Though the first Mortal Kombat film wasn’t perfect by any means, the 1995 effort deservedly remains a cult classic to this day. After all, it’s actually one of the better video game adaptations out there, which is something especially remarkable because it was based on a tournament fighter. The 1997 followup, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, fell short of its predecessor, but hey, at least it had a kick-ass soundtrack (I’m forever indebted to it for introducing me to Rammstein).
With the upcoming silver screen reboot produced by James Wan being, well, a reboot, we’re all expecting something quite different from what came before. And according to screenwriter Greg Russo, a whole new ballgame awaits us, as he told ComicBook.com the following:
“And the mission statement for the new film has always been, we don’t want to repeat what you’ve already seen. That doesn’t really appeal to anybody, I don’t think. And they already have those films. So at the same time we wanted to tell a new story that’s going to be exciting, but that’s gonna be faithful to the lore and the games that everybody knows and loves.”
If we were to liken the original flicks to the games, I’d say the first Mortal Kombat movie was an adaptation of Mortal Kombat 1, whereas Annihilation brought Mortal Kombat 3 to life. Needless to say, there are many other sequels and spinoffs to mine for material. Still, Russo and company need to come up with something that’s quite “entry level” for the layman, if you catch my drift.
Based on what the scribe had to say next, I think they got it all figured out:
“So the mission statement was really just bring your passion to the project and let’s figure out what the best story is for a new film adaptation that feels fresh and at the same time pays respect to the game.”
Mortal Kombat arrives in theaters on March 5th, 2021.