Box Office Performance
Despite the slightly more favourable critical response, Cradle of Life suffered a disappointing opening weekend, as it debuted in fourth place with a take of $21.8 million, a 54% drop from the original's opening gross of $47.7 million. In the UK, the film opened up at number three, earning £1.5 million in its first three days. The film finished with a domestic gross of only $65 million, therefore relying on the foreign box office to make a profit; making it a box office bomb.
Overall, 2003 was not a good year for the Tomb Raider franchise. Paramount blamed the failure of Cradle of Life on the poor performance of the then-latest installment of the video game series, Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness. After numerous delays, Angel of Darkness was rushed to shelves just over a month before the release of the movie, despite the final product being unfinished and loaded with glitches. It spawned mediocre sales while garnering mixed reviews from critics, and former Eidos senior executive Jeremy Heath-Smith, who was also credited as an executive producer in the film, resigned days after the game was released.
In March 2004, producer Lloyd Levin said that Cradle of Life had earned enough internationally for Paramount to bankroll a second sequel, but any hopes of it going into production were soon quelled by Jolie's announcement that she had no desire to play Lara Croft a third time. "I just don't feel like I need to do another one. I felt really happy with the last one. It was one we really wanted to do."
Read more about this topic: Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life
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