A New ‘Mortal Kombat’ Movie Is Happening: Here’s Who Will Be In It
In August of 1995 Mortal Kombat was just about the coolest thing a kid could see in the theaters. Sure, some people preferred Street Fighter, but video game and movie history has shown Mortal Kombat to be the undisputed godfather of fighting games and one of the only movie adaptations for a video game to have a seriously successful box office run.
Mortal Kombat took in more than $100 million worldwide on a budget of just $20 million. Although the movie sacrificed the overt violence and generally horrifying nature of the video game, it even mostly got the source material right, Raiden’s long white hair aside.
The sequel Mortal Kombat: Annihilation didn’t fare quite so well, breaking just over even domestically, with a $35 million box office take on a $30 million budget. Since then, Mortal Kombat hasn’t returned to the big screen.
Recently That Hashtag Show disclosed some pertinent information on a new Mortal Kombat film coming to theaters soon. New Line is looking to cast a new adaptation of the popular video game series after the success of video games like Mortal Kombat X. Some of the most interesting info is the fact that Raiden, an adult character in the game, will apparently be a 14-year-old boy. Fans of the franchise are likely to take issue with such a departure from the source material, as well as the apparent lack of iconic characters Scorpion and Sub-Zero from listed characters in the casting call.
Sonya Blade, originally a military character in the Special Forces, has apparently been re-imagined as a young writer.
Probably the most interesting tidbit from the casting call info is the inclusion of a new character to play the lead. Cole Turner, a boxer, appears to be replacing Liu Kang as the primary Mortal Kombat protagonist in this yet-untitled reboot.
“Cole Turner: Lead Male. 30s. A brand new character to the MK franchise. Cole is a struggling and widowed boxer who cares more about his young daughter than anything. He is incredibly determined and refuses to quit in the face of fantastical adversity.”
Other characters from the games who will be in the upcoming Mortal Kombat movie include Kano, Mileena, Jax, Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Shang Tsung, Drahmin, Kabal, Nitara, and Reiko.
Though these are the only confirmed characters from the game set to appear in the upcoming reboot, it should be noted that some characters absent from the casting call may be already cast, or could be reserved for stunt professionals.
