It is reported that Amazon are to create a new television show based on the hit Tomb Raider franchise. Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge is writing the scripts as part of a multi million deal with Amazon, but it is reported that she has no plans to feature in the show. She will also be an executive producer on the shower along with Dmitri M. Johnson.
It is also reported that there will be a new Tomb Raider movie and this will be connected to the TV show. We also know that Amazon picked up the rights to publish the next Tomb Raider game back in December 2022.
The next Tomb Raider will, as you’d hope, be a single-player, narrative-driven adventure, seemingly building on the template established with the trilogy since the 2013 reboot. One key change, however, is that Crystal Dynamics has packed it in with their homegrown game engines and will instead be using Unreal Engine 5 – in fact, the next Tomb Raider was announced during a UE5 showcase back in April 2022.
The most recent Tomb Raider starred  Alicia Vikander and did quite well at the box office and there were plans for a second movie. However, in July 2022 the sequel was officially cancelled due to a “bidding war” for the movie rights. I guess we know who had the deepest pockets now.
Lara Croft has had a rather bumpy ride recently as former owners, Square Enix, sold the rights to Tomb Raider, and development team, Crystal Dynamics, to the Embracer Group. Embracer also got  Eidos-Montréal, Square Enix Montréal, and a catalogue of IPs including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, Legacy of Kain and more than 50 back-catalogue games, all for $300 million. I suspect Embracer have made quite a lot of that money back with the deal with Amazon, but it does seem like they are holding on to the rights to Lara and have not sold her completely to Amazon.
Amazon have yet to officially reveal any Tomb Raider projects other than the new game.
Source: THR
