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Mortal Kombat is an 2021 American martial arts fantasy action film directed by Simon McQuoid (in his feature directorial debut) from a screenplay by Greg Russo and Dave Callaham and a story by Oren Uziel and Russo. It is based on the video game franchise of the same name created by Ed Boon and John Tobias, serving as a reboot to the Mortal Kombat film series and the third installment overall. The film will star Ludi Lin, Joe Taslim, Tadanobu Asano, Jessica McNamee, Mehcad Brooks, Josh Lawson, Lewis Tan, Chin Han, and Hiroyuki Sanada.
Following the critical and commercial failure of the 1997 film Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, a third film languished in development hell for a period of nearly two decades. In late 2010, Warner Bros., which acquired the franchise from Midway Games in 2009, began developing a new Mortal Kombat film, with Kevin Tancharoen serving as director from a script written by Uziel in the wake of his Mortal Kombat: Rebirth short film. Wan was announced as a producer in August 2015 and McQuoid was hired as director in November 2016. Production took place at Adelaide Studios and other locations in South Australia. Principal photography occurred from September to December 2019.
Mortal Kombat is scheduled to be released in theaters and on the HBO Max streaming service by Warner Bros. Pictures on April 16, 2021.
In 17th-century Japan, Lin Kuei assassins led by Bi-Han kill the warriors of the rival Shirai Ryu ninja clan led by Hanzo Hasashi, including Hanzo's wife and son. Hanzo kills the attackers before being killed by Bi-Han, resulting in his soul being condemned to the Netherrealm. Raiden, god of thunder, arrives and takes Hanzo's surviving infant daughter to safety.
In the present, the realm of Outworld has defeated Earthrealm in nine of ten tournaments known as "Mortal Kombat"; if Earthrealm loses the tenth tournament, the rules state it will be conquered by Outworld. However, an ancient prophecy states that the "blood of Hanzo Hasashi" will unite a new generation of Earthrealm's champions to prevent Outworld's victory. Aware of this, soul-eating sorcerer Shang Tsung, who has overseen the last nine victories, sends his warriors to kill Earthrealm's champions, identified by a dragon mark, before the next tournament begins. One such champion, a former professional MMA fighter named Cole Young, is attacked alongside his family by Bi-Han, who now calls himself Sub-Zero. However, Special Forces Major Jackson "Jax" Briggs rescues the Youngs, directing them to find his partner, Sonya Blade. Jax stays to battle Sub-Zero but loses his arms in the process.
Cole tracks Sonya to her hideout, where she is interrogating a captive Australian mercenary named Kano. She reveals that she and Jax have been investigating Mortal Kombat's existence and that the dragon mark can be transferred to anyone who kills the original bearer. They are attacked by Shang Tsung's assassin, Syzoth, but Kano kills him with Cole and Sonya's help. They travel to Raiden's temple and meet current Earthrealm champions Liu Kang and Kung Lao before being brought to Raiden, who is critical of the newcomers. They are joined by Jax, whom Raiden rescued and fitted with a set of mechanical arms. Shang Tsung attempts to attack the temple, but is stopped when Raiden shields it from intrusion. While Sonya helps Jax recover, Cole and Kano train with Kang and Lao to unlock their "Arcana", a special power unique to all dragon mark bearers.
During an argument, Kano awakens his arcana, the ability to shoot a laser out of his right eye. Cole is unable to awaken his despite his persistence. Disappointed with Cole, Raiden sends him back to his family, while revealing that he is a descendant of Hasashi. Shang Tsung gathers his warriors, including Kano's former ally, Kabal, to attack the temple. Kabal convinces Kano to defect and sabotage the shield. During the fray, Jax awakens his arcana, granting him superhuman strength and upgraded arms. Concurrently, the Youngs are attacked by Goro. Cole rouses his arcana, giving him a suit of armor and a set of tonfas. He kills Goro and helps repel the attack on the temple. Shang Tsung and Sub-Zero are infuriated when Raiden discloses Cole's bloodline before he teleports most of the Earthrealm fighters to the Void, a safe space between realms. Lao, however, saves Cole from Sub-Zero and has his soul taken by Shang Tsung.
Cole proposes a plan to force Outworld's champions into a single combat with those from the Earthrealm before neutralizing Sub-Zero together, forcing the tournament that Shang Tsung tried to prevent. Agreeing with the plan, Raiden gives Cole Hanzo's kunai, which still has Hanzo's blood on it, telling him that using it would get Hanzo's spirit to fight alongside him. Raiden transports Cole and his allies to their targets. While defeating Outworld's champions, Sonya kills Kano and acquires his dragon mark, while also getting the ability to fire purple energy blasts as her own arcana, which she also uses to kill Mileena. Sub-Zero abducts Cole's family to lure him into a one-on-one fight. Overpowered by Sub-Zero, Cole uses the kunai and drains Hanzo's blood left on it, releasing Hanzo as the vengeful specter, Scorpion. Recognizing Cole as his descendant, Scorpion helps him defeat Sub-Zero and free his family before immolating Sub-Zero with hellfire. Thanking Cole for freeing him and requesting that he take care of the Hasashi bloodline, Scorpion departs as Raiden, the other champions, and Shang Tsung arrive.
Shang Tsung vows that next time he will bring armies instead of individual fighters as he sends his champions' corpses back to Outworld before Raiden banishes him. Raiden declares his intention to train new warriors in preparation for the next tournament and assigns his current champions to recruit them. Cole then departs to Los Angeles in search of Hollywood martial artist and movie star, Johnny Cage.
In 2010, director Kevin Tancharoen released an eight-minute short film titled Mortal Kombat: Rebirth, made as a pitch to Warner Bros. Pictures of a reboot of the Mortal Kombat film franchise. In September 2011, New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. announced that Tancharoen was hired to direct a new feature-length film from a screenplay by Mortal Kombat: Rebirth writer Oren Uziel, with the intention of aiming for an R rating. Shooting was expected to begin in March 2012 with a budget projected at between $40–50 million and a release date of 2013. However, the project was ultimately delayed due to budget constraints, and Tancharoen began working on the second season of the web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy until problems with the film had been sorted out, but he quit the film production in October 2013.
James Wan signed on as the film's producer in August 2015. Simon McQuoid was hired as director in November 2016, marking his feature directorial debut, with Greg Russo writing the script. Russo tweeted in February 2019 that the film's script was complete. In May 2019, it was announced that the film had entered pre-production and would be shot in South Australia, with a release date of March 5, 2021. Russo tweeted in July 2019 that the film would indeed have an R rating and that the games' Fatalities would "finally be on the big screen".
Casting[]
Joe Taslim was the first actor cast for the production in July 2019, as Sub-Zero. In August, Mehcad Brooks, Tadanobu Asano, Sisi Stringer, and Ludi Lin were cast in the roles of Jax, Raiden, Mileena, and Liu Kang respectively. Later that month, Josh Lawson, Jessica McNamee, Chin Han and Hiroyuki Sanada were cast as Kano, Sonya Blade, Shang Tsung and Scorpion respectively, with Lewis Tan in an undisclosed role. On September 16, 2019, it was announced that Max Huang had been cast as Kung Lao. Elissa Cadwell was announced as having been cast as Nitara on November 11, 2019. Matilda Kimber was cast in an undisclosed role on December 4, 2019.
Filming[]
Production took place at Adelaide Studios and other locations in South Australia. Shooting lasted from September 16, 2019 to December 13. Todd Garner stated that "we have more days to shoot" in his statement regarding the film's release delay.
Music[]
The score for Mortal Kombat was composed by Benjamin Wallfisch. In March 2021, director Simon McQuoid revealed that Wallfisch actually began compositions for the film before he was officially hired on the project and that the film will include a new version of the track "Techno Syndrome" by The Immortals, produced by Wallfisch.
Release[]
Marketing[]
On January 15, 2021, which was when the film was initially set to release prior to being delayed due the COVID-19 pandemic, Entertainment Weekly released a first look of the film, which contained several behind the scenes photos. On February 17, 2021, a series of character posters were released for the film, along with the next announcement that the film's first trailer would be released the following day. On February 18, 2021, the first red band trailer for the film was released online. The film's first trailer had become the most-watched red-band trailer until the release of the first trailer of The Suicide Squad a month later.
Theatrical and streaming[]
Mortal Kombat was theatrically released internationally, beginning on April 8, 2021, and was later released in the United States on April 23, 2021, in both theaters in Dolby Cinema, IMAX and 4DX and on HBO Max. The film was originally going to be released on March 5, 2021, before being moved up to January 15, 2021. In November 2020, producer Todd Garner confirmed that the film would be delayed until theaters are reopened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, before it was finally dated for release on April 16 in 3D. As part of its plans for all of its 2021 films, Warner Bros. also streamed the film simultaneously on the HBO Max service for one month, after which the film was removed until the normal home media release schedule period. In Australia and New Zealand, the film was released onto Netflix in January 2022 despite it's HBO Max release elsewhere due to the service's [HBO Max] lack of availability outside of North America.
In late March 2021, the film was delayed one week to April 23. The film was released in Japan on June 18, 2021, despite not having Mortal Kombat games released officially in the country due to CERO gaming rules concerning excessive gore.
Home media[]
Mortal Kombat was released on Digital HD on June 11, 2021 and on DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on July 13, 2021.
Earthrealm: Cage Mansion • Fire Temple • Subway • Wu Shi Academy Outworld: Dead Pool • Living Forest • Soul Chamber • Sun Do • Netherrealm: Kronika's Keep Other realms: Edenia • The Hourglass
Objects
Amulet of Shinnok • Razor-Rimmed Hat • Wrath Hammer
Beth Stelling: Girl Daddy • Conan O'Brien's Team Coco Presents: James Veitch: Straight to VHS • HA Comedy Festival: The Art of Comedy • Rose Matafeo: Horndog • Chelsea Handler: Evolution
