‘Mortal Kombat’ Reboot May Be Inspired By The MCU, According To Screenwriter
A newly announced, and very different Mortal Kombat reboot is on the way, as reported by Polygon. The screenplay has been completed, and in an interview with Discussing Film, one of its writers discussed how the film may be taking a lot of inspiration from the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) model of storytelling. The writer of the new film, Greg Russo, has a lot of thoughts on how the film should be and divulged his approach to the new film.
Mortal Kombat began as a video game launched in 1992 and since then, its popularity has gone on to create a multimedia franchise with more iterations of video games, comic book series, animated TV shows, and live action films. The most recent narrative story featuring the Mortal Kombat properties was Mortal Kombat Legacy, a series of short films directed by Kevin Tancharoen in 2010 as a proof of concept for his own live-action pitch for Warner Bros., as reported by Empire Magazine.
The film, however, never went through due to Tancharoen pursuing other opportunities. Since then a live-action Mortal Kombat has been in development hell with no real progress being made. At one time, even Aquaman director James Wan was set to take over the franchise, until he also moved on to other opportunities, as reported by Den Of Geek.
The Mortal Kombat reboot has now landed debut director Simon McQuoid, with Dave Callaham and Greg Russo penning the screenplay.
When talking with Discussing Film, Russo went in depth with his approach for the new film and how to set it in today’s cinematic landscape.
“To me, there needs to a certain levity and a fun tone. While there is violence and there are fighting and real stakes and emotional stakes for all the people involved at the end of the day it still should be fun and a sense of humor. As much as I hate to throw up the direct comparison to Marvel they’re still fun and always cracking jokes but obviously, ours will be a bit more adult.”
Mortal Kombat features an ensemble cast of characters with different backgrounds and fighting styles, who come together for a grand tournament with many otherworldly characters, for their own agendas and personal motivations. The coming together of these different characters, their backstories, and their chemistries with one another is what sets the franchise apart from other video game properties.
Currently, there is no casting announcement of any other news of development for the new Mortal Kombat reboot, and no release date has been finalized.
