Tomb Raider is a media franchise consisting of action-adventure games, comic books, novels, theme park rides, and films, centring on the adventures of the female fictional British archaeologist Lara Croft.
Since the release of the original Tomb Raider in 1996, the series developed into a franchise of the same name, and Lara went on to become a major icon of the video game industry.
The Guinness Book of World Records recognised Lara Croft as the "Most Successful Human Videogame Heroine" in 2006.
An interactive DVD was released by Bright Entertainment under licence from Eidos in 2006, called Tomb Raider: The Action Adventure.
Producer Janey de Nordwall found the original digibeta tape and released the short film on the Tomb Raider YouTube page in 2016.
It was written by Murti Schofield, the writer from The Angel of Darkness, and featured returning Lara voice actress Jonell Elliott, who collaborated with fans to produce the film.
[61][62] Walton Goggins was cast as the film's villain; he called the plot "Raiders of the Lost Ark meets a genre version of the Joseph Conrad novel Victory: An Island Tale".
[63][64][65] Daniel Wu was cast as Lu Ren, a ship captain who joins forces with the adventurous Lara Croft on her quest to find her father.
[76] In July 2022, MGM lost the film rights to the Tomb Raider franchise, after the window ran out to give the sequel the green light, culminating in Vikander's departure from the lead role.
The film was intended to be interconnected with a television series from Phoebe Waller-Bridge and a video game from Crystal Dynamics, forming a Tomb Raider shared universe and franchise.
Multiple noted animators and writers were involved with the series, including Peter Chung, Warren Ellis, Gail Simone and Jim Lee.
[80] In late January 2021, Netflix and Legendary Entertainment announced an anime-style series adaptation based on the franchise, with Tasha Huo as the showrunner and executive producer.
Waller-Bridge will write the series and serve as an executive producer alongside Jenny Robbins through Wells Street Productions.
Other executive producers include Dmitri M. Johnson through dj2 Entertainment, as well as Michael Scheel and Legendary Television.
[89] On October 29, 2024, Deadline reports that Sophie Turner and Lucy Boynton have tested for Lara Croft and also have Emma Corrin and Mackenzie Davis on their wishlist for the role as well.
[107][108][109] Another novel set within the 2013 reboot timeline, Tomb Raider: The Ten Thousand Immortals, was published in 2014 as a continuation of the original story.
[110] A fifth book, titled Lara Croft and the Blade of Gwynnever, also written by Dan Abnett and Nik Vincent was published in late 2016, and is a stand-alone adventure.
[112] In February 2024, Evil Hat Productions announced Tomb Raider: Shadows of Truth,[113] an officially licensed tabletop roleplaying game using the Powered by the Apocalypse mechanics.