Mortal Kombat (film series)
Updated: 12/20/2025, 11:52:07 AM Wikipedia source
Mortal Kombat is an American series of martial arts fantasy films based on the video game series of the same name. 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. On July 1, 2009, the bankruptcy court approved the sale of most of Midway's assets to Warner Bros. subject to the intellectual property claims of Threshold Entertainment. After years of development hell, a reboot of the series was released in April 2021.
Infobox
Tables
| Film | 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 | |||||
| Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge | April 14, 2020 | Ethan Spaulding | Jeremy Adams | Rick Morales | |
| Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms | August 31, 2021 | Jim Krieg & Rick Morales | |||
| Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind | October 11, 2022 | Rick Morales | Jim Krieg | ||
| Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match | October 17, 2023 | Ethan Spaulding | |||
| Film | 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 II | May 8, 2026 | Jeremy Slater | James Wan, Todd Garner, Toby Emmerich, Simon McQuoid & E. Bennett Walsh | ||
| Characters | Animated films | Live-action films | ||||||||||
| Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins | Mortal Kombat Legends | Mortal Kombat | Mortal Kombat Annihilation | Mortal Kombat | Mortal Kombat II | |||||||
| Scorpion's Revenge | Battle of the Realms | Snow Blind | Cage Match | |||||||||
| 1995 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 1995 | 1997 | 2021 | 2026 | ||||
| Liu Kang | Randy Hamilton | Jordan Rodrigues | Statue | Robin Shou | Ludi Lin | |||||||
| Sonya Blade | Jennifer Hale | Jennifer Carpenter | Bridgette Wilson | Sandra Hess | Jessica McNamee | |||||||
| Johnny Cage | Jeff Glen Bennett | Joel McHale | Joel McHale | Linden Ashby | Chris Conrad | Pictured | Karl Urban | |||||
| Raiden | Ron A. Feinberg | Dave B. Mitchell | Pictured | Dave B. Mitchell | Christopher Lambert | James Remar | Tadanobu Asano | |||||
| Hanzo HasashiScorpion | Ed BoonU | Patrick Seitz | Chris Casamassa | J. J. Perry | Hiroyuki Sanada | |||||||
| Ed BoonVU | Ed BoonV | |||||||||||
| Kuai Liang | Sub-Zero | Jim Cummings | Bayardo De Murguia | Ron Yuan | Keith Cooke | |||||||
| Bi-Han | Steve Blum | François Petit | Joe Taslim | |||||||||
| Shang Tsung | Artt Butler | Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa | Cary-Hiroyuki TagawaA | Chin Han | ||||||||
| Goro | Ron A. Feinberg | Kevin Michael Richardson | Tom Woodruff Jr.U | Angus Sampson | ||||||||
| Kevin Michael RichardsonVU | ||||||||||||
| Frank WelkerVU | ||||||||||||
| Kitana | Grey DeLisle | Talisa Soto | Adeline Rudolph | |||||||||
| Sophia XuY | ||||||||||||
| Jax | Ike Amadi | Gregory McKinney | Lynn Red Williams | Mehcad Brooks | ||||||||
| Shao Kahn | Fred Tatasciore | Frank WelkerU | Brian Thompson | Pictured | Martyn Ford | |||||||
| Shinnok | Robin Atkin Downes | Robin Atkin Downes | Reiner Schöne | Pictured | ||||||||
| Quan Chi | Darin De Paul | Damon Herriman | ||||||||||
| Kano | Robin Atkin Downes | David Wenham | Trevor Goddard | Josh Lawson | ||||||||
| Kung Lao | Appeared | Matt Yang King | Max Huang | |||||||||
| Jade | Emily O'Brien | Deleted scene | Irina Pantaeva | Tati Gabrielle | ||||||||
| Cyrax | Artt Butler | J. J. Perry | ||||||||||
| Smoke | Matthew Mercer | Ridley Tsui | ||||||||||
| Reiko | Robin Atkin Downes | Nathan Jones | ||||||||||
| Kabal | Keith Silverstein | Daniel Nelson | ||||||||||
| Damon HerrimanV | ||||||||||||
| Reptile | Appeared | Keith Cooke | Keith CookeA | CGI | ||||||||
| Frank WelkerV | ||||||||||||
| Chan Kang | Steven Ho | Steven HoA | ||||||||||
| Sindel | Musetta Vander | Ana Thu Nguyen | ||||||||||
| Mileena | Dana Hee | Sisi Stringer | ||||||||||
| Baraka | Dennis Keiffer | CJ Bloomfield | ||||||||||
| Cole Young | Lewis Tan | |||||||||||
| Occupation | Film | |||
| Mortal Kombat | Mortal Kombat Annihilation | Mortal Kombat | Mortal Kombat II | |
| Director(s) | Paul Anderson | John R. Leonetti | Simon McQuoid | |
| Producer | Lawrence Kasanoff | James WanTodd GarnerSimon McQuoidE. Bennett Walsh | James WanTodd GarnerToby EmmerichE. Bennett WalshSimon McQuoid | |
| Writer(s) | Kevin Droney | Screenplay byBryce ZabelBrent V. FriedmanStory byJohn TobiasJoshua WexlerLawrence Kasanoff | Screenplay byGreg RussoDavid CallahamStory byGreg RussoOren Uziel | Jeremy Slater |
| Composer | George S. Clinton | Benjamin Wallfisch | ||
| Director(s) of photography | John R. Leonetti | Matthew F. Leonetti | Germain McMicking | Stephen F. Windon |
| Editor(s) | Martin Hunter | Peck Prior | Scott GrayDan Lebental | Stuart Levy |
| Production company(s) | Threshold Entertainment | New Line CinemaAtomic MonsterBroken Road Productions | New Line CinemaAtomic MonsterBroken Road ProductionsFireside Films | |
| Distributor(s) | New Line Cinema | Warner Bros. Pictures | ||
| Film | release date | Box office revenue | Budget | Reference | ||
| United States | International | Worldwide | ||||
| Original series | ||||||
| Mortal Kombat | August 18, 1995 (1995-08-18) | $73,000,000 | $51,741,822 | $122,195,920 | $18 million | |
| Mortal Kombat Annihilation | November 21, 1997 | $35,927,406 | $15,449,455 | $51,376,861 | $30 million | |
| Reboot series | ||||||
| Mortal Kombat | April 23, 2021 | $42,201,013 | $41,400,000 | $83,601,013 | $55 million | |
| Total | $117,957,406 | $86,391,277 | $204,348,683 | $103 million | ||
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore |
| Mortal Kombat | 45% (44 reviews) | 60 (13 reviews) | A– |
| Mortal Kombat Annihilation | 4% (50 reviews) | 11 (12 reviews) | C+ |
| Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge | 90% (21 reviews) | ||
| Mortal Kombat | 55% (300 reviews) | 44 (43 reviews) | B+ |
| Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms | 50% (6 reviews) |
| Title | 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 |
References
- Chan Kang does not appear in the video games, as he was an original character created specifically for the first live-ac
- Cole Young does not appear in the video games, as he was an original character created specifically for the 2021 live ac
- "The Escapist : News : Midway Sued Over Mortal Kombat Rights"http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/92711-Midway-Sued-Over-Mortal-Kombat-Rights
- Digital Trendshttp://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/time-warner-buying-most-of-midway-games-for-33-mln/
- Gross, Kevin. In re: Midway Games Inc., et al., Debtors, Bankruptcy No. 09-10465; Threshold Entertainment, Inc. v. Midwahttp://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=In%20BCO%2020110329583.xml&docbase=CSLWAR3-2007-CURR
- GamePro
- Mortal Kombat Animated Movie in the Works With Joel McHale, Jennifer Carpenter – IGNhttps://www.ign.com/articles/mortal-kombat-animated-movie-in-the-works-with-joel-mchale-jennifer-carpenter
- findawriter.wgaeast.orghttps://findawriter.wgaeast.org/project/1184084/mortal-kombat-reboot
- GAMINGhttps://comicbook.com/gaming/news/mortal-kombat-legends-battle-of-the-realms-release-date-box-art/
- YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5twJ28bTkQ&ab_channel=MaciejJankowski
- Box Office Mojohttps://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0113855/
- The Numbershttp://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Mortal-Kombat-Annihilation#tab=summary
- Box Office Mojohttp://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=mortalkombat2.htm
- Mortal Kombat (2021)https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0293429/
- Varietyhttps://variety.com/2021/film/news/mortal-kombat-demon-slayer-movie-box-office-1234959555/
- "CinemaScore"https://www.cinemascore.com/
- "Mortal Kombat reviews"http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mortal_kombat/
- "Mortal Kombat reviews"https://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/mortalkombat
- Rotten Tomatoeshttp://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mortal_kombat_annihilation/
- Metacritichttps://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/mortalkombatannihilation
- "Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge"http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mortal_kombat_legends_scorpions_revenge/
- Mortal Kombathttps://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mortal_kombat_2021
- Metacritichttps://www.metacritic.com/movie/mortal-kombat-2021
- "Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms"http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mortal_kombat_legends_battle_of_the_realms/