Anyone who’s been following the hype around Mortal Kombat will no doubt have already caught wind of rumors suggesting Warner Bros. is planning for this year’s installment to be the first in a multi-part affair, but just how many films is the studio intending to ultimately make?
Truth be told, there’s no definitive answer to that question, but assuming everything goes swimmingly (i.e. the movie turns a substantial profit), it would seem as if Earthrealm’s eternal war against Outworld could become something of a recurring fixture at the box office. As confirmed by actor Joe Taslim – who plays Lin Kuei leader Sub-Zero in the reboot – in a recent episode of Variety’s Just For Variety with Marc Malkin podcast, various members of the cast, including himself, are contracted to appear in several sequels.
Intentions don’t always match with reality, of course, and Taslim says that even though he’s signed up to return as the cryomancer in future films, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll ever get the go-ahead. He bluntly admits to Malkin that the cast “don’t know if we’re gonna have a sequel,” but that he and most everyone else involved are collectively keeping their fingers crossed for such an outcome. “If this one’s successful, maybe we’ll do more,” he continues, echoing comments made by Simon McQuoid and James Wan, director and producer of the adaptation respectively.
As for what a potential second and third entry could entail, writer Greg Russo thinks it likely that the narrative will progressively move away from an Earth setting to explore other realms such as Edenia, the original home of Princess Kitana and her mother, Sindel. Indeed, Russo reveals that he intentionally wrote the screenplay with loose ends not intended to be immediately tied up and envisions the franchise as a trilogy.
Will those aspirations come to fruition, or is Mortal Kombat headed for another two-decade hiatus? Let us know what you think in the usual place below!