Mortal Kombat (2021)

Mortal Kombat is an upcoming 2021 American martial-arts fantasy action film directed by Simon McQuoid (in his feature directorial debut) from a screenplay by Greg Russo, based on the video game franchise of the same name created by Ed Boon and John Tobias. The film serves as a reboot to the film series following the 1997 film Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. It will mark the first non-horror picture from Atomic Monster Productions.

The film is produced by New Line Cinema and scheduled for release by Warner Bros. Pictures on January 15, 2021.

Cast

 * Tadanobu Asano as Raiden
 * Mehcad Brooks as Jackson "Jax" Briggs
 * Elissa Cadwell as Nitara
 * Ng Chin Han as Shang Tsung
 * Max Huang as Kung Lao
 * Josh Lawson as Kano
 * Ludi Lin as Liu Kang
 * Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade
 * Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi / Scorpion
 * Sisi Stringer as Mileena
 * Joe Taslim as Bi-Han / Sub-Zero

Additionally, Lewis Tan and Matilda Kimber will appear in undisclosed roles.

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

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

Casting
Joe Taslim was the first actor cast for the production in July 2019, as Sub-Zero. In August, Mehcad Brooks, Tadanobu Asano, Sisi Stringer, and Ludi Lin were cast in the roles of Jax, Raiden, Mileena, and Liu Kang respectively. 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 an undisclosed role. On September 16, 2019, it was announced that Max Huang had been cast as Kung Lao. Elissa Cadwell was announced as having been cast as Nitara on November 11, 2019. Matilda Kimber was cast in an undisclosed role on December 4, 2019.

Filming
Production took place at Adelaide Studios and other locations in South Australia. Shooting commenced from September 16, 2019 to December 13.

Music
Benjamin Wallfisch will compose the film's score.

Release
The film was originally going to be released on March 5, 2021, but was moved up from its original date of March 5, 2021 to January 15, 2021.