Last summer, the world watched in horror (I’m exaggerating a bit) as a short film appeared online starring Michael Jai White and based on the Mortal Kombat series of video games. Turning away from the campy flavor of the game’s 1990s film adaptations, the short opted instead for a darker, grittier tone… to the point of being more than mildly disturbing. It was quickly revealed that Fame remake director Kevin Tancheroen was behind the short, and that he’d done it as a self-budgeted proof-of-concept, something to put in front of both studios and fans which said, loudly, “Hey, Mortal Kombat is badass, so any movie based on it really ought to be badass as well.”
He wasn’t wrong, and the fans showed their interest by tuning in. To date, the short has attracted just shy of 3.5 million viewers on YouTube alone. Unfortunately, the Internet’s interest wasn’t enough to inspire Warner Bros to press play on Tancheroen’s vision, probably due in part to the fact that reports in recent years suggest the studio was working on an MK reboot of its own. There’s good news though: you haven’t seen the last of Mortal Kombat: Rebirth.
Bloody Disgusting reports, via “sources,” that a series of ten webisodes are in production, written by Tancheroen and brothers Aaron and Todd Helbing. White will reprise his role as Jax — perfect casting — and he’ll be joined by other MK characters, including Shang Tsung, Liu Kang, Sub-Zero, Durak (Goro’s brother… how bizarrely random), Kabal, Kitana/Mileena and Scorpion. I’ll bet Goro makes an appearance as well, along with a couple of others. Of course, as a lifelong fan and player of video games and film, really… I ultimately just want to see this thing done well. One awesome video game adaptation wouldn’t kill Hollywood.