Mortal Kombat II (film)

Development

Following the release of Mortal Kombat in April 2021, actor Joe Taslim revealed that he was contracted for four additional Mortal Kombat films, if Warner Bros. Pictures decided to create a franchise.^[21] Director Simon McQuoid stated that he was open to returning to direct a sequel if the story for it was good.^[22] In an interview after the film's release, McQuoid said that the character Johnny Cage was not introduced in the film because Johnny Cage was a "giant personality" and would throw the film out of balance. He revealed that potential sequels could explore the material for characters like Cage and Kitana. He also expressed that he would like to include more female characters.^[23] Co-writer Greg Russo told Collider that he saw the reboot as a trilogy with the first film set before the tournament, the second film set during the tournament and the third film set post-tournament.^[24]

In November 2021, producer Todd Garner hinted at a sequel in development on Twitter,^[25] and in January 2022, the film was confirmed to be in development with Jeremy Slater writing the script.^[26] In May 2022, Slater confirmed plans to include Johnny Cage in the film, after the character had been set up at the end of Mortal Kombat, though he noted his exact role in the story had not been determined.^[27] That same month, Slater mentioned the film would "embrace some of [the] weirdness" inherent to the Mortal Kombat franchise, and that he wanted the film to be "unpredictable" and to defy fan expectations.^[28] In June 2022, he further explained that the sequel would address both positive and negative fan reactions to the first film.^[29] In July 2022, it was announced that the film had been greenlit by New Line and that McQuoid would return to direct the sequel.^[30]

Casting

Karl Urban

Adeline Rudolph

Tati Gabrielle

Urban, Rudolph, and Gabrielle joined the cast as Johnny Cage, Kitana, and Jade, respectively.

In May 2023, Tati Gabrielle was in final negotiations to play Jade in the film, with Karl Urban also in final talks to play Cage.^[31] It was also reported that Jessica McNamee and Josh Lawson would return to play Sonya Blade and Kano respectively.^[9] Later that month, Adeline Rudolph, who had worked with Gabrielle on the Netflix series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, joined the cast as Kitana, with Gabrielle confirmed to be playing Jade.^[10] In June 2023, Martyn Ford, Desmond Chiam, Ana Thu Nguyen, and Damon Herriman were cast as Shao Kahn, King Jerrod, Queen Sindel and Quan Chi, respectively.^[11] Herriman previously voiced Kabal in the 2021 film.^[11] Later that month, Max Huang confirmed he would return as Kung Lao.^[15] A month ahead of the film's release in April 2026, Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon was revealed to appear in the film.^[19]

Filming

Principal photography began on June 22, 2023, at Village Roadshow Studios in Gold Coast, Queensland, with Stephen F. Windon as the cinematographer.^{[32][33][34][35]} Due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, filming was suspended in July and resumed following the end of the strike in November 2023.^[36][37] Filming officially concluded in late January 2024.^[38]

Box office

As of May 25, 2026^[update], Mortal Kombat II grossed $74.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $45.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $120.1 million.^[4][5] It was produced on a budget of $80 million.^[3][4]

In the United States and Canada, Mortal Kombat II opened alongside The Sheep Detectives and Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D), and was projected to gross $40–45 million in its opening weekend.^[3] It made $17 million on its first day, including $5.2 million in Thursday night previews, and went on to debut with $38.5 million, finishing second behind The Devil Wears Prada 2.^[40]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 64% of 179 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "A self-aware slugfest that plays directly to those who know the difference between Fatalities and Babalities, Mortal Kombat II may not be a flawless victory but it's likely the most roundly enjoyable entry in the franchise yet."^[41] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 46 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.^[42] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, down from the previous film's "B+" grade.^[43] Audiences polled by PostTrak gave it a 72% "definite recommend".^[44]

Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review, saying: "The film has its rewards, mostly of the unsophisticated kind, since the fight sequences come fast and furious and the cheesy dialogue has enough groan-worthy one-liners to inspire a thousand drinking games," labeling the film "a tacky sequel that's strictly for the fans".^[45] Glenn Kenny of The New York Times gave the film a positive review, writing: "The spectacle — its eardrum-shattering, eye-popping pyrotechnics, with the violence framed against all manner of phantasmagoric computer-generated backdrops — is its own reward."^[46] Simon Abrams of RogerEbert.com gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, writing: "It makes good on its grisly promise whenever its meat-puppet protagonists stop talking and start pummeling each other."^[47]

Johnny Oleksinski of New York Post gave the film one star out of four, calling it "a migraine of nonstop fights and idiot characters", as well as "repetitive kills from bottom-drawer cartoons."^[48] Benjamin Lee of The Guardian gave the film two stars out of five, writing: "Treated like a premium format blockbuster does not do a film like Mortal Kombat II any favours, its junkiness less charming and more distracting, a street fighter suddenly forced to go pay-per-view."^[49] Owen Gleiberman of Variety described the film as "an old-school video-game trash extravaganza: all sound and fury and flying bodies and jargony world-building, propped up by a sludgy excuse for a story."^[50]