Lara Croft

Culture, Diversity, Leadership and role model - Lara Croft, born from imagination and innovation is at the Heart of the Midlands.

Lara Croft made in the Heart of the Midlands

Core Design, a subsidiary of Eidos, created Lara Croft as the lead protagonist of its video game Tomb Raider, which began development in 1993.

Based in Derby, Core Design was founded in 1988 by Chris Shrigley, Andy Green, Rob Toone, Terry Lloyd, Simon Phipps, Dave Pridmore, Jeremy Heath-Smith, Kevin Norburn and Greg Holmes.

Most were former employees of Gremlin Graphics. Core had a brief history of producing titles for the Sega consoles, such as Thunderhawk for Mega-CD and the original Tomb Raider game for the Saturn. Core Design was located at 55 Ashbourne Road in Derby during the development of the original Tomb Raider.

 

Lara Croft Tomb Raider computer game

The success of the Saturn debut of the original Tomb Raider a full month and a half ahead of the PlayStation version, Sony decided to use the brand to boost sales of its own console. In September 1997, Sony's U.S. arm, SCEA, signed an exclusivity deal to keep the franchise on their consoles.

The agreement was extended to include Tomb Raider III. The fourth and fifth games in the franchise, Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation and Tomb Raider Chronicles respectively, were released for Sega Dreamcast.

 

"Tomb Raider" (1996) — Lara Croft's first appearance

Lara and her environment were rendered in full 3D with an orchestrated score, helping create an atmosphere way beyond what was possible with earlier technology. Croft's blend of sex appeal and gunslinger action-hero attitude spoke directly to a generation of gamers eager to prove that their hobby wasn't just for kids.

 

With pre-rendered cut scenes, voice acting, and no shortage of violence, "Tomb Raider" was one of the first video game franchises to maintain a mature, cinematic aesthetic that continues to serve as an influence for countless action games. The success of the original "Tomb Raider" in 1996 can be credited to the fact that it really showed off the power of the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn consoles, which were released worldwide just a year earlier.

 

Lara Croft transition to the movies

After the release of the first "Tomb Raider" in 1996, Lara Croft's rise as a poster child for video games was perhaps both unstoppable and inevitable. As a fictional character and the main protagonist of the video game franchise Tomb Raider, Lara Croft was admired by both sexes as a strong woman.

 

She is presented as a highly intelligent and athletic English archaeologist who ventures into ancient tombs and hazardous ruins around the world. As the computer game franchise became a smash hit, production for a "Tomb Raider" film began as early as 1998, with Angelina Jolie eventually being chosen to play the title role. Despite Jolie's own mega-celebrity status, some fans of the game suggested that she still couldn't compare to the video game heroine.

 

"Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" released in 2001 and starring Angelina Jolie

"Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" was released in 2001 and earned more than $270 million worldwide at the box office on a budget of $115 million. In the movie the video game adventurer Lara Croft comes to life. The orphaned heiress and intrepid archaeologist, Lara Croft, embarks on a dangerous quest to retrieve the two halves of an ancient artefact which controls time before it falls into the wrong hands. As an extremely rare planetary alignment is about to occur for the first time in 5,000 years, the fearless tomb raider will have to team up with rival adventurers and sworn enemies to collect the pieces, while time is running out.

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