More than a year after developments surrounding the forthcoming reboot film adaptation of hit fighting game, Mortal Kombat, the news is now finally out with word that Award-winning Australian commerical director Simon McQuoid is up to direct the film. The news comes long since a third follow-up from New Line Cinema’s PG-13 adaptation in 1995 and its lesser-performing sequel in 1998 went shelved, leaving little to hope for until filmmaker Kevin Tanchaoren breathed new life into the film with a leaked pitch in 2010 and two-webseries seasons for Machinima by 2013 before parting ways as well.
Oddly enough, stunt coordinator Garrett Warren was last seen on set of a third season for an upcoming webseries from Blue Ribbon Content with updates yet to surface. Movement on the actual feature length endeavor with Friday’s news leaves a positive sign for the fans who’ve been long pining for updates from Aquaman helmer James Wan who was attached to produce the film as of last August; the film was also reported to be aiming for a story that would set off as “a departure from the mythology,” with “darker, brutally real martial arts”, meaning possibly terrific action but without much adherance to the source material or whatever previous screenwriters like Oren Uziel or Dave Callahan have had in mind. Details remain pending.
The game hails from NetherRealm Studios at Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment with none other than one of the game’s original co-creators, creative director Ed Boon and his team, continuing the legacy that spawned a phenomenon in the early nineties. Storywise, it features an ever evolving line-up of fighters between Earthrealm and Outworld with Earth’s fate hanging in the balance according to the rules of the tournament as stipulated among the gods.
McQuoid’s credits include campaigns for PlayStation, Halo, Range Rover, Beats by Dre, and others according to Variety, all of which earned him accolades from Grand Clio, GRANDY and others. He’ll be directing from the most recent script by Greg Russo with Wan joined by Atomic Monster’s Michael Clear, and Broken Road’s Todd Garner and Jeremy Stein in producing with Lawrence Kasanoff serving as executive producer.
Importantly, despite what the clickbait garbage articles that have been passed around the web for the past year and change are telling you, the film hasn’t been officially cast yet. So, as always, we’ll wait until the facts have surfaced and we’ll take it from there. Apart from this, who would you like to see starring in a Mortal Kombat movie? Comment below or on social media wherever you may share this article!