Netflix's Tomb Raider Series Follows A Popular Video Game Adaptation Trend

Summary

Netflix’sTomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croftis now streaming and adheres to a popular trend with video game adaptations nowadays. The TV series continues the story of Crystal Dynamics’Tomb Raider games, but unlike otherTomb Raideradaptations, it isn’t in live-action.

Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Crofttakes place after the events of theSurvivortrilogy of games (Tomb Raider, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Shadow of the Tomb Raider). It stars Hayley Atwell as the voice of the iconic action hero, Lara Croft, who embarks on a globetrotting adventure after an artifact is stolen from Croft Manor. The series comes from creator Tasha Huo, who also worked onThe Witcherprequel seriesBlood Origin. Notably,Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croftdoesn’t try and retreadthe path of oldTomb Raidermovies, instead, for the franchise’s television debut, it uses the format of animation.

Release date

Number of episodes

8

Streaming on

Netflix

Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croftis depicted in an anime style with animation done by Powerhouse Animation Studios. The studio previously worked on titles likeMasters of the Universe: Revelationand this gives theTomb Raiderseries a vibrant 90s cartoon look and feel. Powerhouse Animation also worked on another video game adaptation in the same style,Castlevania, which adds to a growing trend in the industry right now thatsees video games adapted into animated series.

Looking at the video game adaptations that have occurred over recent years, quite a number of them have gone the animation route. CD Projekt Red’sCyberpunk 2077got an anime series on Netflix titledCyberpunk: Edgerunners, which landed a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score. The studio also confirmedanother adaptation ofCyberpunk 2077is in the works with Netflix, also in an animated style. Netflix is also responsible for other animated video game adaptations, such as the aforementionedCastlevaniaseries,Dota: Dragon’s Blood,Arcane: League of Legends, andDragon Age: Absolution.

This trend is also one that is not slowing down. Netflix has already confirmed ananimated adaptation ofDevil May Cryis in the works and an animated series titledSplinter Cell: Deathwatchwith Liev Schreiber will soon be released by the streamer. Additionally, there are plans to adapt Xbox’sGears of Warfranchise into an adult animated series.

Why Are So Many Video Game Adaptations Turning to Animation?

As video game adaptations become more popular in Hollywood, animation is frequently becoming the go-to genre to adapt these franchises. The reasoning is pretty clear, they’re consistently successful. Most animated video game adaptations have scored over 90% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes, but they also are often well-received by fans of these franchises. In a world that has seen so manyfailed video game adaptations, that’s a winning formula.

There’s also the fact that animation is much cheaper to commission than a live-action series, particularly for some of the video game franchises that demand fantastical worlds or massive action set pieces. TakeTomb Raider, for example. The2018 film starring Alicia Vikandercost almost $100 million to make and barely broke even at the box office. In contrast,Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croftwas able to venture to multiple different countries in one season, engage in many high-stakes action sequences over a vast array of biomes, and create a visually interesting representation of fantasy elements that would otherwise take hundreds of hours to do in CGI. To achieve this in live-action, while possible, would quickly skyrocket the budget, but the Netflix series manages to do it just as efficiently and cost-effectively in animation.

Video games and animation also share an inherent foundation. Video games have long been a place where creatives can push the boundaries of different animation styles. Some games aim to simulate reality, likeThe Last of UsorDetroit: Become Human, while others embrace the creative freedom animation can provide, likeCuphead, The Plucky Squire, orSpiritfarer. Translating these types of games into an animated series or movie is far more natural than trying to force them into live-action. It can be done, of course, but with varying results; take fans' reactions toSonic the Hedgehogorthe upcomingMinecraftmovie, for instance.

There also seems to be a trend of video game adaptations choosing the animated series format over animated movies. While some adaptations, like theSuper Mario Bros. Movie, have seen great successin the film format, an episodic format seems to work better for larger open-world game adaptations. Franchises likeCyberpunk 2077orDragon Ageare set in large expansive worlds with lots of different characters and lore to explore. Spreading this out over 8–10 episodes allows the creators to adapt the story of these franchises far more faithfully than trying to squeeze it all into a 2-hour movie.

Tomb Raiderhas typically been a narrative-driven action-adventure game, so it does work in the feature film format. But the Netflix series has proven that Lara Croft’s story also works equally well when given time to breathe over multiple episodes and that it can be portrayed just as faithfully in an anime style.

Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croftis now streaming on Netflix.