The arrival of the dark and violent Mortal Kombat arcade game in 1992 was a pretty big deal. When Paul W. S. Anderson's live action on the brutal video game debuted in theaters 3 years later, people were very excited to see it, and it was said by many at the time to be the first movie made of a video game to not be terrible. Well, I do believe that most people who have dared to revisit the movie and see it for what it really is will find it... pretty darn bad. Yeah, I said bad. Of course, the sequel was just plain awful, but at least their is some humor in how terrible it was. Humor that maybe lasts a few minutes before finding the remote, anyway. No, the original movie that the future Mr. Milla Jovovich made was just plain cheesy, in my opinion. Sprinklings of cool, but mostly erm... Korny
Anyway, a man named Kevin Tancharoen wanted to do a Mortal Kombat movie so bad that he had decided to make a theatrical trailer to pitch the idea to executives. He hired actual actors like Michael Jai White and Teri Ryan to make it look like more than just a fan flick. (also, hats off to the DP) The short was made for $7,500 and a lot of people donated their time to make it. Well, it seems a so-called private resume piece turned into a phenomenon. The unfinished Mortal Kombat: Rebirth trailer was supposed to be locked on Youtube but was not and it went viral rather quickly. After 10 million hits, it did turn the heads of some execs at WB, though. They asked him to make a 10 part web series called Mortal Kombat: Legacy. They must have liked it because Tancharoen and Rebirth screenwriter Oren Uziel finally got their nod from New Line to make a feature film. What's odd is that Tancharoen's credits so far as a director include the 2009 remake of Fame and the Glee concert movie. This is probably mostly due to his dance choreography background. He has been a dance choreographer for Britney Spears and Madonna in the past. Oddly enough, he has been vocal about not wanting his fight scenes to look choreographed, but natural. Then again, maybe this isn't so odd after all. It would seem that the man knows what looks natural, what works and what doesn't with action and most importantly, he has a clear view of what Mortal Kombat should be.
Will people still care 20 years after the video game debut? Well, the recent video game remake has raked in over $3 million so far, so maybe that is another reason for New Line to want to cash in. That, and the fact that Tancharoen seems to be able to make a quality production with a modest budget.
What we know about the film:
- No actors have yet been cast.
- Storyline will not be bound to any events in the Legacy web series
- Movie will be R-rated
- Release is aimed for 2013
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