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Mortal Kombat (2021 film)

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Mortal Kombat
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySimon McQuoid
Screenplay by
Story by
  • Oren Uziel
  • Greg Russo
Based on
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyGermain McMicking
Edited by
  • Dan Lebental
  • Scott Gray
Music byBenjamin Wallfisch
Production
companies
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
Release dates
  • April 8, 2021 (2021-04-08) (International)
  • April 23, 2021 (2021-04-23) (United States)
Running time
110 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$10.7 million

Mortal Kombat is an American martial arts fantasy 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.[1] 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. The film stars Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Tadanobu Asano, Mehcad Brooks, Ludi Lin, Chin Han, Joe Taslim, and Hiroyuki Sanada.

Following the critical and commercial failure of the 1997 film Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, a third Mortal Kombat film languished in development hell for a period of nearly two decades. In late 2010, Warner Bros. Pictures, which parent company, Warner Bros. Entertainment, acquired the franchise from Midway Games in 2009, began developing a new film, with Kevin Tancharoen serving as director from a script written by Uziel in the wake of their Mortal Kombat: Rebirth short film. 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 theatrically released internationally on April 8, 2021, and scheduled to be released by Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema in the United States on April 23, 2021, simultaneously in theaters and on the HBO Max streaming service.

Plot

In the 17th century, Bi Han, an assassin for the Lin Kuei clan with ice powers, attacks and kills Hanzo Hasashi and his family. The only survivor is Hanzo's infant daughter, who is taken away by the thunder god Raiden, the protector of Earthrealm.

In the modern era, Outworld has won nine consecutive Mortal Kombat tournaments against Earthrealm, and just needs one more victory in the next tournament to conquer Earthrealm. The Outworld sorcerer Shang Tsung orders his warriors to seek out and eliminate Earthrealm's champions, who bear a dragon mark on their bodies, in order to ensure Earthrealm has no chance in the upcoming tournament.

Cole Young, a former MMA champion and a bearer of the dragon mark, and his family are attacked by Bi Han, now going by the name Sub-Zero. Cole is rescued by Jax, who also has a dragon mark. Jax tells Cole to escape with his family and seek out his partner Sonya Blade, while he stays behind to battle Sub-Zero. Sub-Zero freezes and shatters Jax's arms, then leaves him for dead.

Cole travels to Sonya's hideout, who tells him about the history of the Mortal Kombat tournament, and reveals that the dragon mark can be transferred by killing its bearer. Sonya has captured Kano, a mercenary of the Black Dragon clan, who had previously killed someone with the dragon mark, which had moved onto Kano's body. Sonya, however, does not have the mark. Sonya's hideout is attacked by a reptilian creature who can spit acid and turn invisible, but Cole, Sonya, and Kano work together to kill the creature.

Cole, Sonya, and Kano travel to Raiden's Temple, which has traditionally been the training ground for Earthrealm's warriors. They are met there by Shaolin warriors Liu Kang and Kung Lao, and encounter Raiden himself. They also find Jax there, who has survived his battle with Sub-Zero. The medical personnel at the Temple fit Jax with a set of mechanical arms, but he finds their power to be inadequate.

After Cole explains that he was born with the Dragon mark, Raiden reveals that Cole is a descendant of Hanzo Hasashi through Hanzo's infant daughter, and that Cole can use Hanzo's rope dart to reawaken the ancient ninja. Liu Kang and Kung Lao explain that every Earthrealm warrior with a dragon mark has a special power known as an "arcana", such as Liu Kang's ability to conjure fire with his hands. Therefore, the warriors at the Temple must find and awaken their arcanas if they are to stand a chance in Mortal Kombat. Soon, Kano finds his arcana: the ability to fire a laser from his eye. However, despite his best efforts, Cole cannot awaken his arcana, and Raiden, believing that Cole would be a liability against Outworld forces without an arcana, allows Cole to return to his family.

Shang Tsung attempts to assault Raiden's Temple with his warriors, but Raiden conjures an energy shield to keep them out. Kabal, one of Shang Tsung's followers and a former rival of Kano, persuades Kano to defect to Outworld's side and lower the shield. Shang Tsung's warriors attack, killing Kung Lao and trapping Sonya under rubble. Jax's arcana awakens, giving him a powerful set of mechanical arms, and he saves Sonya.

Cole is attacked at home by the four-armed Outworld warrior Goro. When Cole's family is threatened, his arcana awakens, giving him an armored suit over his skin and a set of bladed tonfas. With his newfound arcana, Cole kills Goro then rejoins the others at Raiden's Temple.

Cole proposes splitting up Outworld's warriors and taking them out individually. Raiden transports Earthrealm's champions to each of Outworld's warriors, and Earthrealm's fighters kill their opponents in one-on-one battles; Sonya kills Kano during this process and gains his dragon mark, while also awakening her own arcana: the ability to fire purple energy blasts from her hands.

Outworld's sole remaining fighter, Sub-Zero, abducts Cole's family and goads him into fighting him. Cole is initially overpowered by Sub-Zero, but when his blood touches Hanzo's rope dart, Hanzo is resurrected as the undead ninja Scorpion. Scorpion and Cole battle Sub-Zero together and kill him.

Shang Tsung appears and declares that he is undeterred by these setbacks, and that the Mortal Kombat tournament will proceed as expected. Raiden orders Earthrealm's warriors to find more champions to fight in the tournament and defend Earthrealm. Cole sets off for Hollywood to recruit Johnny Cage.

Cast

Production

Development

James Wan, Todd Garner (on the photo above), E. Bennett Walsh, and director Simon McQuoid serve as producers for the reboot.

In 1997, Robin Shou's original Mortal Kombat contract was a three-picture deal,[10] and Threshold Entertainment's production on a second sequel was initially scheduled to commence shortly after the release of Annihilation, but it was shelved due to Annihilation's poor reception and disappointing box-office performance. Attempts to produce a third film since then have remained stuck in development hell with numerous script rewrites and storyline, cast, and crew changes. A November 2001 poll on the official Mortal Kombat website hosted by Threshold asked fans which characters they believed would die in the third movie.[11] The 2005 destruction of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina greatly affected one of the film's planned shooting locations.[12] In June 2009, a bankruptcy court lawsuit saw Lawrence Kasanoff suing Midway Games while mentioning that a third film was in the works. Warner Bros. Pictures (which became the parent of New Line Cinema in 2008, after over a decade of both operating as separate divisions of Time Warner) ended up purchasing most of Midway's assets, including Mortal Kombat.[13]

In 2010, director Kevin Tancharoen released an eight-minute short film titled Mortal Kombat: Rebirth,[14] made as a pitch to Warner Bros. Pictures of a reboot of the Mortal Kombat film franchise.[15] 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,[16] with the intention of aiming for an R rating.[17] Shooting was expected to begin in March 2012 with a budget projected at between $40–50 million[18] and a release date of 2013.[19][20] 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.[21]

James Wan signed on as the film's producer in August 2015.[22] Simon McQuoid was hired as director in November 2016, marking his feature directorial debut, with Greg Russo writing the script.[23][24] Russo tweeted in February 2019 that the film's script was complete.[24] In May 2019, it was announced that the film had entered pre-production and would be shot in South Australia,[25] with a release date of March 5, 2021.[26] 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".[27]

Casting

Joe Taslim was the first actor cast for the production in July 2019, as Bi-Han, the first Sub-Zero.[28][29] In August, Mehcad Brooks, Tadanobu Asano, Sisi Stringer, and Ludi Lin were cast in the roles of Jax, Raiden, Mileena, and Liu Kang respectively.[30] 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 the role of Cole Young, an original character created for the film.[31][32] On September 16, 2019, it was announced that Max Huang had been cast as Kung Lao.[4] Elissa Cadwell was announced as having been cast as Nitara on November 11, 2019.[6] Matilda Kimber was cast in on December 4, 2019.[33]

Filming

Production took place at Adelaide Studios and other locations in South Australia.[34] Shooting lasted from September 16 to December 13, 2019.[35] Todd Garner stated that "we have more days to shoot" in his statement regarding the film's release delay.[36] The movie was shot on the ARRI ALEXA LF and Mini LF cameras with Panavision Anamorphic lenses.[37]

Music

The score for Mortal Kombat was composed by Benjamin Wallfisch.[38] 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[39] produced by Wallfisch.

Release

Theatrical and streaming

Mortal Kombat was theatrically released internationally, beginning on April 8, 2021,[40] and will later be released in the United States on April 23, 2021, in both theaters and on HBO Max.[41] The film was originally going to be released on March 5, 2021 before being moved up to January 15, 2021.[42] In November 2020, producer Todd Garner confirmed that the film would be delayed until theaters are reopened due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[36] before it was finally dated for release on April 16.[43] As part of its plans for all of its 2021 films, Warner Bros. will also stream the film simultaneously on the HBO Max service for a period of one month, after which the film will be removed until the normal home media release schedule period.[44] In late March 2021, the film was delayed one week from April 16 to April 23.[41] [45]

The movie is scheduled for release in Japan on June 18, 2021, despite not having any Mortal Kombat games released officially in the country due to CERO rules of excessive gore.[46]

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.[47] 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.[48] On February 18, 2021, the first red band trailer for the film was released online. The trailer received critical acclaim from both fans and critics alike, with particular praise for the gory action sequences and the inclusion of the game's iconic fatalities. A scene featuring Scorpion saying his iconic catchphrase "Get over here!" was also seen as a highlight from the trailer.[49][50] It was later revealed that the film's first trailer had become the most-watched red-band trailer in history, surpassing Logan and Deadpool 2.[51]

References

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  2. ^ Romano, Nick (January 15, 2021). "Mortal Kombat first look: Inside the R-rated reboot, fatalities and all". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on January 15, 2021. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  3. ^ Russo, Greg [@WriterRusso] (July 9, 2019). "Bi Han" (Tweet). Retrieved December 17, 2019 – via Twitter.
  4. ^ a b Perry, Spencer (September 16, 2019). "Production Begins on New Mortal Kombat Movie". ComingSoon.Net. Archived from the original on January 30, 2020. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
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