‘Tomb Raider’ Series in the Works at Amazon From Phoebe Waller-Bridge
The Tomb Raider IP is looking at a comeback in live-action, though it will be through the small screen.
The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Amazon Studios is prepping a live-action television series that Fleabag star Phoebe Waller-Bridge would write and executive produce — but not necessarily star in — as part of her ongoing overall deal with the platform. Prime Video announced last March they had greenlit a new series under said deal, with no additional details provided; according to THR, that series is not Tomb Raider.
Lara Croft, the main character in the Tomb Raider video game franchise, has appeared in three different live-action films. Two of them starred Angelina Jolie — 2001’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, directed by Simon West, and its sequel, 2003’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life, by Jan de Bont. The franchise was later resurrected with 2018’s Tomb Raider, by Roar Uthaug, starring Alicia Vikander. That last movie grossed $274.6M on a $94M budget, and MGM started early development on a sequel, but after failing to start pre-production in the appropriate timeframe after the release of the first installment, they lost the film rights to the franchise. A bidding war erupted at the time, but no further announcement had been made over who won them.
Suspiciously timed, Amazon Games announced in December of 2022 that they would be publishing the next video game in the franchise. According to rumors, this next game would be set after the events of the last trilogy of games, and bridging the gap would be the upcoming anime series that Netflix has been developing for a while. Hayley Atwell was reported to be voicing Lara Croft for it, almost a year and a half ago.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge has his plate full. Under her deal with Amazon, she was once developing a Mr. & Mrs. Smith series for the platform with her Solo co-star Donald Glover, but eventually departed amicably over creative differences. That series is supposed to be moving forward with Maya Erskine now. In addition to the aforementioned announced project with Amazon, she’s developing an adaptation of Claudia Lux’s Sign Here, which the author is scripting. She will next be seen on screen in this summer’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
