UPDATE: This post has now been updated with the full trailer.
Lara Croft begins to take the formative steps from naive adventurer to bona fide Tomb Raider in today’s blistering first teaser for the Warner Bros. rebirth.
Arriving on the eve of tomorrow’s full-length trailer, this 15-second snippet offers up a sneak peek at Alicia Vikander in the title role…and little else. With her trusty bow and arrow in tow, Vikander’s rendition of Lara Croft is said to be inspired by the Crystal Dynamics video game series, in which the young Lara wound up shipwrecked on the fictional Japanese island of Yamatai.
Exactly how loyal Tomb Raider will be to that specific source material remains to be seen, but all of the signs point to a harrowing origin story for the iconic heroine. Speaking of which, and in completing today’s one-two punch, Warner also released the reboot’s first official poster. Dubious Photoshop skills aside (how long is Lara’s neck?!), it’s a suitably ominous teaser of what’s in store.
Directed by Norwegian filmmaker Roar Uthaug (The Wave), Tomb Raider is the latest video game movie to skate along the fine line separating success and total failure. Assassin’s Creed, for instance, sadly found itself in the latter camp, and it seems Ubisoft Motion Pictures and New Regency have quietly retired those franchise plans. Here’s hoping Tomb Raider can find an audience come 2018.
The updated synopsis for Uthaug’s redo is as follows:
Lara Croft is the fiercely independent daughter of an eccentric adventurer who vanished when she was scarcely a teen. Now a young woman of 21 without any real focus or purpose, Lara navigates the chaotic streets of trendy East London as a bike courier, barely making the rent, and takes college courses, rarely making it to class. Determined to forge her own path, she refuses to take the reins of her father’s global empire just as staunchly as she rejects the idea that he’s truly gone. Advised to face the facts and move forward after seven years without him, even Lara can’t understand what drives her to finally solve the puzzle of his mysterious death.
Also starring Dominic West, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, Rowan Polonski, and Hannah John-Kamen (Ant-Man and the Wasp) as Lara’s college roommate, Sophie, Tomb Raider will plot course for theaters on March 16th, 2018. Be sure to check back to We Got This Covered tomorrow, September 19th, when we’ll have coverage of the film’s full trailer for you to enjoy.
