New Line is ready for round two of Moral Kombat. The studio has hired screenwriter Jeremy Slater to pen a sequel to the 2021 video game adaptation, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
Mortal Kombat debuted simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic in April 2021 and earned $83.7 million globally. According to HBO Max, which does not release viewership data publicly, it has been among the streaming service’s top feature films.
Mortal Kombat is based on the seminal fighting game created by Ed Boon and John Tobias. It centers on a tournament gathering the best fighters on Earth to defend against would-be invaders. The game was previously adapted into a hit 1995 feature and its ill-fated 1997 sequel. Simon McQuoid directed the 2021 outing, which starred Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Joe Taslim, Mehcad Brooks, Matilda Kimber, Laura Brent, Tadanobu Asano, Hiroyuki Sanada, Chin Han, Ludi Lin and Max Huang.
No director or cast is attached, but the first installment teased the addition of fan favorite character Johnny Cage, who did not appear. Said McQuoid last year: “We knew we needed to lay a little bit of rail towards him. We never talked about sequels. We don’t presume anything like that. It’s very one step at a time. But we did feel that we needed to lay a few joiners, his being one of them.”
Slater is riding high, with the trailer for his upcoming Disney+ show, Moon Knight, generating buzz upon release last week. The series stars Oscar Isaac as the Marvel antihero and is due out in March. He’s also known for his work on Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy. The new Mortal Kombat film continues Slater’s relationship with James Wan, who produced the recent Mortal Kombat via his Atomic Monster banner. Wan is also producing Slater’s upcoming directorial debut, Thread, for Screen Gems. Slater’s other work includes an upcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s The Tommyknockers for Universal and Wan. His most recently worked on Uprising, the Netflix film which has Travis Knight attached to direct.
Slater is repped by UTA, Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment and McKuin, Frankel Whitehead LLP.
Deadline first reported the news.