''Mortal Kombat'' is an American series of

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

s based on the fighting video game series of the same name by

Midway Games Midway Games Inc., known previously as Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known as simply Midway, was an American video game developer and publisher. Midway's franchises included ''Mortal Kombat'', ''Rampage (series), Rampage'' ...

. The first film was produced by

Lawrence Kasanoff Lawrence Alan "Larry" Kasanoff (born June 1, 1959) is an American filmmaker who founded the Vestron Pictures genre subsidiary Vestron Pictures, Lightning Pictures in 1986, Lightstorm Entertainment with James Cameron in 1990, and Threshold Enterta ...

’s

Threshold Entertainment Threshold Entertainment Group, also known as Threshold Entertainment, is an intellectual property company. Its animation subsidiary, Threshold Animation Studios, produces films. Larry Kasanoff is the company's chief executive officer (CEO) after p ...

. The first film, ''

Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The development of the first game was originally based on an idea that Ed Boon and John Tobias had of making a v ...

'', 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. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

, having become the parent of New Line Cinema in 2008 (after over a decade of both operating as separate divisions of

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

), 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.Gross, Kevin
''In re: Midway Games Inc., et al., Debtors'', Bankruptcy No. 09-10465; ''Threshold Entertainment, Inc. v. Midway Games Inc., et al.''
Adv. Case No. 09-51081, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, D. Delaware, March 29, 2011; an
"Finish Him! Bankruptcy Court Dismissed Suit Over ''Mortal Kombat'' Intellectual Property Rights for Lack of Subject-Matter Jurisdiction"
Morris James, LLP, September 2, 2011 After years of

development hell Development hell, development purgatory, and development limbo are media and software industry jargon for a project, concept, or idea that remains in development for an especially long time, often moving between different crews, scripts, game engi ...

, a reboot of the series was released in April 2021.

Films

Live-action

''Mortal Kombat'' (1995)

Three unknown martial artists are summoned to a mysterious island to compete in a tournament whose outcome will decide the fate of the world.

''Mortal Kombat: Annihilation'' (1997)

A group of martial arts warriors have only six days to save the Earth from an extra-dimensional invasion.

''Mortal Kombat'' (2021)

A washed-up mixed martial arts fighter named Cole Young is unaware of his hidden lineage or why assassin Sub Zero is hunting him down. Concerned for the safety of his family, he seeks out a clique of fighters that were chosen to defend Earthrealm against Outworld.

Animated

''Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins'' (1995)

On April 11, 1995,

New Line Home Video New Line Home Entertainment (formerly known as New Line Home Video) was the home entertainment distribution arm of New Line Cinema, founded in 1990. According to New Line's website, ''Misery'' was the first New Line Home Video release. It was ...

Turner Home Entertainment Turner Entertainment Company is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner in 1986. Purchased by Time Warner in 1996 as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was largely responsible for overseeing th ...

and

released a tie-in animated film on VHS and

Laserdisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...

, titled ''Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins''. Serving as a prequel to the feature film, it follows the protagonists Liu Kang, Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade as they travel on a mysterious boat to the Mortal Kombat tournament. On the way they meet Raiden, who provides them with some hints about how to survive the tournament and defeat Shang Tsung and his army of Tarkatan minions. Upon arriving at the island where the battles takes place, Raiden retells the origins of Shang Tsung, Goro, Scorpion, Sub-Zero and the

Great Kung Lao Kung Lao ( or ) is a character (arts), fictional player character, character in the ''Mortal Kombat'' fighting game franchise by Midway Games and NetherRealm Studios. A Shaolin Kung Fu, Shaolin monk, he debuted in ''Mortal Kombat II'' (1993). He ...

in between fight scenes. The film featured a combination of

traditional animation Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation in cinema until computer animation. Proce ...

motion capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robo ...

, and CGI to explain the origins behind some of the movie's main characters, as well as a fifteen-minute behind-the-scenes documentary of the theatrical release. Trailers of the film were seen on the promotional screener VHS copy, and on other VHS releases from

and

. The film was included on the ''Mortal Kombat''

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

released in April 2011.

''Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge'' (2020)

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

animated film called ''Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge'' was released by

Warner Bros. Animation Warner Bros. Animation Inc. is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a flagship of Warner Bros. Discovery. As the successor to Warner Bros. Cartoons, which was active from 1 ...

on digital April 14, 2020, and on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

, and 4K Ultra HD on April 28. The film is directed by

Ethan Spaulding Ethan Spaulding is an American animation director, producer and storyboard artist, well known as a crew person on the animated television series ''Avatar: The Last Airbender''. He directed twelve episodes, and held various crew positions on seve ...

and written by Jeremy Adams. The voice cast includes

Patrick Seitz David Patrick Seitz (born March 17, 1978) is an American voice actor Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists ...

Scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...

Steve Blum Steven Jay Blum (; born April 29, 1960) is an American voice actor. Known for his distinctively deep voice, his most well-known roles include Spike Spiegel from the anime series '' Cowboy Bebop'', Garazeb Orrelios from the animated series ''St ...

as Sub-Zero,

Darin De Paul Darin De Paul is an American voice actor known for his video game performances as Dr. Samuel Hayden / Seraphim in ''Doom'' and '' Doom Eternal'', Reinhardt in ''Overwatch'', Ardyn Izunia in ''Final Fantasy XV is an action role-playing game ...

Quan Chi Quan Chi is a fictional character in the '' Mortal Kombat'' fighting game franchise by Midway Games/NetherRealm Studios. He first appeared in the main series with ''Mortal Kombat 4'' (1997) following appearances in the non-canonical animated ...

Jordan Rodrigues Jordan Rodrigues (born 20 July 1992) is an Australian actor and dancer. He is best known for his role as Trey Emory in the Hulu original series ''Light as a Feather''. He has starred and appeared in TV series ''Dance Academy'', ''Home and Away'' ...

Liu Kang Liu Kang is a character (arts), fictional player character, character in the ''Mortal Kombat'' fighting game series by Midway Games and NetherRealm Studios. Depicted as Earthrealm's greatest warrior and champion, he is generally the main hero of ...

Joel McHale Joel Edward McHale (born November 20, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, and television host. He is best known for hosting ''The Soup'' (2004–2015) and his role as Jeff Winger on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015). He has performed i ...

Johnny Cage Johnny Cage is a fictional character in the ''Mortal Kombat'' fighting game franchise by Midway Games/NetherRealm Studios. Introduced in the original 1992 game, he is an action movie star with an extensive martial arts background. The series de ...

, &

Jennifer Carpenter Jennifer Carpenter is an American actress who is known for her role as Debra Morgan in the Showtime series '' Dexter'', for which she earned a Saturn Award in 2009, and also for playing Rebecca Harris in the CBS television series '' Limitless'' ...

Sonya Blade Sonya Blade is a fictional character in the '' Mortal Kombat'' fighting game franchise by Midway Games and NetherRealm Studios. She debuted in the original 1992 game as the roster's sole female fighter. Inspired by martial artist Cynthia Roth ...

Kevin Michael Richardson Kevin Michael Richardson (born October 25, 1964) is an American actor. Known for his distinctively deep voice, he has mostly voiced villainous characters in animation and video games. In film, Richardson voiced Goro in ''Mortal Kombat'' (1995) ...

also reprises his role of Goro from the 1995 live action film. The film's premise centers around

seeking revenge on those who murdered his family and clan, after being resurrected by

, while

, and

are chosen to participate in the Mortal Kombat tournament to save Earthrealm from Outworld.

''Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms'' (2021)

A sequel, entitled ''Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms'', with most of the cast and crew from ''Scorpion's Revenge'', was released on August 31, 2021.

''Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind'' (2022)

''Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match'' (2023)

In an interview in October 2022, Jeremy Adams revealed that he is writing the 4th MK Legends film.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5twJ28bTkQ&ab_channel=MaciejJankowski

Cast and crew

Recurring cast and characters

Crew

Reception

Box office performance

Critical and public response

Music

Novelizations

novelization A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of ...

of the first movie by "Martin Delrio" (

James D. Macdonald James Douglas Ignatius Macdonald (born 1954) is an American author and critic who lives in New Hampshire. He frequently collaborated with his late wife Dr. Debra Doyle. He works in several genres, concentrating on fantasy, but also writing sci ...

and

Debra Doyle Debra Doyle (November 30, 1952 – October 31, 2020) was an American author in multiple related fiction genres, including science fiction, fantasy, and mystery, for young adults and adults. Her works were co-written with her husband, James D. Mac ...

) was released through

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and is the largest publisher of Chinese scien ...

. It is based on an early version of the film's script, and as such it includes several deleted or unfilmed scenes, such as a fight between Sonya Blade and

Jade Jade is a mineral used as jewellery or for ornaments. It is typically green, although may be yellow or white. Jade can refer to either of two different silicate minerals: nephrite (a silicate of calcium and magnesium in the amphibole group of ...

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{Warner Bros. franchises American film series Martial arts film series Film series introduced in 1995 New Line Cinema franchises Warner Bros. Pictures franchises