Ben Wheatley will no longer be directing the next Tomb Raider movie, as Misha Green is announced as the new helmer for the sequel.
Misha Green has been set as the new director of Tomb Raider 2, the planned follow-up to the 2018 film which rebooted the series following the Angelina Jolie films of the early 2000s. Alicia Vikander this time will be reprising the role of Lara Croft.
Green is riding a wave of success at the moment, most notably for the rave reviews that TV series Lovecraft Country is earning. The breakout success of the series which transplants themes and story elements from HP Lovecraft’s source material into a hugely creative drama set during the Jim Crow era of US history has gained Green many admirers. MGM is one of them, and it’s acted to secure her services for the Tomb Raider project.
Since 2019, British director Ben Wheatley has been attached to the planned sequel, and shooting was expected to begin imminently considering the film was slated for a 2021 release.
Clearly though, the state of the world at the moment delayed that process, and for whatever reason, MGM have elected to go in a different direction. This may well be the best for all parties involved here. Green is on a creative hot streak and with this being the fourth Tomb Raider film we’re getting, it feels like a female director is definitely due.
For Wheatley, his latest film, Rebecca, was an expensive outing produced for Netflix and was arguably lacking in the edge that his usual uniquely-styled films normally deliver. He’s next signed up to direct The Meg 2, starring Jason Statham.
Tomb Raider 2 will mark Green’s feature debut. And although she has a busy slate with lots of writing projects in the mix- including a remake of Cleopatra Jones and Blood, a horror project – we’d imagine Tomb Raider 2 is now a major priority. For Wheatley, he shot a horror himself during lockdown. In the Earth should appear at some point in 2021, and is due to debut at the Sundance Film Festival this coming week.
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