It was only a couple of days ago that we reported that the Mortal Kombat reboot was under consideration for an HBO Max release, but Warner Bros. had decided against it for the time being in favor of debuting the video game adaptation theatrically. Obviously, things have changed an awful lot in the last 48 hours, after the studio announced that the entire 2021 slate of movies will debut exclusively on WarnerMedia’s in-house streaming service the same day that they arrive on the big screen.
The projects in question are only going to play on HBO Max for a month, though, before disappearing and following the traditional method that’ll see them finish up a theatrical run, and then be made available to purchase on VOD and Blu-Ray and eventually circle back to become part of the platform’s content library on a permanent basis.
Mortal Kombat was initially scheduled for a January debut, but producer Todd Garner admitted a few weeks ago that nothing was set in stone after it was pulled from the calendar completely. However, it seems that Simon McQuoid’s martial arts actioner will still arrive on HBO Max next month and WB have now released the first official logo, which you can check out below.
Mortal Kombat is one of the few titles that could actually benefit from a streaming debut in the long run, because there are still plenty of question marks surrounding the commercial viability of the video game genre, despite recent encouraging signs being shown by Detective Pikachu and Sonic the Hedgehog. There was every chance the reboot could have ended up bombing at the box office, but a rapid rise in HBO Max subscriber numbers will now comfortably offset any potential financial losses.
