A ‘Tomb Raider’ Sequel Is Coming, From Alicia Vikander and Ben Wheatley
Few people would call the last Tomb Raider movie a blockbuster. It grossed just $58 million in the U.S. against a reported budget of almost $100 million, and earned only $274 million worldwide. However, those disappointing numbers are apparently good enough for MGM, as they have reportedly decided to move ahead with a sequel.
Alicia Vikander will return as the tomb raiding Lara Croft. According to Deadline, the sequel will at least have an interesting director: Kill List and Free Fire’s Ben Wheatley:
Ben Wheatley has been set to direct MGM’s Tomb Raider sequel. Alicia Vikander is reprising her role as the lissome treasure hunting action heroine Lara Croft. Amy Jump is writing the sequel script and Graham King is producing through his GK Films banner, and Elizabeth Cantillon.
Vikander’s first Tomb Raider was directed by The Wave’s Roar Uthaug. Wheatley’s filmography would seemingly make him a strange choice to direct a Tomb Raider film. Although you could maybe describe the level of violence in Free Fire as “video game” like, his movies tend toward the darker and the surreal, whereas Tomb Raider is mostly about a woman jumping around caves and solving puzzles.
Perhaps Wheatley will bring something to the character that wasn’t present in the first Vikander movie (which one extremely prominent critic described as “never less than competently staged [but] rarely exciting or interesting enough to justify its existence”) or the two earlier cinematic adaptations starring Angelina Jolie. The latest Tomb Raider will open in theaters on March 19, 2021.
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