“Mortal Kombat II” hasn’t hit theaters yet, but fans can expect “Mortal Kombat III” to be in the works as well, it was announced Saturday at New York Comic Con.
Joined on stage by “Mortal Kombat” cast and crew Adeline Rudolph, Karl Urban, Martyn Ford, Simon McQuoid and Tati Gabrielle, Jeremy Slater announced the third installment and his return to the martial arts fantasy film as screenwriter.
“Our friends at New Line and Warner Bros. are so happy and excited about this movie,” Slater said. “They’re so convinced there’s a giant fan base waiting for it that they’ve already hired me to start writing the next ‘Mortal Kombat’ installment.”
The announcement comes months before the sequel’s release, scheduled for May 15. No additional plot details about the third film have been shared.
Based on the popular video game series, the “Mortal Kombat” films focus on a series of tournaments between the champions of the Earth Kingdom and the chaotic outside world. Tournaments pit heroes like Cole Young, Sonya Blade, Kano, Jax, Liu Kang, and Kung Lao against villains like Mileena, Nitara, Reiko, Kabal, Reptile, Goro, and the sorcerer Shang Tsung.
The sequel, which expands on the tournaments from the first film, will feature many returning characters like Lewis Tan as Cole Young, Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Mehcad Brooks as Jax, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Josh Lawson as Kano, Tadanobu Asano as Raiden, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Joe Taslim. as Bi-Han and Max Huang as Kung Lao.
New cast members for the sequel are Urban as Johnny Cage, Rudolph as Kitana, Gabrielle as Jade, Damon Herriman as Quan Chi, Ford as Shao Kahn, Desmond Chiam as Jerrod, Ana Thu Nguyen as Sindel and CJ Bloomfield as Baraka.
McQuoid’s 2021 film adaptation of “Mortal Kombat” was a major success, considering it premiered theatrically during the COVID-19 pandemic with a simultaneous release on HBO Max. It ranked number one at the box office and grossed $84 million worldwide against a budget of $55 million. It also became HBO Max’s most successful film launch at the time.
“Mortal Kombat” was produced by James Wan, Todd Garner, McQuoid and E. Bennett Walsh. The screenplay was written by Greg Russo and Dave Callaham, based on a story by Russo and Oren Uziel. Richard Brener, Dave Neustadter, Victoria Palmeri, Michael Clear, Jeremy Stein and Larry Kasanoff served as executive producers for New Line Cinema.
