Ben Wheatley is opening up about the Tomb Raider movie that never was.

The director – who has helmed projects like High Rise and Free Fire – revealed in a new interview that his plans to reboot the franchise were scrapped during the pandemic.

Keep reading to find out more…

“To do something like The Meg, which is this super global thing, to play out to that audience is such a privilege,” Ben told Total Film, per GamesRadar.

When asked if that was similar to his goal with Tomb Raider, he replied: “Very much so … Basically, they got stuffed by COVID-19. We were really close to doing it, and then it all just fell apart, as everything did. But [Meg 2] came across my desk, and I was like, ‘Oh.’ I didn’t even hesitate, you know? It was like [Netflix’s remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s] Rebecca: why wouldn’t you do it?”

Angelina Jolie originally starred as Lara Croft in two Tomb Raider movies, with Alicia Vikander taking on the role in 2018. Ben‘s movie would’ve been a sequel to the latter, but those plans fell apart – Misha Green then stepped in to take over, but rights to the franchise changed hands in 2022. As a result, both Alicia and Misha left the project.

However, a deal is in place for the film as well as a spinoff television series to be developed at Amazon Studios. That project is being headed up by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, with the goal to create an interconnected series of stories with lots of crossover opportunities. Find out more about that Phoebe‘s project here.

Photos: Getty Images

Posted to: Ben Wheatley, Tomb Raider

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