‘Tomb Raider’ Reboot Cast, Updates: Alicia Vikander Talks Playing New Young Lara Croft, Teases “Game-Inspired” Origin Story

‘Tomb Raider’ is an upcoming reboot featuring Alicia Vikander in the lead role as Lara Croft. She teased that the new film will differ from the original films starring Angelina Jolie as it will be a “game-inspired” origin story.

According to Comicbook.com, Vikander is set to play a young version of the iconic fictional archaeologist Lara Croft in director Roar Uthaug’s upcoming live-action adaptation of Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix’s widely popular video game series.

During an interview with Collider, Vikander explained that the new film will be different from the original film adaptations and will instead be based on the newly rebooted video game series. She said,  “I hadn’t played the new rebooted game...and now I have and now it’s quite different. The [sic] kind of rebooted the game and it visually looks quite different and it’s like I said, it’s more of an origin story.”

She also expressed her enthusiasm for her new role saying, “I find that — big blockbuster movies, I grew up with, and some of them I love, and I think the thrill of being part of making one myself would be extraordinary.”

Lara Croft was first portrayed by Angelina Jolie in the action-adventure and fantasy film ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’ directed by Simon West and released on June 15, 2011. Although West’s film received generally negative reviews, it was deemed the highest-grossing film on its opening weekend. According to Box Office Mojo, the film earned $274.70 million worldwide against a production budget of $115 million.

Following the commercial success of the first film, a sequel entitled ‘Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life’ was released in 2003. Jolie returned to play the lead protagonist while Jan de Bont took over as director.

Jolie’s performance as Lara Croft was praised but the follow-up received negative reviews much like its predecessor. It earned $156.50 million worldwide on a budget of $95 million.

During an interview with Loaded Magazine, Uthaug revealed that he wanted his adaptation to be character-oriented. He explained, “I want viewers to care about the characters, I think it’s important to ground them in reality and build a back story before the mayhem begins.”

He continued, “It is the same with Lara Croft and Tomb Raider. It will be an origins story where you really explore the character’s motivations, that way the audience cares more.”

Uthaug concluded, “I want to explore the character of Lara Croft and take things back to basics… I suppose you could compare it with the Bourne movies but this will be a bit different. Wherever possible though, we will look to do stunts practically rather than by using computers.”

‘Tomb Raider’ is an upcoming action-adventure and fantasy directed by Roar Uthaug and written by Geneva Robertson-Dworet. It is produced by Eidos Interactive, GK Films, Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer, and Warner Bros. It is currently in pre-production and is scheduled to premiere in U.S. theaters on March 16, 2018.