Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Encyclopedia
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is a 2001 adventure
thriller film adapted from the Tomb Raider
video game series. Directed by Simon West
and starring Angelina Jolie
as Lara Croft
, it was released in U.S. theaters on June 15, 2001. The film was a commercial success. The film held the title of highest grossing video game to film adaptation worldwide, until on June 16, 2010 the record was taken by Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
, which grossed $335 million worldwide as of October 10, 2010. Reviews were largely negative, with critics criticizing the sloppy direction and video-game-esque action-sequences, but praising Jolie's performance.
A sequel, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
, was released in 2003.
) in an Egyptian
tomb, seeking a diamond at one end of a chamber. As she approaches she is attacked by a large robot. After an intense chase and battle, she disables it by ripping out its motivational circuits. She takes the diamond, which is revealed to be a memory card labeled "Lara's Party Mix", and inserts it into a laptop computer inside the robot, whereupon it plays music. Now it is revealed that the scene took place in a practice arena in her home, and that her assistant Bryce (Noah Taylor
) programmed the robot, SIMON, to challenge her in combat.
It is the day of the first phase of a planetary alignment
, culminating in a solar eclipse
on the Earth, which happens once every 5,000 years. In Venice
, the Illuminati
search for a key to rejoin halves of "the triangle", which must be done by the final phase of the alignment. Mr. Powell (Iain Glen
), an Illuminati member, makes assurances that they are almost ready, but in reality he has no idea where to find the key.
Lara's butler Hillary (Chris Barrie
) tries to interest her in several projects, but she ignores them. May 15, as Hillary is aware, is the day that Lara's father disappeared many years earlier. She has not recovered from his loss.
Later that night, Lara has a dream reminding her what her father said about the alignment, and an object linked to it called the Triangle of Light. Waking, she is aware of a clock ticking. Searching for it, she discovers a secret chamber under the staircase with a carriage clock that had spontaneously begun ticking. Bryce probes it and discovers a strange device hidden inside the clock.
Since the device resembles a clock, Lara consults a clock expert friend of her father's, Mr. Wilson (Leslie Phillips
). She believes it is connected to the "Triangle of Light", but Wilson disavows knowledge of the clock or the Triangle. Lara encounters Alex West (Daniel Craig
), a fellow tomb raider with unscrupulous methods. They are attracted to each other, but Croft cannot abide his for-profit attitude. That night, Lara is contacted by Wilson, who tells her that he gave her name to a man named Manfred Powell in regards of the clock. In reality, Wilson is also a member of the Illuminati.
The next day, Lara sees Powell in his home, and shows him photographs of the clock. Later, while discussing it with Bryce, she points out that Powell was lying about his knowledge. That night, as Lara does a bungee ballet, armed commandos invade the house and steal the clock despite her attempts to fend them off.
The next morning, Lara receives a letter from her father, arranged to arrive after the beginning of the alignment, where he explains that the clock is the key to retrieve two halves of the mystic Triangle of Light, which is revealed to be an object of phenomenal destructive power that granted its wielder power over time and space. He says that it was made from a metal found in a meteor crater made by a meteor that had fallen to earth during a previous alignment. Initially housed in a city built in the meteor crater by those who worshiped the object, misuse of the Triangle's power destroyed the city and so it was split into two halves; one was hidden in a tomb in Cambodia
, the other half in the ruined city itself, in modern-day Siberia. Her father urges her to find and destroy both halves before the Illuminati can find it.
In Cambodia, West figures out part of the puzzle on how to retrieve the triangle half, but Lara manages to successfully grab the piece. Before everyone can leave, the liquid metal which came out with the piece brings the statues in the temple to life and attacks the team killing some members. Lara is left to fight off and destroy a huge six-armed guardian statue which is the last one to come to life. She successfully defeats it and leaves the temple by diving through a waterfall. She then travels to a Buddhist town where a young monk welcomes her. After a worship service, an aged monk who is the leader there gives Lara some tea and as they converse, he tells her that he knew her father before.
She and Powell arrange to meet in Venice, since each of them has what the other needs to finish the Triangle. Powell proposes a partnership to find the Triangle, and informs Lara that her father was a member of the Illuminati, which she vehemently denies. Though hesitant at first, she, along with Bryce, meets with Powell for the trip to Siberia. Inside the tomb, there is a giant model of the solar system, which activates as the alignment nears completion. Lara retrieves the last half of the Triangle, but when Powell tries to complete it, the halves will not fuse. He realizes that Lara knows the solution to the puzzle, and kills West in order to persuade her to complete the Triangle to save both West's life and her father's. Lara reluctantly complies, and they then struggle for control of the Triangle, with Lara prevailing.
Lara then finds herself in a strange alternate existence facing her father Richard Croft (Jon Voight
). He explains that it is a "crossing" of time and space, and urges her to destroy the Triangle instead of using it to save his life. She leaves her father and returns to the chamber, where time is slowly running backwards from the point where Powell killed West. Croft takes the knife he threw into West's chest and reverses it, then destroys the Triangle, which returns time to its normal flow and directs the knife into Powell's shoulder. The chamber begins to self-destruct, Everyone turns to leave, but Powell tells Croft that he killed her father and retrieved his pocket watch with a picture of Lara's mother inside. Lara and Powell engage in a hand to hand fight. Lara kills him, retrieves it, and escapes as the chamber crumbles.
At the mansion, Hillary and Bryce are shocked to see Lara wearing a dress. She goes into the garden to her father's memorial, then returns inside, where Bryce has a reprogrammed SIMON, ready to challenge Lara once again. Hillary reveals a silver tray holding Lara's pistols, which she takes with a smile.
the year before, penned an unproduced Tomb Raider script. Producer and screenwriter Steven E. de Souza
, who wrote and directed the 1994 video game film Street Fighter
, penned an early draft of the Tomb Raider script in 1999, but it was rejected by Paramount. The final draft of the script was attributed to five writers, including director Simon West.
. The tax law of Germany allowed investors to take an instant tax deduction even on non-German productions and even if the film has not gone into production. By selling them the copyright for $94 million and then buying it back for $83.8 million, Paramount Pictures
made $10.2 million. The copyright was then sold again to Lombard Bank, a British investment group and a further $12 million was made. However, to qualify for Section 48 tax relief, the production must include some UK filming and British actors, which was acceptable for a film partially set in the United Kingdom. Presales to distributors in Japan, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain made a further $65 million. Showtime paid $6.8 million for premium cable TV rights. In total, $94 million was put together.
The deal between Eidos
, Tomb Raiders publisher, and Paramount Pictures was structured so Eidos received a single fee, but no royalties.
(Hillary), known for his role of "Arnold Rimmer" in the BBC science fiction comedy series Red Dwarf
. Iain Glen
, a Scot, adopted an English accent as Powell, whilst English actor Daniel Craig
adopts an American accent for the role of Alex West. Jolie, being American herself, takes on an English accent.
, with 29 out of 154 critics giving it a positive review with an average rating of 3.9/10. The general consensus is "Angelina Jolie is perfect for the role of Lara Croft, but even she can't save the movie from a senseless plot and action sequences with no emotional impact". A positive review came from Roger Ebert
who awarded the film three out of four stars and said, "'Lara Croft Tomb Raider' elevates goofiness to an art form. Here is a movie so monumentally silly, yet so wondrous to look at, that only a churl could find fault."
) as well as the opening record for a video game adaptation ($31 million for Pokémon: The First Movie
), and is the third most successful video game adaptation to date, grossing $274,703,340 worldwide, behind only Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Resident Evil: Afterlife
, although it is still #1 based on the number of the tickets sales, attendance and adjustment based on today's ticket price gross.
in Glitter
. The film was also nominated for two MTV Movie Awards
, these awards included: Best Female Performance and Best Fight scene, but the film lost to Moulin Rouge!
and Rush Hour 2
respectively.
(then owned by Paramount Pictures) themed to the film "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider." The most expensive ride ever opened at the park, Tomb Raider: The Ride was essentially nothing more than a Top Spin
, an amusement park ride featured at many carnivals and theme parks. However, Tomb Raider: The Ride was the world's first (and to this day, only) Giant Top Spin, nearly doubling the capacity of these carnival rides and drastically increasing the height of the ride.
Tomb Raider: The Ride was billed as a "totally immersive dark ride adventure." Synchronized to a musical score composed specifically for the ride, the ride continued the adventurers of Lara Croft from the film, essentially asking riders to help her find and destroy the Triangle, which is fiercely guarded by the goddess of war, Durga. The queue line for the ride featured the warrior monkey statues as well as the six-armed Brahma shrine from the film (the actual film props), while the ride chamber itself featured a specially created 80 feet (24.4 m) carving of the goddess Durga. Upon awakening the goddess by mistake, her "laser" eyes shattered the headlights of the car, leaving the first portion of the ride in pitch black darkness lit only by her fire and ice emblems which she held in her hands.
Playing off scenes from the film, the ride blasted riders skyward inches from razor-sharp stalactites, then held riders upside down to view an erupting volcano stretching up the back wall. Just before the ride's finale, riders were held face down to view a bubbling pit of "lava" beneath them which, synchronized to music, squirted up fountains of lava at riders, often spritzing them.
The ride ended with Angelina Jolie reprising her role as Lara Croft to narrate on the defeat of the goddess as the chamber filled with smoke and the Triangle and goddess were cracked down the center, ending the goddess' malevolent reign over the temple and assuring that no one would ever use the Triangle for evil.
In 2008, Paramount Pictures sold the park to Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, owners of world famous Cedar Point
. Forced to removed all references to Paramount films and licensing, the ride was renamed The Crypt
. While all the film props, music, and lighting were removed, the 80 feet (24.4 m) carving of the goddess Durga can still be seen on the walls, though the ride takes place in pitch black darkness, devoid of ice and lava effects.
Adventure film
Adventure films are a genre of film.Unlike pure, low-budget action films they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way....
thriller film adapted from the Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider is an action-adventure video game developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive. It was originally released in 1996 for the Sega Saturn, with MS-DOS and PlayStation versions following shortly thereafter...
video game series. Directed by Simon West
Simon West
Simon West is an English-born film director. West started as a film editor with the BBC, then directed documentaries and commercials including many for Budweiser...
and starring Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...
as Lara Croft
Lara Croft
Lara Croft is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Square Enix video game series Tomb Raider. She is presented as a beautiful, intelligent, and athletic British archaeologist-adventurer who ventures into ancient, hazardous tombs and ruins around the world...
, it was released in U.S. theaters on June 15, 2001. The film was a commercial success. The film held the title of highest grossing video game to film adaptation worldwide, until on June 16, 2010 the record was taken by Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (film)
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a 2010 sword-and-sorcery action film written by Jordan Mechner, Boaz Yakin, Doug Miro, and Carlo Bernard; directed by Mike Newell; produced by Jerry Bruckheimer; and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures...
, which grossed $335 million worldwide as of October 10, 2010. Reviews were largely negative, with critics criticizing the sloppy direction and video-game-esque action-sequences, but praising Jolie's performance.
A sequel, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life is a 2003 action film directed by Jan de Bont, and starring Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft. It is a sequel to the 2001 film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider...
, was released in 2003.
Plot
The film opens with Lara Croft (Angelina JolieAngelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...
) in an Egyptian
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
tomb, seeking a diamond at one end of a chamber. As she approaches she is attacked by a large robot. After an intense chase and battle, she disables it by ripping out its motivational circuits. She takes the diamond, which is revealed to be a memory card labeled "Lara's Party Mix", and inserts it into a laptop computer inside the robot, whereupon it plays music. Now it is revealed that the scene took place in a practice arena in her home, and that her assistant Bryce (Noah Taylor
Noah Taylor
Noah George Taylor is an English-born Australian actor.-Early life:Taylor, elder of two boys, was born in London, England, the son of Maggie, a journalist and book editor, and Paul Taylor, a copywriter and journalist. Taylor's Australian parents returned to Australia when he was five, and he grew...
) programmed the robot, SIMON, to challenge her in combat.
It is the day of the first phase of a planetary alignment
Syzygy (astronomy)
In astronomy, a syzygy is a straight line configuration of three celestial bodies in a gravitational system. The word is usually used in reference to the Sun, the Earth and either the Moon or a planet, where the latter is in conjunction or opposition. Solar and lunar eclipses occur at times of...
, culminating in a solar eclipse
Solar eclipse
As seen from the Earth, a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, and the Moon fully or partially blocks the Sun as viewed from a location on Earth. This can happen only during a new moon, when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction as seen from Earth. At least...
on the Earth, which happens once every 5,000 years. In Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, the Illuminati
Illuminati
The Illuminati is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically the name refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on May 1, 1776...
search for a key to rejoin halves of "the triangle", which must be done by the final phase of the alignment. Mr. Powell (Iain Glen
Iain Glen
Iain Glen is a Scottish film and stage actor.Iain Glen was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and trained at RADA where he won the Bancroft Gold Medal. He was married to Susannah Harker from 1993 to 2004; they have one son, Finlay...
), an Illuminati member, makes assurances that they are almost ready, but in reality he has no idea where to find the key.
Lara's butler Hillary (Chris Barrie
Chris Barrie
Chris Barrie is a British actor. He first achieved success as a vocal impressionist, notably in the ITV sketch show Spitting Image...
) tries to interest her in several projects, but she ignores them. May 15, as Hillary is aware, is the day that Lara's father disappeared many years earlier. She has not recovered from his loss.
Later that night, Lara has a dream reminding her what her father said about the alignment, and an object linked to it called the Triangle of Light. Waking, she is aware of a clock ticking. Searching for it, she discovers a secret chamber under the staircase with a carriage clock that had spontaneously begun ticking. Bryce probes it and discovers a strange device hidden inside the clock.
Since the device resembles a clock, Lara consults a clock expert friend of her father's, Mr. Wilson (Leslie Phillips
Leslie Phillips
Leslie Samuel Phillips, CBE is an English actor with a highly recognisable upper class accent. Originally known for his work as a comedy actor, Phillips subsequently made the transition to character roles.-Early life:...
). She believes it is connected to the "Triangle of Light", but Wilson disavows knowledge of the clock or the Triangle. Lara encounters Alex West (Daniel Craig
Daniel Craig
Daniel Wroughton Craig is an English actor. His early film roles include Elizabeth, The Power of One, A Kid in King Arthur's Court and the television episodes Sharpe's Eagle, Zorro and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Daredevils of the Desert...
), a fellow tomb raider with unscrupulous methods. They are attracted to each other, but Croft cannot abide his for-profit attitude. That night, Lara is contacted by Wilson, who tells her that he gave her name to a man named Manfred Powell in regards of the clock. In reality, Wilson is also a member of the Illuminati.
The next day, Lara sees Powell in his home, and shows him photographs of the clock. Later, while discussing it with Bryce, she points out that Powell was lying about his knowledge. That night, as Lara does a bungee ballet, armed commandos invade the house and steal the clock despite her attempts to fend them off.
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
, the other half in the ruined city itself, in modern-day Siberia. Her father urges her to find and destroy both halves before the Illuminati can find it.
In Cambodia, West figures out part of the puzzle on how to retrieve the triangle half, but Lara manages to successfully grab the piece. Before everyone can leave, the liquid metal which came out with the piece brings the statues in the temple to life and attacks the team killing some members. Lara is left to fight off and destroy a huge six-armed guardian statue which is the last one to come to life. She successfully defeats it and leaves the temple by diving through a waterfall. She then travels to a Buddhist town where a young monk welcomes her. After a worship service, an aged monk who is the leader there gives Lara some tea and as they converse, he tells her that he knew her father before.
She and Powell arrange to meet in Venice, since each of them has what the other needs to finish the Triangle. Powell proposes a partnership to find the Triangle, and informs Lara that her father was a member of the Illuminati, which she vehemently denies. Though hesitant at first, she, along with Bryce, meets with Powell for the trip to Siberia. Inside the tomb, there is a giant model of the solar system, which activates as the alignment nears completion. Lara retrieves the last half of the Triangle, but when Powell tries to complete it, the halves will not fuse. He realizes that Lara knows the solution to the puzzle, and kills West in order to persuade her to complete the Triangle to save both West's life and her father's. Lara reluctantly complies, and they then struggle for control of the Triangle, with Lara prevailing.
Lara then finds herself in a strange alternate existence facing her father Richard Croft (Jon Voight
Jon Voight
Jonathan Vincent "Jon" Voight is an American actor. He has received an Academy Award, out of four nominations, and three Golden Globe Awards, out of nine nominations. Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie....
). He explains that it is a "crossing" of time and space, and urges her to destroy the Triangle instead of using it to save his life. She leaves her father and returns to the chamber, where time is slowly running backwards from the point where Powell killed West. Croft takes the knife he threw into West's chest and reverses it, then destroys the Triangle, which returns time to its normal flow and directs the knife into Powell's shoulder. The chamber begins to self-destruct, Everyone turns to leave, but Powell tells Croft that he killed her father and retrieved his pocket watch with a picture of Lara's mother inside. Lara and Powell engage in a hand to hand fight. Lara kills him, retrieves it, and escapes as the chamber crumbles.
At the mansion, Hillary and Bryce are shocked to see Lara wearing a dress. She goes into the garden to her father's memorial, then returns inside, where Bryce has a reprogrammed SIMON, ready to challenge Lara once again. Hillary reveals a silver tray holding Lara's pistols, which she takes with a smile.
Cast
- Angelina JolieAngelina JolieAngelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...
as Lady Lara CroftLara CroftLara Croft is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Square Enix video game series Tomb Raider. She is presented as a beautiful, intelligent, and athletic British archaeologist-adventurer who ventures into ancient, hazardous tombs and ruins around the world... - Daniel CraigDaniel CraigDaniel Wroughton Craig is an English actor. His early film roles include Elizabeth, The Power of One, A Kid in King Arthur's Court and the television episodes Sharpe's Eagle, Zorro and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Daredevils of the Desert...
as Alex West - Jon VoightJon VoightJonathan Vincent "Jon" Voight is an American actor. He has received an Academy Award, out of four nominations, and three Golden Globe Awards, out of nine nominations. Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie....
as Lord Richard Croft - Iain GlenIain GlenIain Glen is a Scottish film and stage actor.Iain Glen was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and trained at RADA where he won the Bancroft Gold Medal. He was married to Susannah Harker from 1993 to 2004; they have one son, Finlay...
as Manfred Powell - Noah TaylorNoah TaylorNoah George Taylor is an English-born Australian actor.-Early life:Taylor, elder of two boys, was born in London, England, the son of Maggie, a journalist and book editor, and Paul Taylor, a copywriter and journalist. Taylor's Australian parents returned to Australia when he was five, and he grew...
as Bryce - Richard JohnsonRichard Johnson (actor)Richard Johnson is an English actor, writer and producer, who starred in several British films of the 1960s and has also had a distinguished stage career. He most recently appeared in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.-Life and career:...
as Distinguished Gentleman - Chris BarrieChris BarrieChris Barrie is a British actor. He first achieved success as a vocal impressionist, notably in the ITV sketch show Spitting Image...
as Hillary - Julian Rhind-TuttJulian Rhind-TuttJulian Alistair Rhind-Tutt is an English actor. He is best known for his starring role as "Mac" McCartney in the comedy television series Green Wing, the second series of which finished on Channel 4 in May 2006...
as Mr. Pimms - Leslie PhillipsLeslie PhillipsLeslie Samuel Phillips, CBE is an English actor with a highly recognisable upper class accent. Originally known for his work as a comedy actor, Phillips subsequently made the transition to character roles.-Early life:...
as Wilson - Henry Wyndham as Boothby's Auctioneer
- Olegar FedoroOlegar FedoroOlegar Fedoro is a Ukrainian-born former Soviet performer who later became a Spanish and then English actor.He started with a work for Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker...
as Russian Commander
Development
Tomb Raider went through many drafts and several writers, which resulted in production delays. In 1998, writer Brent V. Friedman, who had co-written Mortal Kombat: AnnihilationMortal Kombat: Annihilation
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is a 1997 American martial arts action film that was the sequel to 1995's Mortal Kombat, and was directed by John R. Leonetti, who had served as the cinematographer for the previous film...
the year before, penned an unproduced Tomb Raider script. Producer and screenwriter Steven E. de Souza
Steven E. de Souza
Steven E. de Souza is an American producer, director and screenwriter. He is among a handful of screenwriters whose films have earned over two billion dollars at the worldwide box office.-Life and career:...
, who wrote and directed the 1994 video game film Street Fighter
Street Fighter (film)
Street Fighter is a 1994 American action film written and directed by Steven E. de Souza. It is based loosely on the same-titled video games produced by Capcom, and stars Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Raul Julia, along with supporting performances by Byron Mann, Damian Chapa, Kylie Minogue, Ming-Na...
, penned an early draft of the Tomb Raider script in 1999, but it was rejected by Paramount. The final draft of the script was attributed to five writers, including director Simon West.
Financing
Lara Croft was financed through Tele-München Gruppe (TMG), a German tax shelterTax shelter
Tax shelters are any method of reducing taxable income resulting in a reduction of the payments to tax collecting entities, including state and federal governments...
. The tax law of Germany allowed investors to take an instant tax deduction even on non-German productions and even if the film has not gone into production. By selling them the copyright for $94 million and then buying it back for $83.8 million, Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
made $10.2 million. The copyright was then sold again to Lombard Bank, a British investment group and a further $12 million was made. However, to qualify for Section 48 tax relief, the production must include some UK filming and British actors, which was acceptable for a film partially set in the United Kingdom. Presales to distributors in Japan, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain made a further $65 million. Showtime paid $6.8 million for premium cable TV rights. In total, $94 million was put together.
The deal between Eidos
Eidos Interactive
Eidos Interactive Ltd. is a British video game publisher and is a label of Square Enix Europe. As an independent company Eidos plc was headquartered in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton....
, Tomb Raiders publisher, and Paramount Pictures was structured so Eidos received a single fee, but no royalties.
Casting
The film marked the feature film debut of television actor Christopher BarrieChris Barrie
Chris Barrie is a British actor. He first achieved success as a vocal impressionist, notably in the ITV sketch show Spitting Image...
(Hillary), known for his role of "Arnold Rimmer" in the BBC science fiction comedy series Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf is a British comedy franchise which primarily comprises eight series of a television science fiction sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999 and Dave from 2009–present. It gained cult following. It was created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, who also wrote the first six series...
. Iain Glen
Iain Glen
Iain Glen is a Scottish film and stage actor.Iain Glen was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and trained at RADA where he won the Bancroft Gold Medal. He was married to Susannah Harker from 1993 to 2004; they have one son, Finlay...
, a Scot, adopted an English accent as Powell, whilst English actor Daniel Craig
Daniel Craig
Daniel Wroughton Craig is an English actor. His early film roles include Elizabeth, The Power of One, A Kid in King Arthur's Court and the television episodes Sharpe's Eagle, Zorro and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Daredevils of the Desert...
adopts an American accent for the role of Alex West. Jolie, being American herself, takes on an English accent.
Reception
The film received generally negative reviews, earning a 19% approval rating on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, with 29 out of 154 critics giving it a positive review with an average rating of 3.9/10. The general consensus is "Angelina Jolie is perfect for the role of Lara Croft, but even she can't save the movie from a senseless plot and action sequences with no emotional impact". A positive review came from Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
who awarded the film three out of four stars and said, "'Lara Croft Tomb Raider' elevates goofiness to an art form. Here is a movie so monumentally silly, yet so wondrous to look at, that only a churl could find fault."
Box office performance
Tomb Raider was a box office success. The movie debuted at number one with a towering $48.2 million, giving Paramount its second-best debut and the fourth-highest debut of 2001. It beat the opening record for a film featuring a female protagonist ($40.1 million for Charlie's AngelsCharlie's Angels (film)
Charlie's Angels is a 2000 American action comedy film directed by McG, starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu as three women working for a private investigation agency...
) as well as the opening record for a video game adaptation ($31 million for Pokémon: The First Movie
Pokémon: The First Movie
Pokémon: The First Movie, originally released as , is a 1998 Japanese animated film directed by Kunihiko Yuyama, the chief director of the Pokémon television series. It is the first theatrical release in the Pokémon franchise...
), and is the third most successful video game adaptation to date, grossing $274,703,340 worldwide, behind only Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Resident Evil: Afterlife
Resident Evil: Afterlife
Resident Evil: Afterlife is a 2010 Canadian-German 3D science-fiction horror action film written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. It stars Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Kim Coates, Shawn Roberts, Spencer Locke, Boris Kodjoe, and Wentworth Miller. The film marks Anderson's second time to direct in...
, although it is still #1 based on the number of the tickets sales, attendance and adjustment based on today's ticket price gross.
Awards and nominations
Angelina Jolie was nominated for the Worst Actress Golden Raspberry Award for her role in the film, but she lost to Mariah CareyMariah Carey
Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...
in Glitter
Glitter (film)
Glitter is a 2001 film starring R&B singer, songwriter Mariah Carey. It was produced by 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures and directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall. It centers on the life and times of a struggling singer from the early club music scene in the 1980s.-Production:Carey has said about...
. The film was also nominated for two MTV Movie Awards
MTV Movie Awards
The MTV Movie Awards is a film awards show presented annually on MTV . It also contains movie parodies that used official movie footage with hosts and other celebrities and music performances. The nominees are decided by producers and executives at MTV. Winners are decided online by the general...
, these awards included: Best Female Performance and Best Fight scene, but the film lost to Moulin Rouge!
Moulin Rouge!
Moulin Rouge! is a 2001 romantic jukebox musical film directed, produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. Following the Red Curtain Cinema principles, the film is based on the Orphean myth, La Traviata, and La Bohème...
and Rush Hour 2
Rush Hour 2
Rush Hour 2 is a 2001 martial arts action comedy film. This is the second installment in the Rush Hour film series. A sequel to the 1998 film Rush Hour, the film stars Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker who respectively reprise their roles as Inspector Lee and Los Angeles police detective James Carter...
respectively.
Tomb Raider: The Ride
In 2002, an attraction was opened at Paramount's Kings IslandKings Island
Kings Island is a amusement park located northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio. Opened in 1972 by Taft Broadcasting Company and now owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, Kings Island is the most visited seasonal amusement park in the U.S...
(then owned by Paramount Pictures) themed to the film "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider." The most expensive ride ever opened at the park, Tomb Raider: The Ride was essentially nothing more than a Top Spin
Top Spin (ride)
The Top Spin is a thrill ride developed by HUSS Maschinenfabrik, and is the generic name for a series of rides from other manufacturers that follow the same principle. The ride consists of a passenger platform suspended between two counterweighted arms...
, an amusement park ride featured at many carnivals and theme parks. However, Tomb Raider: The Ride was the world's first (and to this day, only) Giant Top Spin, nearly doubling the capacity of these carnival rides and drastically increasing the height of the ride.
Tomb Raider: The Ride was billed as a "totally immersive dark ride adventure." Synchronized to a musical score composed specifically for the ride, the ride continued the adventurers of Lara Croft from the film, essentially asking riders to help her find and destroy the Triangle, which is fiercely guarded by the goddess of war, Durga. The queue line for the ride featured the warrior monkey statues as well as the six-armed Brahma shrine from the film (the actual film props), while the ride chamber itself featured a specially created 80 feet (24.4 m) carving of the goddess Durga. Upon awakening the goddess by mistake, her "laser" eyes shattered the headlights of the car, leaving the first portion of the ride in pitch black darkness lit only by her fire and ice emblems which she held in her hands.
Playing off scenes from the film, the ride blasted riders skyward inches from razor-sharp stalactites, then held riders upside down to view an erupting volcano stretching up the back wall. Just before the ride's finale, riders were held face down to view a bubbling pit of "lava" beneath them which, synchronized to music, squirted up fountains of lava at riders, often spritzing them.
The ride ended with Angelina Jolie reprising her role as Lara Croft to narrate on the defeat of the goddess as the chamber filled with smoke and the Triangle and goddess were cracked down the center, ending the goddess' malevolent reign over the temple and assuring that no one would ever use the Triangle for evil.
In 2008, Paramount Pictures sold the park to Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, owners of world famous Cedar Point
Cedar Point
Cedar Point is a 364 acre amusement park located in Sandusky, Ohio, United States on a narrow peninsula jutting into Lake Erie. Cedar Point is the only amusement park with four roller coasters that are taller than...
. Forced to removed all references to Paramount films and licensing, the ride was renamed The Crypt
The Crypt (Kings Island)
The Crypt is a Giant Top Spin thrill ride located at Kings Island theme park in Ohio. Originally constructed in 2002 by then-owners Paramount Parks, the ride opened as TOMB RAIDER: The Ride, featuring numerous special effects, pre-shows, and voice-overs establishing its relation to the Paramount...
. While all the film props, music, and lighting were removed, the 80 feet (24.4 m) carving of the goddess Durga can still be seen on the walls, though the ride takes place in pitch black darkness, devoid of ice and lava effects.