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It was a shrewd move that capitalised on her sex symbol status by having her embody a pixelated character who already held that reputation in more angular form. The film’s $274 million tally at the box office made it the highest-grossing video game adaptation ever made, capitalising on the devotion of a massive fan base.
It was a record that would stand for almost a decade until it was surpassed by Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time in 2010. Still, it’s not as if anyone is going to try to defend Tomb Raider as one of the greatest movies to emerge from Jolie’s long, distinguished, illustrious, and eminently successful career.
She was admittedly pitch-perfect casting in the title role, but everything that surrounded her wasn’t of a similar standard, not that it did a thing to dent its commercial prospects. Beyond that, though, the production ended up having a monumental impact on Jolie’s life away from the bright lights of being on set.
Large sections of Tomb Raider were shot on location in Cambodia, which made it the first major film to use the country as a location since 1964. Instantly falling in love with her surroundings, Jolie became so enamoured with the nation and its people – and aware of their often-troubling circumstances – that she made a life-altering decision.
Months before Tomb Raider was released, Jolie had been named an ambassador by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In March 2002, the actor shared a statement with People Magazine announcing that she and her then-husband Billy Bob Thornton had adopted a seven-and-a-half-month-old Cambodian boy named Maddox.
“Last November, we visited an orphanage in Cambodia and met a little boy we felt a connection to and that we wanted to be our son,” the statement read, but it was far from a straightforward process. The United States government halted the process, having banned Cambodian adoptions following allegations of child trafficking. Still, even though the person who facilitated her being granted custody of Maddox was convicted of visa fraud and money laundering, Maddox was with his new family by the time Jolie started work on Beyond Borders in late 2002.
If it wasn’t for Tomb Raider pitching up in Cambodia to utilise the stunning local scenery, then Jolie would have never found herself in the position of adopting her first child, which would have fundamentally altered the course of her off-screen life. Shame the movie wasn’t up to much, but that mattered little to the star in the long run.
