Warner Bros. recently confirmed that the Mortal Kombat release date will now be April 23 instead of April 16.
Why Was Mortal Kombat Delayed?
According to various sources, Warner Bros. decided to delay the release date by a week but did not provide a reason for their decision. However, one can speculate that this has likely to do with the upcoming release of their monster mash-up movie, Godzilla vs. Kong. Arguably and quite literally the biggest box office release in a full year, Godzilla vs. Kong is expected to rake in big money for Warner Bros. Although the said movie will also be available for stream via HBO Max, the movie has had pretty encouraging returns so far. Case in point, Godzilla vs. Kong reportedly raked in $70.3 million on its opening weekend alone. With that said, delaying the Mortal Kombat movie makes a lot of sense. Even if it’s only for a week, the delay would ensure that the theatrical release Godzilla vs. Kong has had enough time for audiences to watch it. At the same time, this would help prevent a huge overlap between the two big box office releases. As mentioned earlier, the new Mortal Kombat movie will serve as a cinematic reboot of the popular fighting game series of the same name. It will be directed by Simon McQuoid and will feature some of the most popular names in Mortal Kombat. This includes the likes of Sub-Zero, Scorpion, and Liu Kang, with a familiar plot that revolves around a tournament with the fate of the entire Earth hanging in the balance. With that said, the hype surrounding the upcoming video game adaptation is unreal. The release of its red band trailer even broke viewership records when it first aired. The said trailer broke the record set by other films like Deadpool 2 and Logan in less time. Thus, a lot is definitely riding on the new Mortal Kombat film. Aside from the hype and expectations, it will also serve as McQuoid’s feature film debut. Previously, McQuoid had worked on a series of live-action PlayStation commercials as a director. Despite his relative inexperience though, McQuoid isn’t shying away from the challenge. As a matter of fact, he’s embracing it. He’s even gone on to say that he wants the movie to be a “true to series adaptation” that will take advantage of its R-Rating without becoming “unreleasable”. Whether or not that will indeed be the case is something that we’ll now have to wait until April 23 to find out.
