Alicia Vikander Gets Adventurous in First Tomb Raider Trailer

The video game adaptation premieres March 16, 2018 in movie theaters nationwide

By Zach Johnson Sep 20, 2017 9:48 AMTags

Ready to go on adventure?

Warner Bros. Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures have just released the first trailer for Tomb Raider, the third film adaptation in the 25-year-old video game series' history. Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander stars as Lara Croft, whom the studio describes as "the fiercely independent daughter of an eccentric adventurer who vanished when she was scarcely a teen."

Gamers are well aware of Lara's back story, but for those who are unfamiliar, here's the 411: "Without any real focus or purpose," the 21-year-old orphan "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," according to a press release. "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."

Graham Bortholomew
Graham Bortholomew

But solve it she must.

So, Lara travels to her father's last-known destination: a fabled tomb on a mythical island, which may be located somewhere off the coast of Japan. It's a "treacherous" journey, to be sure, and Lara "must learn to push herself beyond her limits as she journeys into the unknown."

Directed by Roar Uthaug, the movie also stars Walton Goggins, Dominic West and Daniel Wu. The original Tomb Raider movies, released in 2001 and 2003, starred Angelina Jolie and earned a combined $431.3 at the global box office. "What we're doing is something quite different since they rebooted the game in 2013," Vikander told E! News in 2016. "It's a whole new take."

In other words, think of the new Tomb Raider movie as a revamp, not a remake.

"We asked, 'What are the famous traits of this person?'" Vikander asks in Empire's new issue. "'How can we demonstrate them in the story, but make her feel like a young woman in 2018?'"

Produced by Gary Barber and Graham King and written by Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Tomb Raider was shot on location in South Africa and the U.K. and is set for a March 16, 2018 release.