The upcoming Mortal Kombat movie from Warner Bros. is apparently going to feature the franchise’s trademark gruesome fatalities without anything held back. Actor Lewis Tan, who plays an unspecified character in the movie, told GameSpot sister site ComicBook that some of the fatality sequences that he saw on set made him sick to his stomach.
“Let me just say this, there were some days on set that I felt sick. I’m not kidding,” Tan said. “They did not… They did not hold back.”
Fatalities are Mortal Kombat’s trademark gruesome finishing sequences that showcase all manner of horrific things like ripped bones, broken spines, and bodies pulled apart in the most hideous ways. It would appear, based on Tan’s comments, that they will show up in the movie through practical effects, at least in part. Presumably CGI will also be used.
Writer Greg Russo also spoke to ComicBook, and he mentioned that the Mortal Kombat movie will feature fatalities from the game franchise as opposed to invented ones. “We’re not going to come up with some new things that we haven’t seen before,” he said.
Russo added that the producers had to walk a thin line regarding what they wanted to depict on-screen for the fatalities to avoid being too “over-the-top.”
“You want to be truthful, but you also don’t want to be so ridiculous and gratuitous that you may turn people off in the wrong way. So I would just say that it’s going to be faithful to the games and it’s going to earn its R-rating,” he said.
The Mortal Kombat movie is set for release in January 2021. It is produced by Aquaman director James Wan, and is directed by Australian commercial director Simon McQuoid.
The first Mortal Kombat movie, released in 1995, was directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, who would go on to make the Resident Evil film series. The movie made more than $120 million worldwide, but its 1997 sequel, Annihilation, was a disappointment by comparison with only $51 million. An internet video series called Mortal Kombat Legacy ran from 2011-2013.
For more on the Mortal Kombat franchise, check out the video above in which we talk to Mortal Kombat series creator Ed Boon.
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