Tomb Raider (also known as Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) is a Paramount duology series based on the 1996 Square Enix Europe video game franchise of the same name. The duology itself came up with 2 attractions based on two films by Paramount Pictures.
Origin[]
The concept for Tomb Raider originated in 1994 at Core Design, a British game development studio. One of the people involved in its creation was Toby Gard, who was mostly responsible for creating the character of Lara Croft. Gard originally envisioned the character as a man: company co-founder Jeremy Heath-Smith was worried the character would be seen as derivative of Indiana Jones, so Gard changed the character's gender. Her design underwent multiple revisions and redrafts during early development. The game proved an unexpected commercial success, reversing Eidos' then-bleak financial situation. After the success of Tomb Raider, work began on a sequel. Gard was no longer given full creative control, and it was stated by development staff that he was both saddened and disappointed by the use of Lara Croft's sex appeal in marketing. Gard left Core Design in 1997 to found his own gaming company Confounding Factor, and was replaced by Stuart Atkinson. Tomb Raider II proved a larger commercial success than the original.
Over the next three years, Core Design was committed to delivering a Tomb Raider game annually, putting considerable strain on staff. For this reason, and the feeling that they had exhausted the series' potential, the developers tried to kill the character off. This did not work, and while a fifth game was created, the team stated that they were not fully invested in its development. During development on the fifth game, the team split into two divisions, with one division working on the next-generation sequel The Angel of Darkness. During this period, multiple handheld titles were developed by both Core Design and third-party developers. The production of The Angel of Darkness was beset by problems from an early stage, with the team wanting to create a grander game to compete with contemporary action-adventure games. Under pressure from Eidos, key sections of the game needed to be cut, and it was released before the team felt it was ready. The game received negative reactions from critics, and was cited by Paramount as the reason for the second Tomb Raider film underperforming.
While development of the next title Legend moved to Crystal Dynamics, Core Design continued to work on the franchise until 2006, when their remake of the original game entitled 10th Anniversary was cancelled. Crystal Dynamics would later release a similar title simply titled Anniversary.
Films[]
First film[]
- Main article: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (film)
There were initially two film adaptations made in the early 2000s that starred Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in 2001 and its sequel, The Cradle of Life, in 2003. While both films were financially successful, neither of them were well received by critics. A reboot starring Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft was released on 16 March 2018, which was better received. A sequel of the 2018 film was in development with Vikander returning as Croft but it was later canceled with the film rights reverted to the game company and prompted a bidding war among studios.
In 2015, Adrian Askarieh, producer of the Hitman films, stated that he hoped to oversee a shared universe of Square Enix films with Just Cause, Hitman, Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, and Thief, but admitted that he does not have the rights to Tomb Raider. In May 2017, the Game Central reporters at Metro UK suggested that the shared universe was unlikely, pointing out that no progress had been made on any Just Cause, Deus Ex nor Thief films.
A short film called Tomb Raider: The Trilogy was produced in 1998 by Silver Films for the Tomb Raider III launch party, the film was not screened outside the event at the Natural History Museum in London. Producer Janey de Nordwall, who recently found the original digibeta tape, released the short film on the Tomb Raider YouTube page in 2016. Lara Croft makes a minor appearance in the 2018 film Ready Player One.
Sequel[]
- Main article: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life
Angelina Jolie returned in the sequel Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life. While it was viewed as a critical improvement over its predecessor, it did not repeat its financial success, grossing $156 million compared to the previous installment's $274 million.
Attractions[]
Tomb Raider: The Ride[]
:Main article: Time Warp (roller coaster)
Its theme featured the 2003 Paramount Pictures film Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. When the ride opened in 2004, the ride's entrance queue featured theming and special effects to resemble an ancient tomb. The entrance sign was mounted onto bamboo sticks and stone columns with propane torches. Next to the entrance was a tent which resembles Lara Croft's base with two motorcycles. Beyond the entrance were Chinese stone soldiers akin to the Terracotta Army and a stone wall with images resembling deities found in ancient Buddhist and Hindu artworks. The queue and exit were guided by rope fences. Bat sounds looped while riders waited in the station.
The ride area was filled with a rumbling sound that got louder to entice riders. As this happened, flame torches would get bigger and at night the station's flood lights turn red.
Since its opening and with the name change after the Cedar Fair takeover, much of the theming is removed. The tent next to the queue is removed with nothing but a few plants in its place. The propane torches are no longer used. The Chinese soldiers inside the queue are removed, but the stone mural is still present. The rope in the queue lines is replaced by wooden planks. No sound effects are played inside the station.
In the attraction's Tomb Raider: The Ride incarnation, the attraction's entry plaza featured a special edition Land Rover Defender parked by the ride's entrance to represent Lara Croft's presence at the site. Atmospheric music (some sampling the movie's score) played throughout the plaza and into the queue. Upon entering the building, guests found themselves walking on catwalks over artifacts and rubble while passing under ceilings supported by a seemingly temporary bamboo structure. A large antechamber, featuring large stone monkey warrior statues from the film, sectioned off one cycle's worth of guests into three rows. As the ride's original score intensified, ancient gears could be heard tumbling into place as a light aligned to illuminate the Triangle of Light featured on the elaborately-carved door located in front of riders. Once the light is aligned, the door began to slide open with accompanying sound and fog effects, allowing guests to enter the pre-show room. Once in the pre-show area, the door would slide closed.
The pre-show room featured the statue of Brahma used in the film and a large oval projection screen that raised out of the altar beneath the statue. A video played to explain the foundation of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, establishing the ride's storyline to be centered around the Triangle of Light, an ancient artifact capable of controlling time, which is sought by Croft in the film. Once the pre-show video had ended, the entire left wall of the room rose, revealing the "secret" entrance to the sixty-foot-tall altar chamber of the god Shiva and allowing riders to board the vehicle, maintaining the same rows from the prior room.
The ride featured an original soundtrack composed by Rob Pottorf, sound effects from The Bakery, and voiceovers from Angelina Jolie, along with other members of the film's cast.
The ride lifted riders up toward the eyes of a carving of Shiva on the forward wall. His eyes (embedded with automated lights) scanned the car, and fire and ice emblems held in two of his six hands illuminated. The ride then flipped through the darkness before stopping with riders looking straight up at razor-sharp icy stalactites on the ceiling. It released, flipped again, and came to a stop, holding riders looking straight down on "lava pits", pools of water cascading from a massive volcano stretching up the chamber's back wall. In time with the music, the lava would begin to jump up, as fountains narrowly avoided splashing riders.
After another flip through the darkness, the ride circled around the bottom of its arc, looking up at the god on the wall. As fog and lights filled the room, the fire and ice effects went off at once as, in time with the audio track, the god screamed and her fire, ice, and eyes went dark. He appeared to "wake up" once more as one final blast of fog emanated from the base of the ride structure, nearly contacting riders before fading away (this used as a device to keep riders engaged during the ride's lengthy homing procedure before the bridges could lower to allow guests to disembark).
For the majority of its time as Tomb Raider: The Ride, the ride included four inversions, extended "hang time" over the lava pits, a god with piercing eyes and fire and ice emblems, fog effects, and a synchronized musical score composed specifically for the ride, lasting 2:30.
Tomb Raider: Firefall[]
:Main article: Tomb Raider: Firefall
Kings Dominion announced in 2004 that Tomb Raider: Firefall would be added to the park for the 2005 season. HUSS Park Attractions designed the new ride as a variant of their Top Spin flat ride that they named Suspended Top Spin. The attraction was built near Volcano: The Blast Coaster in the Congo section of the park, and it officially opened on March 19, 2005.
Tomb Raider: Firefall became known as The Crypt for the 2008 season, following modifications that removed all references to Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. On January 23, 2020, Kings Dominion announced the ride would be removed to make room for future development in the Safari Village section of the park. Tumbili, a 4D Free Spin roller coaster, was built in its place for the 2022 season.
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