International box-office success has saved a lot of franchises. From the "Alien" franchise to the careers of Arnie, Sly, Van Damme, etc. - certain types of action blockbusters do far better business outside the US than within, sometimes enough to justify further movies.
The first "Tomb Raider" made a ton of money everywhere despite its almost unanimous panning, so a sequel seemed in order. A sequel was done last year and while people considered it better in general, the degree of improvement was marginal but the box-office at least domestically was drastically lower. Despite that though a third adventure for Lara Croft may still happen it seems.
According to TR Chronicles, Producer Lloyd Levin has said international returns were more than respectable enough to ensure a final chapter in the Tomb Raider motion picture trilogy despite domestic indifference, according to an article in the Official Playstation Magazine (U.S) this coming March 2004. By respectable, theatre taking across the globe for the film were a so-so $165 million, but the DVD sales have been good.
A day after this news came to light, actor Chris Barrie who plays Croft's butler Hilary in the films, added to the talk with UK tabloid The Sun by dropping in this quote - "At least I'm now going for these things and without Tomb Raider I don't think I'd even be doing that. It's been good to be part of such a successful franchise. There is a third Tomb Raider film on the slate and I'm hoping Hillary will be back. The perfect storyline would be that Hillary turns out to be both the arch-baddie and Lara's love interest! Although I'm not sure how Angelina would feel about that".
Thanks to 'Justin' & 'Tom'.
