PARAMOUNT LAUNCHES DVD CHALLENGE
Copyright 2001 www.tombraiderchronicles.com

[ November 15th 2001 ]

When the $130 million smash hit Lara Croft: Tomb Raider with Oscar winner Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft, arrived on DVD on Tuesday, Paramount Home Entertainment included a groundbreaking DVD-ROM online experience.

This experience is exclusively available via the DVD itself and runs the entire length of the film, allowing fans to play, race and shoot their way through the movie along with Lara Croft. To access the DVD Interactive Challenge, viewers must first place The Special Collector's Edition DVD of Lara Croft: Tomb Raidder in their PC's DVD-ROM drive and click the 'Online Experience' menu option.

Once activated, this allows viewers to see the movie playing on their screen, while they play, race, shoot and puzzle over multiple contests of skill and general trivia in the bottom of their screen directly themed to what Lara Croft is experiencing on screen. When Lara is shooting, viewers can shoot too - when her target is on screen! Shoot when Lara is on screen and she will take the hit instead.

A life meter alerts the player to his or her vital signs and inventory items such as Med Packs, Gem Stones and Flares can be used to maximize one's score. Over 20 additional contests including other rapid-fire survival skills, navigation and sequence puzzles, and over 200 trivia questions are available.

The DVD Interactive Challenge was created by North Hollywood-based One-K Studios, a creative services firm which specializes in high-end graphic design and entertainment interface content. Made up of award-winning art directors, designers, producers, animators and programmers, One-K is committed to creating cutting-edge DVD supplemental content.

The Lara Croft: Tomb Raider DVD also includes InterActual player software, which enhances movie viewing on DVD-ROM PCs and enables compelling marketing and entertainment features, such as this first-of-its-kind exclusive online experience.

In Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Lara Croft (Jolie) is a resilient, sexy, armed adventurer who was born into wealth and groomed at the most elite schools. Traveling to dangerous and mysterious locales around the globe, Lara is in constant search of rare, lost crypts and long-forgotten empires. Her only desire is extreme adventure. But now she must face her greatest challenge yet: to find two halves of an ancient artifact buried in space and time. To possess it means ultimate power for its possessor.

Once whole, this ancient object gives the bearer the godlike power to control time and even undo the past. But to get there, Lara must first take on a powerful and dangerous secret society, the Illuminati. The fate of mankind now rests in the hands of Lara Croft. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider story by Sara B. Cooper and Mike Werb & Michael Colleary, adaptation by Simon West, screenplay by Patrick Massett & John Zinman, directed by Simon West.

Beautiful and brainy, Lara Croft is the heroine of Eidos Interactive's phenomenally successful "Tomb Raider" game series. Lara Croft has become a worldwide phenomenon since her debut in 1996. She was the first female to star in her own action game series, which comprises the original "Tomb Raider" along with "Tomb Raider II," "Tomb Raider III: The Adventures of Lara Croft" and "Tomb Raider: The Lost Revelation."

The fifth and most recent game in the series, "Tomb Raider: Chronicles," is just as popular as the previous four games and is already a huge success. The games, which have sold a total of 24 million units, have each topped the PlayStation and PC game best-seller lists, and combined sales of games and game-related merchandise have surpassed $500 million.

The DVD of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is presented in widescreen format enhanced for 16:9 televisions. The audio tracks feature Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround and English and French Dolby Surround. The DVD is closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and sub-titled in English.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is priced to own at $29.99 (S.R.P.) in the U.S. and C$39.99 (S.R.P.) in Canada. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is rated PG-13 (for action violence and some sensuality) in the U.S. by the Motion Picture Association of America and is rated PG in Canada. It has a running time of approximately 100 minutes and is encoded with the Macrovision Anti-Copy process.