Mortal Kombat movie gets April 16 release date in theaters and on HBO Max

Editor’s take: Mortal Kombat fans will have to wait a bit longer to see the franchise’s next feature film. The New Line Cinema flick was originally expected to premiere on January 15 but was recently bumped to April 16, 2021. Even at this late stage, we still don’t have a solid idea of what sort of storyline to expect. The MK short film from 2010 had a ton of potential but with a different team now leading the project, it’s anyone’s guess as to what they came up with.

The movie dates back to 2010 when director Kevin Tancharoen put out an eight-minute short film based on the popular fighting game series called Mortal Kombat: Rebirth. A year later, Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema announced that Tancharoen had been chosen to direct a feature-length film based on the short. Unfortunately, it never came to fruition and Tancharoen parted ways with the project in late 2013.

In August 2015, James Wan signed on to produce the film and was joined by Simon McQuoid as director in November 2016.

Screenwriter Greg Russo previously confirmed that Mortal Kombat will be rated R meaning that for the first time ever, fatalities will be shown in a MK movie.

The new movie will arrive in theaters and on HBO Max on the same day, April 16, as part of Warner Bros. controversial new dual release program.

Masthead credit: Stasia04