A new report is shedding some light on what went down behind the scenes at MGM that resulted in the company losing the rights to the Tomb Raider franchise, bringing the sequel to the Alicia Vikander-led 2018 live action movie to a halt.
It’s not every day a major studio lets an incredibly popular franchise just slip through their fingers, so when it was reported that MGM had lost the rights to Tomb Raider for failing to meet a deadline previously agreed-upon between the company and original rights owners Japanese video game company Square Enix, there was widespread confusion as to how and why they let that happen.
An exclusive report published Wednesday by The Wrap explains that the reason the studio couldn’t send the sequel film into principal photography by the deadline of May 1st was because of artistic disagreements between Vikander and writer-director Misha Green, as well as an excessive budget for the latest draft of the script.
According to insiders, “there was no way to rescue [Tomb Raider 2] in time.” Square Enix reportedly “lost patience” with MGM, who had asked for another deadline extension. The sequel was originally set to begin production in early 2020, with Ben Wheatley and Amy Jump attached to direct and write, respectively. The COVID-19 pandemic led to it being pushed back to 2021, with Wheatley and Jump getting replaced by Green. In May of 2021, Green confirmed she had finished the first draft of the script, which had the working title of Tomb Raider: Obsidian. No final draft was ever greenlit by MGM.
A possible 2023, or even 2024, release date — had MGM been granted the extension — would have meant a minimum five year gap between the first film and its continuation, which is unusually long and maybe even commercially harmful.
Earlier this month, Vikander had already given a pretty ominous statement about the future of the franchise, saying she had “no clue” whether it would go forward. The Oscar-winning actress did, however, sound favorable to what Green had done with the project. “I think Misha and I have been ready, so it’s kind of in somebody else’s hands, to be honest. I’ve been excited to show the world. I love what she’s done with Lovecraft Country,” she said, which begs the question of when the cited “disagreements over the script” came about.
Tomb Raider 2 went through the COVID-19 pandemic, the loss of support by original distributor Warner Bros., and a change in director and writer. A series of unfortunate events and a lack of a promising future led Square Enix to pull the plug on the project and put the rights for the famed video game crusader back on the market, resulting in a bidding war among studios.
Alicia Vikander will no longer reprise the role of Lara Croft.