Movie sequels, like Thanos, are inevitable. Having said that, movie sequels, are also, usually pretty obvious. Impressive box office performance often leads to immediate rumors that sequels are at least being considered. 2018's Tomb Raider was one of those movies that left itself open to potential franchising, but following a lukewarm box office, nobody was really talking about sequels. And yet, now we're talking about sequels, because Alicia Vikander's Tomb Raider is apparently getting one.
Deadline is reporting that not only is the movie happening, it has a director, in Free Fire's Ben Wheatley, and a release date of March 19, 2021.
In 2018 the Tomb Raider video game franchise was rebooted on the big screen with Alicia Vikander in the lead role as Lara Croft. The movie did decently well at the box office, bringing in just short of $275 million worldwide. Reviews of the movie were lukewarm at best. They were pretty good for "a video game movie" but that's about as good as it got.
Sequels was certainly what people wanted to see from Tomb Raider, but the numbers seemed tough to justify. With a reported production budget of around $100 million, the movie may been slightly profitable, but certainly not to the degree that the powers that be were hoping to see.
It was previously reported that Amy Jump, who collaborated with Ben Weatley on both Free Fire and High Rise, was penning a script, but you'd be forgiven for not even knowing that. Tomb Raider grossed less than $100 million domestically, it just wasn't a movie people were dying to see the first time.
Having said that, the pairing of Ben Weatley and Amy Jump to make this movie is certainly an intriguing idea. The movies they have made together have certainly been unique and have a style all their own. Perhaps that sort of flare is what a property like Tomb Raider needs.
Last year's Tomb Raider (did it seriously only come out last year?) was loosely based on the 2013 Tomb Raider video game, which itself was a reboot of the game series. It acted as an origin story for the character, which saw her shipwrecked on an island and forced to fend for herself in order to survive. That game series has seen two additional entries since then, so there's material to adapt for a new movie if that's the plan, otherwise the movie could go off in a wholly original direction.
I actually really enjoyed the newest Tomb Raider movie, more than most, at least, but even I had sort of missed that a sequel was even in the cards. The movie was fun at the time but I'd sort of forgotten it had even happened. It just wasn't something I was looking for. Now that it's here, I'm not sure what to even do with this information.
