Sean Marshall 2021’s Mortal Kombat film may not have been well-received by longtime fans of the games & two movies, but the film did well enough to get greenlit by New Line in 2021. Despite the film not landing well with fans, it t became HBO Max’s most-successful film launch to date & was one of the films in March 2021 that pushed moviegoers back into theaters.
Warner Bros. Pictures just confirmed that the sequel is going into production & that director Simon McQuoid is returning. The film hit HBO Max & theaters simultaneously back in 2021 & landed at the #1 spot & grossed $42.3 million in the United States and Canada, & $42.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $84.4 million.
Warner Bros. Pictures revealed that Jeremy Slater would be penning the script for the sequel & Slater later revealed during an interview that his sequel will bring Johnny Cage into the spotlight. The studio also announced that they plan on building a cinematic universe around Mortal Kombat but were not specific on how they’d do this. However, Jessica McNamee (Sonya Blade) mentioned that she’d like to see future films explore the relationship between Johnny Cage & Sonya Blade. Producer Todd Garner also teased fans about a potential standalone Johnny Cage film being a part of the lineup of films within the Mortal Kombat cinematic universe.
The 2021 film followed Cole Young, a washed-up mixed martial arts fighter unaware of his hidden lineage or why the assassin Sub-Zero is hunting him down. Concerned for his family’s safety, he seeks out a clique of fighters chosen to defend Earthrealm against Outworld. The film starred Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Tadanobu Asano, Mehcad Brooks, Ludi Lin, Chin Han, Max Huang, Joe Taslim, and Hiroyuki Sanada.
