No one would confuse the first Tomb Raider movie with Oscar material, but the original Lara Croft cinema adventure earned a cool $131 million at the box office -- and it's hard to imagine that the writers and producers of the sequel, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life won't be able to come up with a better story this time around, so the prospects for this big budget 'tentpole' movie are solid.  While there is not as much Tomb Raider merchandise available now as there was in 2001, once again the folks at Paramount have come out with a poster that is a real knockout.  With the curvaceous Angelina Jolie clad in that skintight silver suit and shot from a low angle, this poster knows how to make the most of the property's powerful iconography.  Here's an image that will grace thousands of bedrooms and dormitories across the nation, and provide retailers with a way to profit from a potential summer blockbuster.

But retailers shouldn't neglect the potential of some of the other Tomb Raider paper goods.  Top Cow is still publishing two Tomb Raider comics and also has a backlist of three Tomb Raider graphic novels along with the Tomb Raider/Witchblade crossover books.  And once again Inkworks will issue a series of trading cards for the film, which will include Angelina Jolie autographed cards as well as 'relic' cards containing pieces of the actual costumes worn in the film including the spectacular silver wetsuit.