Among other criticisms, last year’s Mortal Kombat reboot caught flak for the way some of its fight scenes were presented onscreen. Regardless, New Line apparently has enough faith in director Simon McQuoid to let him take a stab at the sequel. Deadline brings word that McQuoid will once again sit in the director’s chair on Mortal Kombat 2.
Mortal Kombat hit theaters day-and-date with its premiere on HBO Max last spring, raking in $84.4 million against a $55 million budget. In normal times, this would be considered full-on bomb territory. But since the film came out while the pandemic was still raging, it actually managed to exceed expectations. In any case, the reboot became one of HBO Max’s most successful launches to date. And that gave the studio enough reasons to greenlight a follow-up.
McQuoid made his feature directorial debut with Mortal Kombat after previously helming video games commercials for Halo 3 and Call of Duty. He also directed the short film The Night-time Economy in 2014. Back in May, McQuoid signed on to direct Omega, an upcoming sci-fi movie for Sony and Mandalay Pictures.
RELATED: Moon Knight’s Jeremy Slater Will Write Mortal Kombat 2 For New Line
Earlier this year, New Line also hired Moon Knight head writer Jeremy Slater to pen the script for Mortal Kombat 2. Slater succeeds the original film’s screenwriting team of Greg Russo, Dave Callaham, and Oren Uziel. There’s still no word on which cast members from the last movie will reprise their roles in the second installment. But in theory, the sequel could herald the return of Lewis Tan (Cole Young), Jessica McNamee (Sonya Blade), Mehcad Brooks (Jax Briggs), and Ludi Lin (Liu Kang). The previous film’s closing moments also hinted at the introduction of other characters from the video games, including Johnny Cage.
New Line hasn’t announced a release date for Mortal Kombat 2.
Are you happy to hear that McQuoid is getting a second chance behind the camera? Tell us what you think in the comment section below!
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