Gun-toting cyberbabe Lara Croft will roam the wild mountains of Wales when filming begins for a sequel to her Tomb Raider movie.

Paramount Features had hoped to shoot parts of Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Fire on the Great Wall of China, but were refused permission to film at the landmark.

They will now use Snowdonia and other locations in Gwynedd as the backdrop to the second big-screen blockbuster to star the edgy computer game heroine, played by Angelina Jolie.

Snowdonia will be used by the Tomb Raider crew

But locals will be pushed to identify their home at the cinema.

Post-production masters will use computer-generated imaging (CGI) retouching effects to make the place look more like the movie's actual China setting.

The North Wales Film Commission, which exists to promote the region as a production base, said it was a boost for the local economy.

The fictional character of English globe-trotter Croft first appeared in Core Design's series of Tomb Raider video games in 1995 and has become a �650m multi-media star.

Greek scenes

The first movie, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, leaped to the top of the UK box office and netted �3.8m in its first week when it was released last July.

In the sequel, she embarks on a perilous mission to save the world from an evil Chinese crime syndicate led by oriental crime lord Chen Lo.

We are delighted they have chosen to film here and we will be working closely with them

Wales Screen Commission

Jolie, 27, will star alongside Scottish actor Gerard Butler, who plays Croft's former lover Terry Sheridan, and ex Red Dwarf favourite Chris Barrie, who plays her butler.

Underwater sequences are being shot on the picturesque Greek island of Santorini in the Aegean Sea from 26 to 31 August.

Paramount Features said producers would arrive at north west Wales in September for a week-long shoot.

Smooth production

The North Wales Film Commission's information manager Carwyn Edwards said: "Producers will use local companies and services, injecting money into the local economy."

It is an area hard hit by the foot-and-mouth crisis of 2001, which reportedly prompted 20 production companies to abandon shoots in the region.

Croft has switched from console to cinema

And the Wales Screen Commission - set up in August to run alongside Wales' three regional film bodies - said sites around the region would be used.

"The film company is looking at about half a dozen locations in north west Wales," a spokesperson said.

"We are delighted they have chosen to film here and we will be working closely with them to ensure everything goes smoothly."

He said it was unclear whether Croft herself will appear for filming in Wales.