Is the ‘Mortal Kombat’ movie still coming in 2021? Everything to know

Mortal Kombat was the focal point of so many childhoods from the X & millennial generations and proves to be the franchise that keeps on giving. Over twenty-five years after the video game went Johnny Cage and hit the big screen in 1995, fans’ inner soundtrack blared MK’s iconic techno theme when they heard about a new Mortal Kombat movie coming in 2021.

The 1995 Mortal Kombat has a special place in the hearts of it’s diehard day-one fans, but even they have to admit the film left something to be desired. The original film adaptation of Mortal Kombat follows Liu Kang on his journey to win the legendary fighting tournament depicted in the franchise, which had only released three games at the time.

Since the original film & it’s lukewarm sequel Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, the franchise exploded with over twenty games, as well as several other projects in TV, comic books, and seemingly endless merchandise. 2021’s new Mortal Kombat movie will bring us the MK universe like we’ve never seen it before.

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation traded storytelling for what the fans really wanted: the videogame characters they loved shown in flesh & blood on screen. Since the second film, the series has widely expanded its cast of characters, and fans want to know which fighters they’ll see square up in the new 2021 Mortal Kombat movie.

Choose your fighter

IGN reported that the new 2021 Mortal Kombat will not disappoint OG fans, and we’ll see some classic faces in the upcoming film. Iconic sorcerer Shang Tsung will come back, along with Jax Briggs in all his bionic glory.

Fans would likely riot if the new adaptation didn’t include Sub-Zero & Scorpion, who are confirmed to appear alongside Raiden who’s appropriately cast by an Asian man for the first time on screen. This fix isn’t the only way the new 2021 Mortal Kombat movie will remedy its predecessor’s mistakes.

Mortal Kombat is an incredibly violent video game. In fact, the game caused such a stir with it’s now laughably graphic violence in the early 90s, that there was a Congressional hearing about what to do with this menace plaguing the youth of America (ahh, simpler times).

Finish him

The over-the-top violence of the game is a part of its allure & charm, and part of what’s kept its relevance throughout the years; a certain iconic scene in The 40-Year-Old Virgin would have been left on the cutting room floor if not for MK’s fatalities.

What about fatalities? The game-ending taunt is the cornerstone of the MK franchise, and fans were no doubt disappointed by its depictions in the PG-13 MK movies of yore. The new 2021 Mortal Kombat movie won’t make the same mistake.

Parental advisory

Edgelords & MK fanatics alike will no doubt rejoice in learning the 2021 Mortal Kombat movie will be the first R-rated film the franchise has produced.

IGN reported director Simon McQuoid reassured fans that the film will have tons of gore & blood, the type of bloodbath the video games tied so unequivocally with the franchise, but the films never delivered. Furthermore, he’s confirmed there will be fatalities, and it sounds as though unlike the original MK films, they’ll look a lot like they do in-game.

Star Lewis Tan said there are some crazy fatalities, and even iconic ones. Will we see Sub-Zero pull a fighter’s head clean off his body? Will Scorpion rip his mask off and spit fire on his victim (toasty!)? Will Sonya plant a kiss of death on her opponent’s unsuspecting noggin? It remains to be seen, but Tan says the people behind the new 2021 Mortal Kombat movie “don’t hold back”.

With theater-going still up in the air, fans may wonder how they’ll see the new MK when it comes out. Luckily, the film joins the ranks of other Warner Bros. films that will release on HBO Max in 2021. Anyone with a subscription can test their might this April.