Directed by Simon McQuoid in his feature directorial debut, and from a screenplay by Greg Russo and Dave Callaham, Mortal Kombat will of course be based on the hugely popular video game series of the same name. The movie will feature a host of classic characters including Liu Kang, Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Sonya Blade, Jax, and Kano, as well as Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Max Huang as Kung Lao, Sisi Stringer as Mileena, Elissa Cadwell as Nitara, and Daniel Nelson as Kabal.
The film had been shrouded in secrecy for a long time, with very little to go on aside from the cast and crew. The release was delayed multiple times and production seemed to be heading for the dreaded development hell. As recent as last year however, we started to see some real progress and the film is now scheduled for an early spring release.
Today Warner Bros. has released the first look of the film and director Simon McQuoid discussed some of the most exciting elements of working on the project.
"I wanted to make sure that everyone respected the material, the lore of Mortal Kombat, the fans and the love they have for this. Everyone was clear on it." McQuoid said which to him meant setting the bar high, especially when it came to recreating the game series' iconic and brutal fights which the director has said will be some of the best ever portrayed on screen.
The director also assured the fans that the film will not be getting a PG-13 rating like the previous two entries. "Out of context this quote might seem incendiary, it's not: The rules around ratings aren't what a lot of people think they are," he says. "It's amount of blood, it's amount of red, it's interpretation of how you go about it. We had a lot of discussions about getting the balance right so there was gore and there was blood and there were fatalities. And there is gore, blood, and fatalities."
Actor Lewis Tan, who will portray Cole a newcomer to the series also chimed in on the film's use of iconic fatalities and fighting styles. "There are some crazy fatalities," Tan commented. "We've picked a couple of iconic ones. There's a lot of really cool signature moves that you'll see, a lot of Easter eggs that we snuck into the film, but there are some really badass fatalities that I can't wait to see on the big screen. They're brutal, man. They, they don't hold back."
We're hoping to see a trailer in the near future. You can check out the rest of the photos below. Mortal Kombat is scheduled to release simultaneously in theaters and HBO MAX on April 16th.
Images courtesy of Warner Brothers & New Line Cinema. Images sourced from Entertainment Weekly.
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