Tomb Raider movie set photos show Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft

The first photos of Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft have surfaced from the location shoot of Warner Bros' upcoming big screen reboot of iconic video game series Tomb Raider. The film entered full production in late January.

Judging from the set photos, it seems Crystal Dynamics' rebooted Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider games are the biggest source of inspiration when it comes to the look of Vikander's archaeologist action hero.

In fact, her costume looks nigh-on identical to the new take on Croft – played in the games by Camilla Luddington.

Directed by Roar Uthaug, the new Tomb Raider adventure is the first big screen outing for the character since 2003's Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, which starred Angelina Jolie in the title role.

Walton Goggins will star opposite the Oscar-winning actress as Father Mathias Vogel, the film's villain, while The Wire star Dominic West will play Lara Croft's father Lord Richard Croft.

In the film, Lara Croft will set out on an expedition to complete her father's research and restore his tarnished reputation. Naturally, things go wrong, and the expedition turns into a fight for survival.

Vikander is best known for roles in instant sci-fi classic Ex Machina and The Danish Girl, for which she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 2016.

Last year, Vikander confirmed the game would be based on the 2013 video game reboot, telling Uproxx it will be an origin story. "You get into an emotional aspect of getting to know Lara hopefully in an in-depth way," she said. "So I hope that doing a film of the rebooted game will bring something new and fresh that'll stand on its own two legs."

Goggins meanwhile, told Yahoo! Movies: "[Director Uthaug] is an extraordinarily talented filmmaker, and Alicia Vikander I've met a few times, we have some friends in common, but I just think she's one of the greatest contributions to any generation of actors, man.

"That for me was just a wonderful opportunity. But more importantly, the story is so good. It's so good! For me, it's like Raiders of the Lost Ark meets a genre version of the Joseph Conrad novel Victory: An Island Tale. I just jumped at the chance."

Speaking to IBTimes UK last year, Crystal Dynamics' senior community manager Meagan Marie revealed that the film's production has been working closely with the game developer. "They definitely consult with us. It is their movie, they have that creative control, but they've shared scripts and so on, so it's exciting to see that they definitely value our opinion as the experts."

Marie also voiced her approval of Vikander, saying: "She's so great. She's very excited, and having watched a lot of her past work, I think she's got that great blend of fierceness but also vulnerability that I think Lara's great for.

"The director, Roar... he just did a film called The Wave. It's about this cataclysmic event that happens, this absolutely insane situation, but it focuses on the story of a family within that. They're trying to survive and struggling through that. It's this amazing blend of intimate story-telling and narrative and character with this outlandish apocalyptic almost setting. It's really kind of easy to see how that would translate into telling something about this exceptional character in an extraordinary situation with Lara."

Production began on 23 January, and was marked with an Instagram post from director Uthaug. The film is set for release on 16 March 2018.

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