Alicia Vikander steps into Lara Croft’s boots in first official ‘Tomb Raider’ photos

This week has been a big one for fans of the Tomb Raider franchise, as we now have our first official look at Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft.

Warner Bros. Pictures and MGM released a trio of photos featuring Vikander as the famous protagonist of the blockbuster game and movie franchise, teasing the 2018 premiere of the new Tomb Raider movie.

The new photos are the first studio-sanctioned images of Vikander as Lara Croft, following the release of several photos from various fan sites in February.

Directed by Roar Uthaug (The Wave) from a script by Transformers: The Last Knight screenwriter Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Tomb Raider takes the character back to her early years and offers a new origin story for the cinematic version of the character.

The official synopsis for the film reads as follows:

“Lara Croft is the fiercely independent daughter of an eccentric adventurer who vanished when she was scarcely a teen. Now a young woman of 21 without any real focus or purpose, Lara navigates the chaotic streets of trendy East London as a bike courier, barely making the rent, and takes college courses, rarely making it to class. Determined to forge her own path, she refuses to take the reins of her father’s global empire just as staunchly as she rejects the idea that he’s truly gone. Advised to face the facts and move forward after seven years without him, even Lara can’t understand what drives her to finally solve the puzzle of his mysterious death.

“Going explicitly against his final wishes, she leaves everything she knows behind in search of her dad’s last-known destination:Aa fabled tomb on a mythical island that might be somewhere off the coast of Japan. But her mission will not be an easy one; just reaching the island will be extremely treacherous. Suddenly, the stakes couldn’t be higher for Lara, who — against the odds and armed with only her sharp mind, blind faith and inherently stubborn spirit — must learn to push herself beyond her limits as she journeys into the unknown. If she survives this perilous adventure, it could be the making of her, earning her the name Tomb Raider.”

Along with Vikander as Lara Croft, the film features Dominic West (The Affair, 300) as Lara’s father, Daniel Wu (Into the Badlands) as the captain of the ship transporting Lara on her quest, and Emmy-nominated Justified and The Hateful Eight actor Walton Goggins as the film’s primary villain.

Tomb Raider hits theaters March 16, 2018.