‘Tomb Raider’ Movie Release Date and News; Can It Break the Video Game Movie Curse?

Jul 12, 2016 07:48 AM EDT

In case you are not aware, the video game sensation of Tomb Raider is going to have a reboot movie potential franchise, just like the original video game series begun in 1996 had a video game reboot in 2013.  The issue with Tomb Raider is that it has its video game following that is decades old, and the star Lara Croft is certainly one of the things that make the game...attractive.  Then there is the other issue of video game movies, and how they have a reputation of not succeeding at the box office.

The new Tomb Raider movie will be released in about two years, with Alicia Vikander playing the iconic video game role of Lara Croft.  Vikander is a Swedish actress who has had quite a year last year in hit films like Ex Machina, The Danish Girl and The Man from U.N.C.L.E..  She will also be appearing in the new Jason Bourne movies, so she is no stranger to blockbusters. 

As far as what the film will be about, there isn't really any explanation other than the director Roar Uthaug.  It is possible that the reboot of the films will be a lot like the reboot of the video games.  The video games focused on a younger Lara Croft, so it is possible the film will focus on Lara's more vulnerable side too. 

Not that the original Angelia Jolie didn't show Lara Croft as vulnerable by missing her daddy (played by Angelina's real-life father Jon Voight), but other than that, Lara was able to move like a superhero.  Heck, she fought a robot at the beginning of the first film in 2001, so hopefully we can avoid far-fetched things like that and get a gritty human story.    

The issue with video game movies is that they are hit or miss, with an emphasis on the miss.  In fact, the only way they are hits is that some make a little money, but they aren't exactly Oscar material.  In fact, only one video game related movie that has score above 50 on Metacritic is Mortal Kombat (1995), and it is only scored 58.  Seriously, Mortal Kombat is the best video game movie that you can give the box office?  That film is only good in a campy sense, and at least it gave us that awesome theme song. 

The most recent video game movie offering was Warcraft, which was given a score of 32.  Of course, there was a time when comic book related movies were considered box office poison during the nineties, and then X-men came along with Spider-Man and that changed.  Now we have more comic book films than we can handle. 

What I am saying is that perhaps someone will finally make the video game movie that will actually be a commercial and critical success, even if it is by accident.  Perhaps Tomb Raider will be that film, and you can see for yourself when Tomb Raider will be released on March 16, 2018.