell or tissue, such as infection, or trauma which result in the unregulated dige ...
zombie. Lara realizes that Himiko was an asymptomatic carrier of the virus, who chose to entomb herself so that she could not infect others. Mathias concludes that Trinity wants to create a bio-weapon out of her body but he cannot remove Himiko's body and instead settles for cutting off a finger, which he seals in a pouch. In the confusion, Lara and Richard overpower the remaining soldiers, although Mathias escapes and Richard becomes infected. Knowing there is no cure, Richard proposes destroying Himiko's tomb to prevent the disease from spreading across the world. Lara pursues Mathias as Richard sets off a bomb, killing himself and sealing the tomb. Lara confronts and kills Mathias by kicking him off a ledge after a fight. She barely escapes the tomb as it collapses, regrouping with Lu and the slaves; they commandeer a Trinity helicopter to escape Yamatai.
Lara returns to London, where she formally accepts her inheritance and inadvertently discovers that Trinity's
front company
A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy ...
, Patna, is a
subsidiary of Croft Holdings. She investigates further and suspects Ana is an agent of Trinity and manipulated her into accepting her inheritance to take control of Croft Holdings' business operations when Richard stopped cooperating with Trinity. Having witnessed Trinity's ruthlessness firsthand, she prepares for her next adventure.
Later, Lara returns to Alan's pawnshop to buy back her pendant and also purchases
two identical guns.
Cast
*
Alicia Vikander
Alicia Amanda Vikander (, ; born 3 October 1988) is a Swedish actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Critics' Choice Movie Award, as well as receiving nominations for ...
as 21-year-old
Lara Croft
Lara Croft is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the video game franchise ''Tomb Raider''. She is presented as a highly intelligent and athletic British archaeologist who ventures into ancient tombs and hazardous ruins around th ...
** Maisy De Freitas as 7-year-old Lara
**
Emily Carey
Emily Joanna Carey (born 30 April 2003) is an English actor. She began her career as a child actor on stage and in the BBC One soap opera '' Casualty'' (2014–2017, 2021). She went on to play young versions of characters, such as Diana Prince ...
as 14-year-old Lara
*
Dominic West
Dominic Gerard Francis Eagleton West (born 15 October 1969) is an English actor, director and musician. He is best known for playing Jimmy McNulty in HBO's ''The Wire'' (2002–2008), Noah Solloway in Showtime's '' The Affair'' (2014–2019), ...
as Lord Richard Croft, Lara's archaeologist father.
*
Walton Goggins
Walton Sanders Goggins Jr. (born November 10, 1971) is an American actor. He has starred in a number of television series, including ''The Shield'' (2002–2008), '' Justified'' (2010–2015), '' Vice Principals'' (2016–2017), ''The Righteous ...
as Mathias Vogel, a rival archaeologist of Richard Croft, and a member of Trinity, a shadowy organization.
*
Daniel Wu
Daniel Ng Neh-Tsu (, born September 30, 1974) is an American actor, director and producer based in Hong Kong. He is known as a "flexible and distinctive" leading actor in the Chinese language film industry. Since his film debut in 1998, he has ...
as Lu Ren, the ship captain who helps Lara to search for her father.
*
Kristin Scott Thomas as Ana Miller, an associate at Richard Croft's company, Croft Holdings.
*
Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi (; born 22 October 1938) is an English actor. He has appeared in various stage productions of William Shakespeare such as ''Hamlet'', ''Much Ado About Nothing'', '' Macbeth'', ''Twelfth Night'', '' The Tempest'', ''Kin ...
as Mr. Yaffe, an associate at Croft Holdings.
*
Hannah John-Kamen
Hannah Dominique E. John-Kamen (born 7 September 1989) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Yalena "Dutch" Yardeen in the Syfy television series ''Killjoys'' (2015–2019), Ornela in the sixth season of the HBO series '' Game ...
as Sophie, Lara's friend
*
Nick Frost
Nicholas Jonathan Frost (born 28 March 1972) is a British actor, author, comedian, painter, producer and screenwriter. He has appeared in the ''Three Flavours Cornetto'' trilogy of films, consisting of ''Shaun of the Dead'' (2004), ''Hot Fuzz ...
as Alan, a pawn shop owner.
*
Jaime Winstone
Jaime Margaret Winstone (born 6 May 1985) is an English actress, best known for her roles in '' Kidulthood'', '' Dead Set'', '' After Hours'' and her portrayal of Barbara Windsor in ''Babs''.
Early life and education
Winstone was born in Camd ...
as Pamela, Alan's wife
Additionally,
Antonio Aakeel plays Lara's friend Nitin.
Duncan Airlie James plays Terry, a mixed martial arts club operator.
Josef Altin
Josef Altin (born as Yusuf Altın; 12 February 1983) is a British television and film actor who had the role of Pypar in the HBO fantasy TV series ''Game of Thrones''. Other notable performances is his role as Ekrem in ''Eastern Promises'' and ...
portrays Lara's boss Bruce,
Billy Postlethwaite and
Roger Nsengiyumva appear as Bill and Rog, Lara's co-workers and opponents at the race, and
Michael Obiora
Michael Obiora (born 8 October 1986) is a British actor, writer, director, and producer.
Life and career
Michael Obiora (pronounced OH-BEE-ORA) was born on 8 October 1986 in north-west London, England, to Nigerian- Igbo parents. As a six-year- ...
portrays Baxter, the Croft Holdings' receptionist.
Production
Development
In 2007,
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of ...
purchased
film rights
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
from
Paramount Pictures as a
turnaround for a potential film reboot (four years after
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie (; born Angelina Jolie Voight; June 4, 1975) is an American actress, filmmaker, humanitarian and former Special Envoy to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award ...
stepped down as
Lara Croft
Lara Croft is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the video game franchise ''Tomb Raider''. She is presented as a highly intelligent and athletic British archaeologist who ventures into ancient tombs and hazardous ruins around th ...
from
the last movie
''The Last Movie'' is a 1971 metafictional drama film directed and edited by Dennis Hopper, who also stars in the leading role as a horse wrangler named after the state of Kansas. It is written by Stewart Stern, based on a story by Hopper and Ste ...
), with
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...
also purchasing half of it in 2009.
GK Films first acquired the rights to make the film in 2011. Initially,
Megan Fox
Megan Denise Fox (born May 16, 1986) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the family film '' Holiday in the Sun'' (2001), which was followed by numerous supporting roles in film and television, such as the teen musical comedy ...
,
Jennifer Lawrence,
Olivia Wilde
Olivia Jane Cockburn ( ; born March 10, 1984), known professionally as Olivia Wilde, is an American actress and filmmaker. She played Remy "Thirteen" Hadley on the medical-drama television series ''House'' (2007–2012), and has appeared in the ...
and
Mila Kunis
Milena Markovna "Mila" Kunis (born August 14, 1983) is an American actress. Born in Chernivtsi and raised in Los Angeles, she began playing Jackie Burkhart on the Fox television series ''That '70s Show'' (1998–2006) at the age of 14. Since ...
were originally rumored to play as Lara Croft, but all had declined. Norwegian director
Roar Uthaug
Roar may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Roar'' (film), an American adventure-comedy film starring Tippi Hedren and Melanie Griffith
* '' Roar: Tigers of the Sundarbans'', a 2014 Hindi-language Indian animal horror feature film
* ''Roar'' (199 ...
came on board in November 2015, and
Alicia Vikander
Alicia Amanda Vikander (, ; born 3 October 1988) is a Swedish actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Critics' Choice Movie Award, as well as receiving nominations for ...
was cast as the new Lara Croft in April 2016.
''
Deadline Hollywood
''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, wit ...
'' had previously reported that
Daisy Ridley
Daisy Jazz Isobel Ridley (born 10 April 1992) is an English actress. She rose to prominence for her role as Rey in the ''Star Wars'' sequel trilogy: ''The Force Awakens'' (2015), ''The Last Jedi'' (2017), and ''The Rise of Skywalker'' (2019) ...
was considered for the role, but Ridley later described it as "the craziest rumor
he hadever heard about
erelf".
Walton Goggins
Walton Sanders Goggins Jr. (born November 10, 1971) is an American actor. He has starred in a number of television series, including ''The Shield'' (2002–2008), '' Justified'' (2010–2015), '' Vice Principals'' (2016–2017), ''The Righteous ...
was announced to play the villain in December 2016,
and much of the rest of the cast was revealed in early 2017.
Filming
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...
began on January 23, 2017, in
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
, South Africa, and wrapped on June 9, 2017, at
Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden
Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden is an studio complex in Leavesden in Watford, Hertfordshire, in South East England. Formerly known as Leavesden Film Studios and still colloquially known as Leavesden Studios or simply Leavesden, it is a film ...
in
Hertfordshire, England.
Wilton House
Wilton House is an English country house at Wilton near Salisbury in Wiltshire, which has been the country seat of the Earls of Pembroke for over 400 years. It was built on the site of the medieval Wilton Abbey. Following the dissolution ...
near
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
in
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
was the location for exterior shots for Croft Manor. The waterfall sequence involving the plane was filmed at a waterpark at Lee Valley, outside London, at a venue that had been built for the
2012 Summer Olympics, and was combined with footage filmed in South Africa.
Visual effects
The visual effects are provided by
Scanline VFX
Scanline VFX is a global visual effects and animation company founded 1989 in Munich. The studio is led by VFX Supervisor Stephan Trojansky. The company has 7 locations including Munich, Stuttgart, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Montreal, London, and Se ...
and supervised by Nick Crew and Paul Linden with the help of
Method Studios
Method Studios is a visual effects company launched in 1999 in Los Angeles, California with facilities in New York, Atlanta, Vancouver, San Francisco, Melbourne, Montreal, and Pune. The company provides production and post-production services i ...
,
Rising Sun Pictures
Rising Sun Pictures (RSP) is an Australian visual effects company headquartered in Adelaide, South Australia, co-founded and headed by Tony Clark. Since April 2021 it has been owned by FuseFX. Its film and television credits include '' Black W ...
, Mr. X, Soho VFX,
Zero VFX, and Factory VFX.
Music
On June 14, 2017, It was announced that
Tom Holkenborg
Tom Holkenborg (born 8 December 1967), also known by his stage name Junkie XL or occasionally JXL, is a Dutch composer, multi-instrumentalist, DJ, producer, and engineer.
Originally known for his trance productions, he has moved to producing ...
signed on as the film's composer after being removed from ''
Justice League
The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceived b ...
''. The soundtrack was released digitally on March 9, 2018, by
Sony Classical Records
Sony Classical is an American record label founded in 1924 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records. In 1980, the Columbia Masterworks label was renamed as CBS Masterworks Records. The CBS Records Group was acquired by S ...
, with the physical edition being released on March 16, 2018, followed by the vinyl on August 24, 2018.
Release
Theatrical
''Tomb Raider'' premiered on March 2, 2018, in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
, Germany, at an exclusive preview with guests and
cosplaying fans.
It was released in the United States on March 16, 2018, by
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of ...
. The film received an
IMAX 3D and a
RealD 3D release. It also received a
4DX
4DX is a 4D film format developed by CJ 4DPlex, a subsidiary of South Korean cinema chain CJ CGV. It allows films to be augmented with various practical effects, including motion-seats, wind, strobe-lights, simulated-snow, and scents. First i ...
release in selected countries.
Outside the US, the film was released in most territories between March 8–16, 2018, in Japan on March 21, 2018, and in Poland on April 6, 2018.
Marketing
To promote the release of the film,
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...
released a promotional
Barbie
Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by American toy company Mattel, Inc. and launched on March 9, 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration. ...
doll based on Lara Croft to tie in with the release. The doll is sculpted in the likeness of Alicia Vikander and features full articulation and a doll stand. The doll was designed by veteran doll designer Bill Greening as a Black Label Collector doll and released on February 19, 2018.
Square Enix also promoted the film for its
Final Fantasy
is a Japanese video game, Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and ...
mobile game, ''
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius'', with
Lara Croft
Lara Croft is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the video game franchise ''Tomb Raider''. She is presented as a highly intelligent and athletic British archaeologist who ventures into ancient tombs and hazardous ruins around th ...
being its playable character.
Home media
''Tomb Raider'' was released on digital streaming platforms on May 29, 2018. A 4K UHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD release occurred on June 12, 2018. It was released in Australia on June 18, 2018, for Blu-ray, Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, and DVD.
Reception
Box office
''Tomb Raider'' grossed $58.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $216.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $274.7 million, against a production budget in the range of $90–106 million.
To
break even
Break-even (or break even), often abbreviated as B/E in finance, (sometimes called point of equilibrium) is the point of balance making neither a profit nor a loss. Any number below the break-even point constitutes a loss while any number above it ...
, estimations say the film needed to gross at least $275 million worldwide.
According to MGM's 2020 Q2 earning reports, ''Tomb Raider'' is producing net revenue for the studio.
In the United States and Canada, ''Tomb Raider'' was released alongside ''
Love, Simon'' and ''
I Can Only Imagine'', and was projected to gross $23–29 million from 3,854 theaters in its opening weekend.
The film made $9.1 million on its first day (including $2.1 million from Thursday night previews).
It went on to open to $23.5 million, finishing second at the box office, behind ''
Black Panther'' ($27 million in its fifth week).
It fell 55% to $10.6 million in its second weekend, finishing 5th at the box office. It grossed $4.9 million in its third weekend, falling 51% and finishing seventh.
Internationally, the film opened in nine Asian countries a week before its United States debut. It made $14.2 million over the weekend, with Korea's $2.9 million being the biggest market. The film opened in China on March 16, 2018, and made $12.3 million the first day. It was the fifth-highest-grossing day for a Warner Bros. film, opening 6% higher than ''
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...
'', and went on to debut to $41 million. , the film's largest markets were China ($78.4 million), the United Kingdom ($10.4 million), France ($10.1 million), and the
CIS countries
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of and has an estimated population of 239,796,010. ...
($7.5 million).
Critical response
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews and an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "''Tomb Raider'' reboots the franchise with a more grounded approach and a star who's more than up to the task—neither of which are well served by an uninspired origin story." At the time of its release, it was the best-reviewed
movie based on a video game on the site.
On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 48 out of 100, based on 52 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, the same score earned by the 2001 film;
PostTrak
PostTrak is a U.S.-based service that surveys film audiences for film studios.
History
The service conducts surveys in the top 20 markets in the U.S. and Canada with the use of polling cards and electronic kiosks. A PostTrak report for a film ...
reported filmgoers gave it a 70% positive score.
Michael Phillips of the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'' gave the film 2 out of 4 stars and said, "The Lara Croft reboot ''Tomb Raider'' isn’t half bad for an hour. Then there’s another hour. That hour is quite bad. It’s no fun watching your action heroine get shoved, punched, and kicked to the sidelines of her movie, while the menfolk take over and take turns overacting before expiring."
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy (born February 16, 1950) is an American film critic and author. He wrote for '' Variety'' for 31 years as its chief film critic until 2010. In October of that year, he joined ''The Hollywood Reporter'', where he subsequently served ...
of ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...
'' gave the film a mixed review, criticizing the story but praising Vikander, and writing, "When all the one-dimensional supporting characters and familiar action moves fall by the wayside, the one thing left standing is Vikander...The film strains credulity even for a vid-game fantasy by letting the leading lady recover quickly from bad injuries, but other than that Vikander commands attention and is the element here that makes ''Tomb Raider'' sort of watchable." Peter Bradshaw of
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
gave it 2 out of 5 and wrote: "Throughout Vikander maintains a kind of serene evenness of manner. Blandness is Lara’s theme."
Owen Gleiberman of ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' praised the film, saying that "The exciting surprise of the new ''Tomb Raider'', directed by the Norwegian genre specialist Roar Uthaug, is that it doesn’t tamp down Vikander’s inner flame, or the three-dimensionality of her talent; it doesn’t fold and insert her into an overly gymnastic and CGI-happy thrill ride. The movie is full of vine-swinging, bow-and-arrow-shooting, ancient-spirit-meeting action, but most of it is staged on a convincing human scale, one that’s been expertly tailored to its star’s understated directness." Matt Zoller Seitz of
RogerEbert.com gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, and said, "this is a beautifully crafted and unpretentious piece of action cinema, with several sequences that are as gorgeous as they are thrilling, and a female hero who's as elegant as she is deadly: an ass-kicking
Audrey Hepburn."
IndieWire
IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...
's
Anne Thompson wrote that Tomb Raider "was a well-mounted, intelligently wrought adventure, more grounded in the real world than its fantasy predecessors" and that "it establishes the action bonafides of both Vikander and director Roar Uthaug".
Accolades
At the
2018 Teen Choice Awards
The 2018 Teen Choice Awards ceremony was held on August 12, 2018, at the Forum in Inglewood, California. The awards celebrated the year's achievements in music, film, television, sports, fashion, comedy, and the internet, and are voted on by v ...
, the film received nominations for "Choice Action Movie" and Alicia Vikander as "Choice Action Movie Actress", but lost both to ''
Avengers: Infinity War'' and
Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (; born November 22, 1984) is an American actress. The world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019, she has featured multiple times on the ''Forbes'' Celebrity 100 list. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 ...
as
Black Widow in ''Avengers: Infinity War'', respectively.
Other media
Canceled sequel
In 2015, Adrian Askarieh, producer of the ''
Hitman
Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may ...
'' films, stated that he hoped to oversee a
shared universe
A shared universe or shared world is a fictional universe from a set of creative works where more than one writer (or other artist) independently contributes a work that can stand alone but fits into the joint development of the storyline, chara ...
of
Square Enix films with ''
Just Cause'', ''Hitman'', ''Tomb Raider'', ''
Deus Ex
''Deus Ex'' is a series of role-playing video games, set during the mid 21st century. Focusing on the conflict between secretive factions who wish to control the world by proxy, and the effects of transhumanistic attitudes and technologies in a ...
'', and ''
Thief
Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...
'', but admitted that he does not have the rights to ''Tomb Raider''.
Before the release of the first film, Alicia Vikander expressed interest in returning as Lara Croft for a second film, stating that "If there's an audience out there for it, then I would love to". In April 2019,
Amy Jump was hired to write a script for a possible sequel, with Vikander attached. In September 2019,
Ben Wheatley
Benjamin Wheatley (born 7 May 1972) is an English filmmaker and screenwriter. Beginning his career in advertising, Wheatley first gained recognition and acclaim for his commercials and short films, before transitioning into feature films and tel ...
, Jump's husband, signed on to direct the sequel, with a planned March 19, 2021 release date, with
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of ...
dropping out of the project. It was announced that filming would start in early 2020 in England.
According to ''Geek Vibes Nation'', principal photography was scheduled to start in April with filming taking place across several countries including England, South Africa, Finland, and China, and looking to deliver a faithful adaptation of the games' story. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, production was delayed, with filming due to take place in England and South Africa; and the film was removed from the studio's release schedule.
In January 2021,
Misha Green signed to replace Jump and Wheatley respectively as writer and director. The film was going to be released theatrically in the U.S. via
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...
’s distribution and marketing joint venture
United Artists Releasing
United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studio ...
, and internationally through
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of ...
.
In May 2021, Misha Green confirmed via her official Twitter account that the first draft of the script, with the working title ''Tomb Raider: Obsidian'', had been completed. In July of the same year, Vikander told Collider that the sequel is still happening but has not been greenlit yet. In September that year, Green responded to a fan question about the status of the film on her Twitter account, indicating that she was still set to direct her own script.
In July 2022, it was reported that MGM had lost the film rights to the ''Tomb Raider'' franchise, after the window ran out to give the sequel the green light, culminating in Vikander's departure from the lead role. During this time, rights were reverted to its original game companies (
Eidos
Eidos may refer to:
* Eidos (philosophy), a Greek term meaning "form" "essence", "type" or "species". See Plato's theory of forms and Aristotle's theory of universals
* Eidos plc, a British software company, which created video game publisher Eido ...
and
Crystal Dynamics
Crystal Dynamics, Inc. is an American video game developer based in San Mateo, California and part of Embracer Group. The studio developed the '' Gex'', ''Legacy of Kain'', and ''Tomb Raider'' series. Founded in 1992 by Madeline Canepa, Judy L ...
), which were later acquired by
Embracer Group
Embracer Group AB (formerly Nordic Games Licensing AB and THQ Nordic AB) is a Swedish video game and media holding company based in Karlstad. The company was established under the name Nordic Games Licensing in 2011 as part of Nordic Games Grou ...
in the third quarter of 2022,
and has prompted a bidding war among other film studios.
See also
*
List of films based on video games
This page is a list of film adaptations of video games. These include local, national, international, direct-to-video and TV releases, and (in certain cases) online releases. They include their scores on Rotten Tomatoes, the region in which they ...
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
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