Mortal Kombat is a 2021 American martial arts dark fantasy film based on the video-game series created by Ed Boon and John Tobias. The film serves as a reboot and is the third installment in the Mortal Kombat film series. Directed by Simon McQuoid from a screenplay by Greg Russo and David Callaham, it stars Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Tadanobu Asano, Mehcad Brooks, Ludi Lin, Chin Han, Max Huang, Joe Taslim, and Hiroyuki Sanada. The film follows Cole Young, a washed-up mixed martial arts fighter who discovers he is among a group of fighters chosen to defend Earthrealm against malevolent forces from Outworld in the eponymous Mortal Kombat tournament.
Following the critical and commercial failure of Mortal Kombat Annihilation (1997), a third Mortal Kombat film languished in development hell for a period of nearly two decades. In late 2010, Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema began developing a new film, with Kevin Tancharoen serving as director from a script written by Oren Uziel in the wake of their short film Mortal Kombat: Rebirth (2010). James Wan was announced as a producer in August 2015 and McQuoid was hired as director in November 2016. Production took place at Adelaide Studios in Adelaide and at other locations in South Australia. Principal photography occurred from September to December 2019.
Mortal Kombat was released internationally on April 8, 2021, and in the United States on April 23, simultaneously in theaters in Dolby Cinema, IMAX, and 4DX formats and on the streaming service HBO Max. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the performances, production values, action sequences, and faithfulness to the source material as compared to the previous films, but criticized its screenplay and exposition. The film grossed over $84 million against a $55 million production budget and became HBO Max's most successful film launch to date.
A sequel, Mortal Kombat II, was released on May 8, 2026, also directed by McQuoid and written by Jeremy Slater.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
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