There will be a new Lara Croft in the next Tomb Raider movie

The movie rights to Tomb Raider are up for grabs. According to a report from TheWrap, Amazon-owned MGM waited too long to make a sequel to its 2018 Tomb Raider film, freeing up the rights to the next Hollywood studio to take a stab at the long-running video Wants game franchise.

Several studios are currently engaged in a bidding war to take away the rights to Tomb Raider, TheWrap reports. And since the license isn't obligated to maintain the same cast and crew, the next Tomb Raider movie could be a total reboot that passes the Lara Croft baton to another actress.

2018 Tomb Raider featured Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft, and was met with mixed reviews, criticizing the series' title archaeologist's weak portrayal. As we noted in our review at the time, MGM's Tomb Raider mixes elements of the 2013 game with the early 2000s Tomb Raider film adaptations, starring Angelina Jolie (which didn't even receive the best reviews). .

MGM had originally planned to release a sequel to their film in 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic likely got in the way of production. In 2020, the film's director, Ben Wheaton, told The Verge's sister site Polygon that he was still committed to making the film, but it was "in the haze of Covid." It's possible that Amazon's acquisition of MGM in March has something to do with the studio's decision not to greenlight another Tomb Raider.

On the small screen, Netflix is still working on an animated Tomb Raider adaptation. The series, which still does not have an official release date, will be followed by a trilogy reboot of the game that concluded with Shadow of the Tomb Raider.