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Lara Croft boosts British cinema

There's actually a study that says as much...

Lara Croft's second big screen outing helped attract more than £500m (€755m) to British film making last year, a government backed study has revealed. The study, released by the Film Council, show that £566.88m was spent on making films in the UK during 2002.

Angelina Jolie's second turn as Croft is considered one of the key reasons, along with James Bond's recent outing in Die Another Day. Both films were shot mainly in the UK, contributing to a £22m (€33m) rise in film industry investment.

The second Tomb Raider film remains in production, with Chris Barrie already confirmed to reprise his role as, um, Hillary. The film is being directed by Jan de Bont, and will be called Lara Croft and the Cradle Of Life.

One hopes that the financial repercussions of the film's production won't be the only good thing to come out of it.

The next Tomb Raider game - Angel of Darkness - is due out next month from Eidos. Screenshots here.