So 2021’s Mortal Kombat film opened simultaneously in cinemas and on HBO Max earning just over $85m worldwide from a $55m budget and its moderate success was enough to greenlight a Mortal Kombat sequel making it the third film in the franchise after the original 1995 film and its follow up Annihilation in 1997. And director Simon McQuoid who made his debut with the film is set to return to helm again from a script penned by Jeremy Slater. the Australian director had extensive experience working with video games with directing credits for commercials for Xbox, PlayStation, “Call of Duty” and “Halo 3.” and is T currently in development on a sci-fi thriller “Omega” for Sony.
The 2021 film acted as a reboot as much as anything with Cole Young (Lewis Tan), an original character to the franchise. Young who is suddenly hunted by the assassin Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim) ends up dragged into the world of “Mortal Kombat,” a series of tournaments between champions of the Earthrealm and the chaotic Outworld.
Though the film did not feature an official Mortal Kombat tournament it did culminate with a tease for one in any sequel. Characters from the video games who were featured included Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), Kano (Josh Lawson), Jax Briggs (Mehcad Brooks), Liu Kang (Ludi Lin), Kung Lao (Max Huang), Raiden (Tadanobu Asano), Shang Tsung (Chin Han) and Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada) as well as Sub-Zero
