A smash hit that had a sequel cruelly ripped away conquers the streaming Top 10

A blockbuster action movie based on an instantly-recognizable and globally popular IP, which boasted an Academy Award winner star in the lead role, landed the best reviews of its franchise, and netted a solid $276 million box office haul on a budget of around $100 million sounds like a license to crank out sequels. In the case of 2018’s Tomb Raider, though, it’s back to the drawing board.

While respective Rotten Tomatoes scores of 53 and 55 percent from critics and audiences is admittedly thoroughly average, there was definitely enough gas in the tank to see Alicia Vikander’s Lara Croft headline at least another adventure or two. Sure enough, Ben Wheatley was announced to be helming the sequel, which is when the wheels began to fall off.

After he dropped out and ended up boarding Jason Statham’s The Meg follow-up instead, Lovecraft Country creator Misha Green stepped in to replace him, which is when Tomb Raider 2 wound up on shaky ground. A script was being written and Vikander was keen to return, but things went radio silent for the longest time, until it was announced that the project had been scrapped altogether, and the rights were back up for grabs.

Reinforcing its enduring on-demand popularity once again, Roar Uthaug’s Tomb Raider has rappelled onto the Prime Video charts this week to secure Top 10 finishes in both the United Kingdom and Ireland per FlixPatrol, while it’s also been making a dent on the iTunes global rankings for good measure.

Will fans be interested in yet another reinvention for the video game icon? Maybe, maybe not, but it’s cruel that Vikander and Green are the ones to suffer for the pandemic-generated uncertainty.