A Mortal Kombat movie sequel is in development

A sequel to last year’s Mortal Kombat movie is in the works at New Line Cinema.

The Warner Bros.-owned film studio has hired Fantastic 4 and Moon Knight writer Jeremy Slater to pen the Mortal Kombat 2 script, Deadline reports.

Last year’s Mortal Kombat film was helmed by Simon McQuoid, making his feature directorial debut, and produced by James Wan (Aquaman), Todd Garner (Into the Storm), E. Bennett Walsh (The Amazing Spider-Man 2) and McQuoid.

It released in April and helped drive what was then the US box office’s biggest weekend since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The video game adaptation generated some $22.5 million in its opening weekend and has reportedly exceeded Warner’s expectations.

Its worldwide box office gross stands at almost $84 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

The movie launched simultaneously in cinemas and on HBO Max and is reportedly one of the streaming service’s top feature titles to date.

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New Mortal Kombat movie: watch the opening 7 minutes now

Check out the beginning of the film ahead of its release on Friday

While it was poorly received by critics, the original Mortal Kombat movie grossed over $120 million worldwide following its release in 1995. Its sequel, 1997’s Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, grossed $50 million.

The Mortal Kombat video game franchise launched in 1992 and had sold 73 million units as of July 2021, according to Warner, including 12 million copies of the latest series entry, 2019’s Mortal Kombat 11.

Other upcoming movies based on video game properties include February’s Uncharted film starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, April’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 featuring Jim Carrey and Idris Elba, and December’s Illumination-produced Super Mario animated movie, in which Chris Pratt will voice the Nintendo mascot.

Actor Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson recently teased plans to bring “one of the biggest, most badass games” to cinema screens, with an announcement planned for later this year.