‘Mortal Kombat’ Movie Reboot Will Borrow From the MCU

The world of film franchises has evolved in some unexpected ways over the past decade-or-so, with more and more shared cinematic universes popping up each year. Mortal Kombat is among the most recent ones to enter that game, and it looks like they will be looking to a familiar place for inspiration.

In a recent interview with Discussing Film, screenwriter Greg Russo was asked about his script for Warner Bros. and New Line’s Mortal Kombat reboot, which Simon McQuiod is set to direct. When it comes to the script’s tone, Russo hinted that it will be honoring the tongue-in-cheek attitude of the original franchise, but with a level of humor and nuance seen in more recent Marvel films.

“Yeah, I think [tone is] essential when you’re talking about this property.” Russo explained. “Is there really a super serious dark version of this? Yeah, I guess, but that’s not Mortal Kombat to me. Just look at Kano as an example, he’s a great character. He’s always cracking jokes. To me, there needs to a certain levity and a fun tone. While there is violence and there is fighting and real stakes and emotional stakes for all the people involved at the end of the day it still should be fun and a sense of humor. As much as I hate to throw up the direct comparison to Marvel they’re still fun and always cracking jokes but obviously ours will be a bit more adult.”

Russo was then asked which Mortal Kombat character would serve as a sort of audience proxy into the film’s weird world, something that he answered pretty vaguely.

“That’s a tricky one.” Russo continued. “I’m not at liberty to completely give it away but I can say certainly that the original seven are important. I think they’re important to any adaptation to this property.”

These teases from Russo prove to be the most concrete information about the reboot yet, with previous quotes hinting that doing Mortal Kombat right was taking longer than initially planned.

“That has been such a tricky one just trying to get the script to a point,” producer James Wan said late last year. “People don’t know this, fans don’t understand this, but there’s just so much on the business side of things… to try and get the right budget for it, and we want to make sure we have enough resources and the budget to do the film right. If I can’t get the right resources and find the right filmmaker for it, I don’t want to do it, and I’m so busy already. I don’t need to clutter my plate with more stuff if I don’t believe it can be done right.”

The Mortal Kombat movie does not currently have a release date.