Updates on the 'Tomb Raider' reboot and 'Resident Evil 6'

The Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Resident Evil movie franchises kicked off fairly close together in the early 2000s, kicking off a trend that saw action flicks led by female heroines really taking the spotlight. That led to a number of lesser quality attempts, such as Aeon Flux and Ultraviolet, but with the exception of Underworld, none were able to top the original two, led by butt-kickers Angelina Jolie and Milla Jojovich. But now more than a decade later, we're seeing one of those series coming to a close, while the other is being reborn.

Today sees the release of the Tomb Raider game, which obviously has led to a number of questions about the status of the long-developing film reboot. We know Jolie won't be back in the role, and last I recall Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus (Iron Man) had been hired to work on the script, which would have been an origin story of sorts. Crystal Dynamics head honcho Darrell Gallagher spoke to Variety about the film, and had this to say....

"They are working from this new take that we’ve given them. It’s a good partnership. We’re seeing the challenges through the same lens. It was important for both of us to have a cohesive version of the franchise.  We didn’t want to see a film version that was a continuation of the old Tomb Raider films."

 I've heard great things about the new game, and may even blow my GameSpot gift cards on it later. We'll see.  The important thing is locking down who will play Lara Croft. I've previously expressed my support for Emily Browning, and continue to agree with myself on that.

On the other side, we've got Resident Evil, which has been chugging along through five movies of dwindling domestic box office. Internationally they remain something of a juggernaut, and last year's Resident Evil: Retribution was the second highest-grossing yet, totaling over $220M. Milla Jojovich had hinted that her husband, director Paul W.S. Anderson, had the story ready for one final film. According to Shocktilyoudrop, that film will be released on September 12th 2014. Although I didn't like 'Retribution' in the slightest, the series as a whole has been silly and sloppy mutant zombie fun. I'll miss Jojovich as the super-powered Alice when she's gone, but expect she'll join her husband for another video game flick before too long, possibly in Capcom's Monster Hunter.