The upcoming reboot of the Tomb Raider movie franchise appears to be moving along at a quick pace now, with cameras rolling in South Africa and the first photos from the set of the film finding their way online this week.
The images offer the first look at Oscar-winning The Danish Girl and Ex Machina star Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft, the heroine of both the movie franchise and the series of games that inspired it.
The photos were initially posted by The Daily Mail, and feature Vikander running, climbing, jumping, and otherwise engaging in the sort of intense, fast-paced action that’s a hallmark of the franchise and the adventures of its intrepid protagonist. Vikander is also sporting a look that hews fairly close to that of the character’s in the 2013 reboot of the game franchise, which appears to be a significant source of inspiration for the style and tone of the film.
The photos also appeared on Twitter, where they were reposted by a news feed for fans of Vikander.
The similarity between Vikander’s look and that of Lara Croft in the 2013 Tomb Raider game was quickly noted by fans.
Directed by Roar Uthaug from a script by Transformers: The Last Knight screenwriter Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Tomb Raider takes the character back to her early years and chronicles Croft’s attempts to finish her father’s archaeological research and clear his name, only to have tragedy strike and turn her first expedition into a dangerous fight for survival.
Along with Vikander as Lara Croft, the film casts 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.
One of the most successful game franchises of all time, the Tomb Raider series has been adapted for the big screen twice, with Angelina Jolie portraying Lara Croft in 2001’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and its 2003 sequel, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. The 2001 film remains the highest-grossing movie based on a video game in U.S. theaters with $131.1 million domestically. It also had the biggest opening weekend of all time in U.S. theaters for a movie based on a video game with its $47.7 million premiere.
Tomb Raider hits theaters March 16, 2018.
