Today, Warner Bros. released the first trailer for the new Mortal Kombat movie. Based on the long-running fighting game franchise, the movie looks to follow Cole Young (Lewis Tan), an MMA fighter born with a mysterious birthmark. When an otherworldly assassin, named Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim), begins to hunt Cole, Cole meets Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) and seeks safety with Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano).
Learning he is one of a number of chosen Earthrealm warriors, Cole will join the likes of Liu Kang (Ludi Lin), Kung Lao (Max Huang) and rogue mercenary Kano (Josh Lawson), in an epic high stakes battle against Shang Tsung (Chin Han) and his warriors of Outworld.
Directed by Simon McQuoid, Mortal Kombat marks his feature directorial debut, but the trailer seems to nail the brutal nature and gruesome action of the computer game series. It will include a host of familiar characters, backstory, iconic taglines and most importantly, fatalities. This won’t be for the faint-hearted, but should please long-term MK fans.
The film is produced by James Wan (The Conjuring universe films, Aquaman), Todd Garner (Into the Storm, Tag), McQuoid and E. Bennett Walsh (Men in Black: International, The Amazing Spider-Man 2). The screenplay is by Greg Russo and Dave Callaham (Wonder Woman 1984), with the story by Oren Uziel (Mortal Kombat: Rebirth)
Mortal Kombat is set for an initial release in cinemas on April 16th. It will also be part of HBO Max in the U.S., on the same day.