Lara Croft Reborn

News broke yesterday that Warner Bros. is gearing up to take over the Lara Croft franchise and give it a whole new spin. As the Hollywood Reporter points out, the first two films by Paramount were highly lucrative, and since the rights were available to purchase, it should come as no surprise that another studio decided to jump on the wagon. The move is yet another in a steady stream of video game-based movies that are slowly revving into production. Rumors of a Bioshock movie have been floating around since last January, and Gears of War is coming along as well, with stories coming out this month about developing the plot into a trilogy, a revelation which surprisingly has gamers cringing in fear. That revelation may be based on the atrocious failure of Max Payne in 2008, a film starring Mark Whalberg that crashed at the box office. Last, but not least, Jerry Bruckheimer, the man behind the Pirates saga, is working away at an adaptation of Prince of Persia.

All in all, Hollywood seems to be keeping an eye on video games for new sources of material. And why not? Tinsel Town executives like to find films with "built in" audiences. It's why they turn to blockbuster novels like Twilight and Harry Potter, because no matter how bad the movie is, there is almost a guarantee that a good chunk of fans will turn out for the release, as Twilight amply shows. With the Lara Croft franchise still actively turning out games (the newest one, "Lara Croft: Underworld" came out in November 2008), it seems likely that there is still a solid base of fans out there who will perk up their ears when they hear the phrase "Lara Croft movie."

The Vault will keep an eye on casting news and further developments behind these and other movies, so check back soon.