| Mortal Kombat | |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Distributor: | Warner Bros. Pictures New Line Cinema (1–2) |
| Budget: | Total (3 films) $103 million |
| Gross: | Total (3 films) $204.2 million |
Mortal Kombat is an American series of martial arts action films based on the fighting video game series of the same name by Midway Games. The first film was produced by Lawrence Kasanoff’s Threshold Entertainment.
The first live-action film, Mortal Kombat, was released in 1995 and its sequel, Mortal Kombat Annihilation, was released in 1997. After the two films, game publisher Midway filed for bankruptcy. Warner Bros., having become the parent of New Line Cinema in 2008 (after over a decade of both operating as separate divisions of Time Warner), made a bid to purchase most of Midway's assets, including Mortal Kombat. In June 2009, Kasanoff and Threshold sued in bankruptcy court, arguing that they owned the copyright to many of the characters from the series.[1]
On July 1, 2009, the bankruptcy court approved the sale of most of Midway's assets to Warner Bros.[2] subject to the intellectual property claims of Threshold Entertainment.[3] After years of development hell, a reboot of the series was released in April 2021.
| Film | U.S. release date | Director(s) | Screenwriter(s) | Producer(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins | April 11, 1995 | Joseph Francis | Kevin Droney | Alison Savitch & Lawrence Kasanoff | |
| Mortal Kombat Legends series | |||||
| April 14, 2020 | Ethan Spaulding | Jeremy Adams | Rick Morales | ||
| August 31, 2021 | Jim Krieg & Rick Morales | ||||
| October 11, 2022 | Rick Morales | Jim Krieg | |||
| October 17, 2023 | Ethan Spaulding | ||||
| TBA | Rick Morales | ||||
On April 11, 1995,[4] New Line Home Video, Turner Home Entertainment and Threshold Entertainment released a tie-in animated film on VHS and Laserdisc, titled Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins. Serving as a prequel to the in-development 1995 feature film, it follows the protagonists Liu Kang, Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade as they travel on a mysterious boat to the Mortal Kombat tournament. On the way they meet Raiden, who provides them with some hints about how to survive the tournament and defeat Shang Tsung and his army of Tarkatan minions. Upon arriving at the island where the battles takes place, Raiden retells the origins of Shang Tsung, Goro, Scorpion, Sub-Zero and the Great Kung Lao in between fight scenes.
The film featured a combination of traditional animation, motion capture, and CGI to explain the origins behind some of the movie's main characters, as well as a fifteen-minute behind-the-scenes documentary of the theatrical release. Trailers of the film were seen on the promotional screener VHS copy, and on other VHS releases from Turner Home Entertainment and New Line Home Video. The film was included on the Mortal Kombat Blu-ray released in April 2011.
See main article: Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge. A direct-to-video animated film called Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge was released by Warner Bros. Animation on digital April 14, 2020, and on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on April 28. The film is directed by Ethan Spaulding and written by Jeremy Adams. The voice cast includes Patrick Seitz as Scorpion, Steve Blum as Sub-Zero, Darin De Paul as Quan Chi, Jordan Rodrigues as Liu Kang, Joel McHale as Johnny Cage, & Jennifer Carpenter as Sonya Blade. Kevin Michael Richardson also reprises his role of Goro from the 1995 live action film. The film's premise centers around Scorpion seeking revenge on those who murdered his family and clan, after being resurrected by Quan Chi, while Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, and Sonya Blade are chosen to participate in the Mortal Kombat tournament to save Earthrealm from Outworld.
See main article: Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms. A sequel, entitled Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms, with most of the cast and crew from Scorpion's Revenge, was released on August 31, 2021.[5] [6]
See main article: Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind.
See main article: Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match. In an interview in October 2022, Jeremy Adams revealed that he is writing the 5th Mortal Kombat Legends film.[7] It serves as a prequel to Scorpion's Revenge.
| Film | U.S. release date | Director(s) | Screenwriter(s) | Story by | Producer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original series | |||||
| Mortal Kombat | August 18, 1995 | Paul W. S. Anderson | Kevin Droney | Lawrence Kasanoff | |
| Mortal Kombat Annihilation | November 21, 1997 | John R. Leonetti | Bryce Zabel & Brent V. Friedman | John Tobias, Joshua Wexler & Lawrence Kasanoff | |
| Reboot series | |||||
| Mortal Kombat | April 23, 2021 | Simon McQuoid | Greg Russo & David Callaham | Greg Russo & Oren Uziel | James Wan, Todd Garner, Simon McQuoid & E. Bennett Walsh |
| Mortal Kombat 2 | October 24, 2025 | Jeremy Slater[8] | Todd Garner, James Wan, Simon McQuoid, E. Bennett Walsh & Toby Emmerich | ||
See main article: Mortal Kombat (1995 film). Three unknown martial artists are summoned to a mysterious island to compete in a tournament whose outcome will decide the fate of the world.
See main article: Mortal Kombat Annihilation. A group of martial arts warriors have only six days to save the Earth from an extra-dimensional invasion.
See main article: Mortal Kombat (2021 film). A washed-up mixed martial arts fighter named Cole Young is unaware of his hidden lineage or why Lin Kuei assassin Sub-Zero is hunting him down. Concerned for the safety of his family, he seeks out a clique of fighters that were chosen to defend Earthrealm against Outworld.
See main article: Mortal Kombat 2 (film).
| Characters | Animated films | Live-action films | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins | Mortal Kombat Legends | Mortal Kombat | Mortal Kombat Annihilation | Mortal Kombat | Mortal Kombat 2 | |||||||||
| Scorpion's Revenge | Battle of the Realms | Snow Blind | Cage Match | |||||||||||
| Liu Kang | Randy Hamilton | Jordan Rodrigues | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | Robin Shou | Ludi Lin | |||||||||
| Sonya Blade | Jennifer Hale | Jennifer Carpenter | Bridgette Wilson | Sandra Hess | Jessica McNamee | |||||||||
| Johnny Cage | Jeff Glen Bennett | Joel McHale | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | Joel McHale | Linden Ashby | Chris Conrad | Karl Urban | |||||||
| Raiden | Ron A. Feinberg | Dave B. Mitchell | Dave B. Mitchell | Christopher Lambert | James Remar | Tadanobu Asano | ||||||||
| Hanzo Hasashi | Ed Boon | Patrick Seitz | Chris Casamassa | J. J. Perry | Hiroyuki Sanada | |||||||||
| Ed Boon | Ed Boon | |||||||||||||
| Kuai Liang | Sub-Zero | Jim Cummings | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | Bayardo De Murguia | Ron Yuan | Keith Cooke | ||||||||
| Bi-Han | Steve Blum | François Petit | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | Joe Taslim | ||||||||||
| Shang Tsung | Artt Butler | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa | Chin Han | ||||||||||
| Goro | Ron A. Feinberg | Kevin Michael Richardson | Tom Woodruff Jr. | Angus Sampson | ||||||||||
| Kevin Michael Richardson | ||||||||||||||
| Frank Welker | ||||||||||||||
| Kitana | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | Grey DeLisle | Talisa Soto | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | Adeline Rudolph | |||||||||
| Jax | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | Ike Amadi | Gregory McKinney | Lynn Red Williams | Mehcad Brooks | |||||||||
| Shao Kahn | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | Fred Tatasciore | Frank Welker | Brian Thompson | Martyn Ford | |||||||||
| Shinnok | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | Robin Atkin Downes | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | Robin Atkin Downes | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | Reiner Schöne | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | |||||||
| Quan Chi | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | Darin De Paul | Damon Herriman | |||||||||||
| Kano | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | Robin Atkin Downes | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | David Wenham | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | Trevor Goddard | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | Josh Lawson | ||||||
| Kung Lao | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | Matt Yang King | Max Huang | |||||||||||
| Jade | Emily O'Brien | Irina Pantaeva | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | Tati Gabrielle | ||||||||||
| Cyrax | Artt Butler | J. J. Perry | ||||||||||||
| Smoke | Matthew Mercer | Ridley Tsui | ||||||||||||
| Reiko | Robin Atkin Downes | Nathan Jones | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | |||||||||||
| Kabal | Keith Silverstein | Daniel Nelson | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | |||||||||||
| Damon Herriman | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | |||||||||||||
| Reptile | Keith Cooke | |||||||||||||
| Frank Welker | ||||||||||||||
| Chan Kang | Steven Ho | |||||||||||||
| Sindel | Musetta Vander | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | Ana Thu Nguyen | |||||||||||
| Mileena | Dana Hee | Sisi Stringer | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | |||||||||||
| Baraka | Dennis Keiffer | style=background-color:#D3D3D3 | C.J Bloomfield | |||||||||||
| Cole Young | Lewis Tan | |||||||||||||
| Occupation | Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mortal Kombat | Mortal Kombat Annihilation | Mortal Kombat | ||
| Director(s) | Paul W. S. Anderson | John R. Leonetti | Simon McQuoid | |
| Producer | Lawrence Kasanoff | James Wan Todd Garner Simon McQuoid E. Bennett Walsh | ||
| Writer(s) | Kevin Droney | Bryce Zabel Brent V. Friedman John Tobias Joshua Wexler Lawrence Kasanoff | Greg Russo David Callaham Greg Russo Oren Uziel | |
| Composer | George S. Clinton | Benjamin Wallfisch | ||
| Director(s) of photography | John R. Leonetti | Matthew F. Leonetti | Germain McMicking | |
| Editor(s) | Martin Hunter | Peck Prior | Scott Gray Dan Lebental | |
| Production company(s) | Threshold Entertainment | Atomic Monster New Line Cinema Broken Road Productions | ||
| Distributor(s) | New Line Cinema | Warner Bros. Pictures | ||
| Film | U.S. release date | Box office revenue | Budget | Reference | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | International | Worldwide | ||||
| Original series | ||||||
| Mortal Kombat | $73,000,000 | $51,741,822 | $122,195,920 | $18 million | [9] | |
| Mortal Kombat Annihilation | November 21, 1997 | $35,927,406 | $15,449,455 | $51,376,861 | $30 million | [10] [11] |
| Reboot series | ||||||
| Mortal Kombat | April 23, 2021 | $42,201,013 | $41,400,000 | $83,601,013 | $55 million | [12] [13] |
| Total | $ | $ | $ | $103 million | ||
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore[14] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mortal Kombat | 45% (44 reviews)[15] | 60 (13 reviews)[16] | A– | |
| Mortal Kombat Annihilation | 4% (50 reviews)[17] | 11 (12 reviews)[18] | C+ | |
| 90% (21 reviews)[19] | ||||
| Mortal Kombat | 54% (292 reviews)[20] | 44 (43 reviews)[21] | B+ | |
| 50% (6 reviews)[22] |
| Title | U.S. release date | Length | Performed by | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mortal Kombat: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | August 15, 1995 | 68:28 | Various Artists | TVT | |
| Mortal Kombat: Original Motion Picture Score | October 11, 1995 | 42:01 | George S. Clinton | Rykodisc | |
| Mortal Kombat Annihilation: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | October 28, 1997 | 72:08 | Various Artists | TVT | |
| Mortal Kombat: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | April 16, 2021 | 79:37 | Benjamin Wallfisch | WaterTower Music |
A novelization of the first movie by "Martin Delrio" (James D. Macdonald and Debra Doyle) was released through Tor Books. It is based on an early version of the film's script, and as such it includes several deleted or unfilmed scenes, such as a fight between Sonya Blade and Jade.