A couple of posts ago, I was talking about Video Game adaptations. I also mentioned the rather good Mortal Kombat web series, well a full feature film is now on the way. Warners and New Line are behind the new reboot which is being fast tracked to production. The ten part series dubbed ‘Legacy’ was watched by millions, causing an internet frenzy and a demand for a new movie.
The first Mortal Kombat movie released in 1995 was directed by Paul W.S Anderson who would go on to bring Resident Evil to the big screen. Whilst MK1 was enjoyable it hardly merited a sequel, when it did arrive it seemingly killed the franchise off. A short lived prequel TV series Conquest arrived in 1998 but was cancelled after 22 episodes.
Legacy was surprisingly good the episodes are short, the production values and cast do wonders a very small budget. No prior knowledge of Mortal Kombat is needed but fans are rewarded with neat little in jokes.
Whilst I still believe that video game movie adaptations are a bad idea generally, if the makers of the forthcoming movie can recapture what worked for the web series then I would be interested. The upgrade they gave the game this year was slick and gave new life to a near 20 year old series.
No casting decisions have been made yet but I hope they continue the story threads from the series and bring back the cast. Helming the new movie is Kevin Tancharoen who directed the Mortal Kombat trailer ‘Rebirth’ as well as a couple of episodes of the series. Shooting starts early next year for a 2013 release.
