Warner Bros. postpones the release of 'Mortal Kombat 2' to 2026, aiming to capture the Summer Box Office boom instead.
In a surprising turn of events, Warner Bros. and New Line have announced that the long-awaited sequel to the rebooted Mortal Kombat film series, Mortal Kombat 2, will no longer be released in theaters this fall as initially planned. Instead, the gory action-packed movie will now hit the silver screen on May 15, 2026.
The change in release date was made strategically to avoid competition with other heavy hitters like 20th Century Studios' Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere and Paramount's Colleen Hoover adaptation Regretting You, which are slated for release around the same time.
Directed by Simon McQuoid, who helmed the successful 2021 Mortal Kombat reboot, the sequel promises a thrilling battle to defeat the dark rule of Shao Kahn. The official blurb reveals a gory spectacle that is sure to please fans of the iconic video game franchise.
Karl Urban has been cast as the fan-favourite character Johnny Cage, joining a star-studded cast that includes Adeline Rudolph, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Ludi Lin, Mehcad Brooks, Tati Gabrielle, Lewis Tan, Damon Herriman, Chin Han, Tadanobu Asano, Joe Taslim, and Hiroyuki Sanada.
Mortal Kombat 2's screenplay is penned by Jeremy Slater, the mind behind the script for the first film. The production of the sequel is led by producers Todd Garner, James Wan, Toby Emmerich, E. Bennett Walsh, and Simon McQuoid.
The original Mortal Kombat film, released in April 2021, opened to a respectable $36.9 million in its debut weekend. The franchise has since pulled in a total of $257.8 million globally. In May this year, the spin-off film Final Destination: Bloodlines opened to a franchise-best $51.6 million and went on to gross $301 million worldwide.
Warner Bros. is hoping that Mortal Kombat 2 can repeat or surpass this success, especially considering that Halloween weekend is not typically considered prime time for big movie debuts.
The red-band trailer for Mortal Kombat 2, released earlier this year, received a staggering 107 million global views, indicating a strong appetite for the franchise's violent and action-packed style.
With its new release date set, Mortal Kombat 2 will face off against Amazon MGM Studios' Is God Is and an untitled Neon release on its opening weekend in 2026. Fans of the franchise will have to wait a bit longer, but the promise of an epic battle against Shao Kahn is certainly worth the wait.
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