Recently, Polygon caught up with Rebecca director Ben Wheatley to discuss his new Netflix movie (which hasn't received the warmest of responses from critics). The subject of his Tomb Raider sequel was also broached, and he acknowledged that, "It's kind of in the mists of COVID at the moment in terms of what's going on."
Despite remaining tight-lipped on his plans for Lara Croft, Wheatley did say: "Video games have trouble crossing back into cinema because they are born out of cinema, but the the magic sauce is interaction, which you're then removing back out of the game to put it back into a film. That's the trick the back and forth of it, and that's why it's been very hard to make things successful."
Now, he's going to have a little more time to master bringing a video game to the big screen because The Wrap is reporting that MGM has taken Tomb Raider 2 off the release calendar.
The sequel was first announced back in 2019, and it's been clear for a while now that it wouldn't meet its planned March 19th release date. MGM is believed to be losing around $1 million a month due to No Time to Die's delay, so it's likely this follow-up is no longer a priority for them.
Here's hoping it's not already "game over" for the latest iteration of the Tomb Raider franchise.