Great news today for Tomb Raider fans (of which I am one) with Deadline reporting that the GK Films have hired writers Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby to pen the script for the reboot of the franchise.

The pair worked together on Iron Man back in 2008, and have teamed up again with director Jon Favreau for Cowboys & Aliens, due out on 12th August here. Having a pair of writers that clearly already have a great chemistry and have penned a very successful films is definitely a strong first move for the reboot, and hiring Fergus and Ostby certainly sounds like a great choice.

THR quotes the pair as saying that they want to create an,

“origin story for Lara Croft that solidifies her place alongside Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor in the pantheon of great female action heroes.”

That sounds pretty good to me. Origin stories seem to be quite popular of late,  as long as they’re done well, I don’t see why that has to be a bad thing. Hiring Fergus and Ostby to tackle the project seems like a perfect fit; their early work on Children of Men won them an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, and following this up with writing for Iron Man demonstrated their ability to branch out into a totally different genre, and do it incredibly well. I personally can’t wait to see their work again in this Tomb Raider reboot. GK Films are planning a 2013 release for the film, so we shouldn’t have too long to wait for more pieces to start falling into place.

There have already been plenty of rumours circling about who’s going to be filling Angelina Jolie’s shoes, and Olivia Wilde’s name is one that has cropped up a lot. Unfortunately, she’s denied that she’s been told yet that she will be given the lead role. But she’s also said that she’d love to do it, and with no confirmation yet as to who will be playing Lara Croft, I remain hopeful that Wilde’s name is firmly at the top of the filmmakers’ list for the title role, because I think she would be absolutely perfect for it.

Whilst Jolie was already a rising star before her role in the original two films (Tomb Raider in 2001, and The Cradle of Life in 2003), they certainly didn’t hurt her position on Hollywood’s radar, and her career trajectory has been nothing but sky-bound since then. The lead male in each of the two films, on the other hand, was played by relatively unknowns at the time, Daniel Craig and Gerard Butler, respectively. They have both of course since gone on to make incredibly big names for themselves, so here’s to hoping a similar chance might be given to whoever stars opposite Croft’s recasting.

As of yet, there is no director attached to the project. However unlikely it may be, if Jon Favreau were to sign on to the project to work with Fergus and Ostby again, I think I would probably keel over from anticipation. As it stands, no names have been mentioned about directors so far, so we have all of that to look forward to in the coming months. Now that the writers have been hired and have clearly already got ideas forming in their minds about where they want to take the project, it is just a matter of time before the casting begins.