MGM has lost the movie rights to Tomb Raider, which is now at the center of a Hollywood bidding war.

As The Wrap reports, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures had until May of this year to greenlight a sequel to 2018's Tomb Raider, starring Alicia Vikander. Now that the window has closed, a number of other studios are trying to snag the IP and next movie project—which currently has no cast or crew attached.

What began as an action-adventure video game has grown into a media franchise featuring spin-off titles, comics, novels, and, of course, movie adaptations. Fictional British archaeologist Lara Croft was first portrayed by Angelina Jolie in a pair of blockbuster movies in 2001 and 2003, then by Vikander four years ago.

A follow up to the 2018 flick had Lovecraft Country showrunner Misha Green in talks to write and direct. Kill List and Free Fire director Ben Wheatley was also set to take the helm, Deadline reported in 2019; production with Wheatley and Vikander was set to begin in early 2020.

Swedish firm Embracer recently acquired Tomb Raider game developer Crystal Dynamics, as well as all corresponding intellectual property (IP) from Square Enix, in a deal worth $300 million. In the company's Q4 and full year financial report, Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors said he sees great potential, not only in sequels, but also in remakes, remasters, spinoffs as well as transmedia projects for Tomb Raider.

Amazon acquired MGM in March for $8.45 billion, ensuring the studio's vast library of movies and TV shows will be available via Prime Video and Amazon Studios in the future. We're left wondering if allowing the Tomb Raider rights to lapse was an oversight due to the acquisition?