Amazon reportedly wants to turn Tomb Raider into a ‘Marvel-like franchise’

Amazon reportedly aspires to turn Tomb Raider into a “Marvel-like franchise” spanning interconnected game, film and TV releases.

In December, Amazon Games announced that it will publish the next Tomb Raider game.

And according to The Hollywood Reporter, Amazon is also bankrolling a new Tomb Raider film and TV show, with the latter being written by Fleabag Emmy winner Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

A source said to be familiar with the company’s plans claimed Tomb Raider was one of the largest commitments at Amazon after its investment in its Lord of the Rings TV series, The Rings of Power.

The site claims Amazon has teamed with dj2 Entertainment for a blockbuster rights deal to make a new Tomb Raider movie.

dj2, which co-produced the Sonic the Hedgehog films, is also working on Netflix’s Tomb Raider anime series, and adaptations of games including Life is Strange, Disco Elysium, Sleeping Dogs, Little Nightmares and It Takes Two.

While Waller-Bridge is reportedly attached to write the Tomb Raider TV series, it’s claimed she’s not involved in the upcoming film or game.

Announcing its game publishing plans last month, Amazon Games VP Christoph Hartmann called Tomb Raider “one of the most beloved IPs in entertainment history”.

The next series entry is being developed by Embracer-owned studio Crystal Dynamics and will be built alongside Amazon “from development all the way through publishing”.

Hartmann said Amazon is “committed to bringing players games of the highest quality, from the best developers, across all variety of platforms and genres”.

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In April 2022, Crystal Dynamics announced that the next Tomb Raider game had entered development using Unreal Engine 5.

Tomb Raider franchise general manager Dallas Dickinson said the studio’s goal with the game was “to push the envelope of fidelity and to deliver the high quality cinematic action-adventure experience that fans deserve”.

Crystal Dynamics has also said Lara Croft’s next adventure will “unify” the timelines in Core Design’s original Tomb Raider games and its own reboot trilogy.