However, it faced off against “Black Panther,” which still topped the box office in its fifth week, and Warner Bros.
In 2003, Jan DeBont’s follow-up, “Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life,” fared only slightly better with critics, and scored $157 million worldwide the original “Tomb Raider” made $273 million.Įven at a 48 Metascore for the new movie, it fared far better with critics than the original. Paramount targeted its initial “Tomb Raider” marketing at male videogame players who could still be relied upon to crowd opening weekends. She went on to star in such action hits as “Wanted” and “Salt.” “Lara Croft” opened to $47 million ( despite scathing reviews) and established Jolie as a leading woman with action chops who could carry a movie. After its second weekend, the movie tallies $41.7 million domestic and a worldwide total of $211 million. Domestically, it was a ‘tweener - neither a male actioner for videogame hounds, nor a smarthouse movie aimed at Swedish star Alicia Vikander, who won a Supporting Actress Oscar for “The Danish Girl.”īased on the 1996 video game series, Simon West’s 2001 “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” starred the curvy 26-year-old Angelina Jolie, another young actress with Oscar cred (“Girl Interrupted”). Sure enough, the action movie opened at number one in China, the world’s second-biggest market. “We looked at the property as an international piece driving the business,” he said. “And that’s essentially what happened.” distribution chief Jeff Goldstein admitted that “Tomb Raider” was targeted from the start to appeal to foreign audiences, especially in China. It may barely squeak into the black via robust returns in overseas markets.
For the last five weeks, new movies have seen their opening box office slashed by “Black Panther.” And one casualty - on the domestic side at least - was franchise reboot “ Tomb Raider.” When the videogame franchise opened to $23 million in North America last weekend, “Tomb Raider” was written off as a box office disappointment.