simon mcquoid
MORTAL KOMBAT 2 Debuts New Look At Johnny Cage, Scorpion, And More In New Stills
The tournament is coming! #MK2
MORTAL KOMBAT 2 Gets An ‘Uncaged’ Teaser Poster
The first official teaser poster is here! #MortalKombat2
Simon McQuoid’s MORTAL KOMBAT 2 Lands Its Shao Kahn And More To The Tournament Roster
Martyn Ford (F9, The Machine, Boyka: Undisputed) has been cast to play Emperor Shao Kahn in Mortal Kombat 2, according to trade reports on Thursday. Roster additions on the sequel from Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line will also see Desmond Chiam in the role of King Jerrod, Ana Thu Nguyen as Sindel and Damon Herriman as the sinister Quan Chi. Previously enlisted are Karl Urban as Johnny Cage, Adeline Rudolph as Kitana and Tati Gabrielle as Jade. Most of the cast of the 2021 movie are returning, namely Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Josh Lawson as Kano, Tadanobu Asano as Raiden; Mehcad Brooks as Jax, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Joe Taslim as Bi-Han/Sub-Zero, Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion and Max Huang as Kung Lao, and Lewis Tan as the newly-minted screen character Cole Young. The sequel hails once again from Atomic Monster and […]
MORTAL KOMBAT 2: Tati Gabrielle To Play Jade In The Sequel
Tati Gabrielle (You, The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina) is reportedly in final negotiations to play Jade in Simon McQuoid’s Mortal Kombat sequel for New Line and Warner Bros. Pictures. The actress is the latest addition to the film following the casting of Dredd 3D and “The Boys” star Karl Urban in the role of beleaguered movie star, and franchise favorite, Johnny Cage. Jade was initially a hidden character in Midway’s release of the Mortal Kombat 2 fighting game. The character has since grown with the franchise’s evolution as an epic, storied IP with even more villains and heroes, more mystery, and invariably, even more bloody and brutal fatalities. According to game lore, for years Jade served as Outworld Emperor Shao Khan’s personal assassin, until joining childhood princess Kitana and defeating Kahn. Recent storylines also revealed events between Jade and Osh-tekk leader and former Outworld Emperor, Kotal Kahn – food for […]
MORTAL KOMBAT 2: Karl Urban In Negotiations As The Upcoming Sequel Finds Its Johnny Cage
Karl Urban is reportedly in talks to take the mantle for the role of Johnny Cage in director Simon McQuoid’s pending sequel to the Lewis Tan-led 2021 actioner, Mortal Kombat. Urban’s name marks the latest addition to the group of new and returning cast members to continue the story, with actor Joe Taslim already contracted for another installment following his debut as franchise character favorite, Lin Kuei ninja and Cryomancer Bi-Han, a.k.a. Sub-Zero. McQuoid will direct from a script by Marvel series Moon Knight scribe Jeremy Slater. Fan posts and blog updates around the web have been brewing with notes of a summer production start and rumors of potential casting choices for the sequel. Urban’s debut of Cage, a narcissistic Hollywood bad boy and martial arts movie star born with the fighting game franchise’s launch in 1992, is also the character’s newest successor on the screen following actor Linden Ashby […]
Simon McQuoid Will Direct MORTAL KOMBAT 2 For Warner Bros.
Simon McQuoid will return to direct the sequel to last year’s Mortal Kombat, according to Deadline on Wednesday. Jeremy Slater is penning the script as of January. McQuoid directed the first installment based on a script by Greg Russo, adaptating a new story based on the hit game created by Ed Boon and John Tobias. It returned many classic game characters to the screen, largely with the exception of Lewis Tan who headed the cast as an original character for the film. Warner Bros. Pictures released the film on HBO Max and in theaters where it became a box office hit alongside other theatrical titles including Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train, and F9. Critical reviews, however, were hit or miss depending on whose pieces you take more to. Casting details haven’t been made official, save for actor Joe Taslim who informed fans last April that he’s contracted for at […]
MORTAL KOMBAT Review: Between What Works And What Doesn’t, Simon McQuoid’s Freshman Debut Is A Test Of More Than Might
“Why are you trying to fix what isn’t broken?” That sentiment echoed throughout my mind repeatedly as I watched Simon McQuoid’s take on Mortal Kombat. A Mortal Kombat film is such an easy thing to get right, it’s almost admirable just how wrong McQuoid and Co. got it in this latest outing. Ostensibly, the game series is about a fighting tournament of cosmic proportions that determine whether Earth is conquered by another realm or not. Throughout its run, the series has almost always been about Shaolin monk Liu Kang and his quest to save the world. Surrounding him are a wild cast of characters like undead ninjas, Special Forces soldiers, Hollywood actors, mutants with knives in their arms and literal gods. It’s the kind of fantastical lore that would be perfect as a television series wherein you can elaborate on the many characters and focus in on their lives, loves […]
MORTAL KOMBAT Review: A Noob’s View
Consider me mildly impressed. Mildly. I just saw the Mortal Kombat movie in the theater, and as a casual viewer and MK noob, I can’t say I was either over- or underwhelmed. Remember, the key words here are “casual viewer.” My basic knowledge of Mortal Kombat goes back to warm September nights at a midwestern university in 1993, when over-caffeinated boys would scream “Mortal Kombat!” across the dormitory quad at each other. As a 21-year-old girl trying to get a date, I found it strange and endearing. I managed to play the game (don’t even ask me which video game system) a handful of times, but as someone who peaked with Frogger and Pitfall on the Atari 2600, this kind of game and system weren’t my cup of tea. With my recent side gig of “amateur movie reviewer,” I couldn’t pass up the chance to see the film so many […]
MORTAL KOMBAT Review: Mildly Flawed, But Retkonned Victoriously
It’s been a strain waiting so many years to see another live-action iteration of hit fighting game franchise, Mortal Kombat, on the big screen. To add, it’s possible that the varying expectations from fans would’ve added some considerable pressure unto anyone trying to do right by the brand, though you have to give it to the powers that be for attempting something different – a move often haplessly applied with other filmic attempts on the genre that usually draws ire from the masses. And rightfully so, in some ways. Look at all pre-existing examples from Steven de Souza’s Street Fighter (1994) and Andrzej Bartkowiak’s Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun Li (2009) to Gordon Chan’s ill-conceived take on King Of Fighters (2009), and even Tekken (2010) and its hackeneyed direct-to-DVD sequel. The bright spots within many of these films, and areas of massive potential to world-build in ways that could […]
MORTAL KOMBAT: Blood, Gore, Fatalities And More In The Official Restricted Trailer!
Almost thirty years later, Mortal Kombat is still here. It’s taken more than two decades since New Line Cinema paved the way for live-action film efforts in ’95 and ’97, but Warner Bros. Pictures has finally made good on its commitment to a new film inspired by the hit fighting game franchise after announcing development of a reboot back in 2011.That the game franchise itself has evolved long since its heyday at Midway in the early 90s has also proven beneficial, amply creating a flexible space for further development in its IP, and aptly welcoming an original character in its universe that hereto sees actor and martial artist Lewis Tan (Deadpool 2, Into The Badlands, Wu Assassins) finally headlining a major motion picture. In “Mortal Kombat,” MMA fighter Cole Young, accustomed to taking a beating for money, is unaware of his heritage—or why Outworld’s Emperor Shang Tsung has sent his […]
MORTAL KOMBAT: Prepare Yourself With These New Stills From The Upcoming Reboot Starring Lewis Tan
The last twelve hours have been more than irking for anyone who’s been following the stars of the new Mortal Kombat movie on social media, but we now have a new look at exclusive photos and stills from the upcoming Simon McQuoid directed reboot thanks to an exclusive piece on Friday from reporter Nick Romano at Entertainment Weekly. The report highlights a ten minute sequence introducing a “blood universe” of sorts, that begins with the history of characters Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim) and Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada), followed by a look at starring actor Lewis Tan who plays an original character named Cole Young, a down-on-his-luck fighter with a mysterious birthmark in the shape of the titular MK logo that connects him to these characters of the game, and ultimately, the tournament. The photos in the gallery below and at EW, come courtesy and credit to Mark Rogers, New Line Cinema and […]
Happy 25th Anniversary, MORTAL KOMBAT
If you feel at like the first official teaser for Simon McQuoid’s Mortal Kombat is taking way, WAY longer than it should to arrive, you’re not alone. It’s been eight months since the film wrapped shooting in Australia, and you can’t help but imagine if we might have gotten one sooner had this terrible, horrible, no good, very VERY bad pandemic settled in. I’m thinking we would’ve. Frankly though, this takes nothing away from the conversation starter that was Paul W.S. Anderson’s 1995 endeavor from New Line Cinema, etching in the likes of Robin Shou (Liu Kang), Cary Tagawa (Shang Tsung), Christopher Lambert (Raiden), Bridgette Wilson (Sonya Blade), Linden Ashby (Johnny Cage), Chris Cassamassa (Scorpion), Talisa Soto (Kitana), François Petit (Sub-Zero), Trevor Goddard (Kano) and Keith Cooke (Reptile) into cinema history. That a feature adaptation was in the works was a total surprise for me, firstly seeing Ashby in a […]
MORTAL KOMBAT Bows In January 2021
Simon McQuoid’s Mortal Kombat is moving up seven weeks from its March 5, 2021 date to January 15, 2021, according to the trades reporting on Warner Bros. Pictures’ release date announcements and updates. Plot and story details remain on hold while fans continue to pine over the various social media accounts of the cast and producers to get the latest nugget from the set of the South Australia production. Presented by New Line Cinema, production began on September 15 and has since grown a cast that now includes Joe Taslim as Sub Zero, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Josh Lawson as Kano, Tadanobu Asano as Raiden, Mehcad Brooks as Jackson “Jax” Bridges, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion, Max Huang as Kung Lao, Sisi Stringer as Mileena, and Elissa Cadwell as Nitara. The only cast members so far whose roles remain unclear […]
MORTAL KOMBAT: Chin Han To Steal Your Souls As Shang Tsung, Hiroyuki Sanada To Breathe Fire As Scorpion
Lots of hopes may have been dashed for fans of Mortal Kombat who’ve waited for Kevin Tancharoen to steer forward on his own adaptation, but it’s not like New Line isn’t making up for lost time either. News of the past month has awoken the fanbase with a heavy-handed roster of casting news for the new film now slated to begin shooting in less than a few weeks in Australia. The casting totaled to eight by Monday’s reporting this week until Tuesday’s news broken by Variety for the addition of actor Chin Han for the role of evil, manipulative sorceror, Shang Tsung, along with Hiroyuki Sanada for that of undead ninja warrior, Scorpion. The soul-stealing, shape-shifting cohort to Nether Realm’s armies along with the Emperor, Shao Khan, Tsung has popped in and out of the game franchise as a consistent antagonist against Earth Realm’s heroes. Game lore saw Tsung and […]
MORTAL KOMBAT Finds Sonya Blade And Kano In Jessica McNamee And Josh Lawson, Lewis Tan Also Cast With Mystery Role
Actress Jessica McNamee, and actors Josh Lawson and Lewis Tan will be joining the opposing forces of Earthrealm and Netherrealm in Simon McQuoid’s Mortal Kombat, due out in theaters March 5, 2021. As The Hollywood Reporter notes, McNamee and Lawson will tackle the roles of warring archrivals, Sonya Blade and Kano, while details on Tan’s role currently remain locked behind the Outworld portal away from prying eyes. Sonya Blade and Kano came into the original game franchise as archenemies with Blade seeking vengeance for the vicious murder of her partner at the hands of the latter, an elusive crimeboss and megainfluencer of the criminal underworld. During her trials with her Earthrealm allies in the games against the forces of Shang Tsung, the Emperor himself, Shao Khan’s and the manipulative gods overseeing the titular tournament, Blade would eventually ascend to the rank of General. Sal DiVita attributed his iconic playable incarnation […]
MORTAL KOMBAT Adds A Trio Of Kombatants To The Live-Action Film Adaptation Of Hit Fighting Game
Things are heating up in Outworld. THR‘s Heat Vision column is tracking further news on Mortal Kombat following Variety’s report signaling Ludi Lin for the role of Liu Kang. Newcome actress Sisi Stringer will tackle the role of Mileena while actors Mehcad Brooks (CW’s Supergirl) and actor Tadanobu Asano (Ichi The Killer, Zatoichi, Thor Ragnarok), will portray Jackson “Jax” Briggs, and the God of Thunder and Earthrealm defender himself, Raiden, respectively. Jax and Mileena didn’t appear in the game franchise until the second installment from the franchise’s former banner, Midway in 1993. Both continue to be fixtures in the game universe to this day next to Raiden, one of the first seven from the first game. Asano succeeds the likes of actors Christopher Lambert and James Remar who portrayed the lighting-born deity for the 1995 and 1997 films; On the small screen, actor Jeffrey Meek played the character in television […]
MORTAL KOMBAT: Ludi Lin Tapped To Play Liu Kang For New Line Martial Arts Game Adaptation
Following the addition of Joe Taslim for the role of Sub-Zero, word now hails from Rebecca Davis at Variety with talk of actor Ludi Lin for the role of Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat from Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema. Captured by martial arts champion and actor Ho Sung-Pak, Liu Kang is one of seven original characters that emerged in the game’s 1992 launch from former banner, Midway. The character is known as an exiled Shaolin Monk who ventures into the tournament to battle evil sorceror Shang Tsung for the fate of Earth. The games’ franchise success paved the way for New Line’s own live-action films in 1995 and 1997 with actor and martial arts star Robin Shou portraying the role. Following suit, TV origin spin-off series Mortal Kombat: Conquest aired along with an animated series, while a third film never got off the ground. Years later, webseries in […]
MORTAL KOMBAT: Joe Taslim Covets The Role Of Sub-Zero
The Night Comes For Us star Joe Taslim is first on the roster to be cast for Simon McQuoid’s upcoming Mortal Kombat film as key character, Sub-Zero. Production is officially slated to kick off later this year in South Australia. Movement on the film comes years since New Line launched its own live-action films in 1995 and 1997, followed by a TV series, an animated series, and a twebseries from Warner Bros. Digital shepherded by Kevin Tancharoen and Garrett Warren. James Wan is producing with Todd Garner, and with Larry Kasanoff, E. Bennett Walsh, Michael Clear and Sean Robins exec producing. Greg Russo penned the script based on the hit 1992 game which has maintained its shelf life to date with new installments. Taslim, best known for successes in film in television like The Raid franchise, Furious 6 and season two-bound Cinemax series, Warrior, is the latest actor to don […]
MORTAL KOMBAT Begins Production, Sets Release Date
The wheels are officially turning with pre-production on Simon McQuoid’s directing debut, Mortal Kombat on the hit game from creator Ed Boon. New Line Cinema has reportedly set the date for March 5, 2021 with production having just begun at Adelaide Studios’ Sound Stages in South Australia as cameras roll later this year. Greg Russo (The Highwaymen) penned the script which takes its cues from the hit Midway/Netherrealm Studios fighting game where warriors compete for the fate of mankind in an epic tournanent, overseen by warlords and gods alike. Cast, crew and official story details remain pending. James Wan (Aquaman) is producing with Todd Garner. Larry Kasanoff, who produced the initial two films in 1995 and 1997, is serving as executive producer with E. Bennett Walsh (Men in Black: International), Michael Clear (The Nun), and Sean Robins (Tag). (DEADLINE)
You must be logged in to post a comment.