14 DAY TRIAL // New Line Cinema has confirmed that after the extremely successful Mortal Kombat video game, a reboot of the long running fighting series, a new movie is planned, with the director and the writer of the recent Mortal Kombat: Legacy web series already on-board.
The Mortal Kombat franchise wasn't going through the best of times in recent years, as the bankruptcy of Midway, its original owner, coupled with the lackluster Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe title, meant fans were ready to completely forget the series.
Thankfully for them, the developers at NetherRealm, coupled with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, brought forth a reboot for the series, which managed to reach critical and commercial acclaim, selling more than 3 million copies since its release earlier this year.
Now, New Line Cinema has also confirmed that a new movie based on the Mortal Kombat franchise is being planned for release in 2013.
"The new game and the online shorts have prompted us to consider a reboot of a brand we hadn't been actively thinking about," New Line president Toby Emmerich told the LA Times.
The company has already employed Kevin Tancharoen, the director of the 2010 Mortal Kombat: Rebirth short film, which was spun off into the Mortal Kombat: Legacy webseries earlier this year. Rebirth writer Oren Uziel is also on board to write the screenplay for the new full pledged movie.
The more realistic feel from Rebirth and Legacy is set to be carried over into the new movie, according to New Line.
The new project is the first movie based on the Mortal Kombat franchise, as two films were also made by New Line in the 1990s, in the form of Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. Besides the movies, Mortal Kombat also saw an animated series appear, called Defenders of the Realm, not to mention an actual TV series, subtitled Konquest, based on characters from the fighting games.