Since its origins, comic book culture has gone a long way. It was originally considered a fringe passion for socially awkward nerds, but that attitude altered with the release of popular comic book adaptations featuring actors like Christopher Reeve and Michael Keaton in the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, the actual game changer for the comic book business was Walt Disney’s acquisition of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) rights in 2009. The MCU, which has now grown to 30 films, has grossed over $25 billion globally, making it the highest-grossing series in history.
This success has not gone ignored by other media companies, who are now attempting to replicate the MCU model in order to partake in the revenues. Amazon, in particular, has ambitious aspirations to build its own media world based on the popular video game series “Tomb Raider.”
Amazon has revealed multiple projects based on “Tomb Raider,” a female archaeologist-themed video game brand that debuted in 1996. The brand has already produced 20 video games and two films, and Amazon now intends to transform it into its own media universe, with a film, TV show, and new video game in the works.
For this project, Amazon has partnered with Dmitri M. Johnson’s dj2 Entertainment, which is reported to be one of Amazon’s greatest commitments after the “Lord of the Rings” series. Phoebe Waller-Bridge, an actress and screenwriter, is working on the screenplay for the future TV series, while Crystal Dynamics is in the early phases of producing the Amazon-exclusive video game. This will be Amazon’s first single-player narrative product, as well as the biggest video game franchise it has acquired to date.
MGM formerly controlled the rights to the “Tomb Raider” property for nine years, but they were lost in May 2022 after MGM failed to greenlight a sequel to the 2018 film. This sparked a bidding battle for the IP, which Amazon eventually won.
While Amazon is developing their “Tomb Raider” media universe, Netflix is developing a “Tomb Raider” animated picture with Legendary, the production studio famed for “Dune” and the “Enola Holmes” series.
To summarise, Amazon’s venture into comic book adaptations is a risky decision. Still, with the success of the MCU as a model and the “Tomb Raider” series as a foundation, it has the potential to be a game changer for the corporation. Only time will tell whether Amazon can establish itself as a key role in the comic book adaptations market by creating its own MCU.
