‘Mortal Kombat 2' First Look Released, First Footage Shown At CinemaCon
It’s time to enter the world of Cage in the sequel
The new Mortal Kombat film franchise might be headed to Hollywood in its sequel releasing in October, but first, it had to go through the Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas for CinemaCon, with a feature along the way.
When we last left off, Outworld sorcerer Shang Tsung (Chin Han) and his forces attempt to wipe out Earth's champions before the big Mortal Kombat tournament between fighters from different realms. When that battle ended, ex-MMA fighter Cole Young, played by Lewis Tan, joined by ancestor Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada), chose to journey to Los Angeles in search of a new ally to aid in what lies ahead, and that ally is the beloved and eccentric Johnny Cage. In this continuity he is introduced as the star of Citizen Cage, whose poster had been his only presence in that entire first film. Now he’s played by Karl Urban, and ready to take his place alongside other Earthrealm champions. "You finally get to see Johnny Cage," Ed Boon, Mortal Kombat co-creator and head of gaming developer NetherRealm Studios, says. "His integration into the Mortal Kombat story and universe is a big part of what this movie explores. He's a washed-up Hollywood guy thrown into this magical, ultra-violent thing. Karl, his depiction of Johnny Cage is different than our games in some ways. He's adding his own flare to it, but I think it'll feel fresh. There's like a novelty factor in there.”
'Mortal Kombat 2' Chooses New Fighters With Karl Urban As Johnny Cage And Two More
The Mortal Kombat sequel has found three new fighters: Johnny Cage, Kitana, and Jade. Cage, in particular, is among the video games’ most popular and was teased at the end of the first film, seen on a poster for one of his in-universe movies.
While Cole was the audience surrogate in the first film, it will be Johnny in this one. His introduction is called “ridiculously hilarious," having incited "some of the biggest laughs" at the early screenings. Director Simon McQuoid felt it was quite the tightrope act in balancing tone. "We wanted a character that wasn't just completely silly, comic book...It's a character that could instantly go there and become too light and throwaway if we were to lean too much into the kind of cheese," McQuoid remarks. "The casting of Karl Urban for that role allowed that character to have more depth."
Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Mehcad Brooks as Jackson "Jax" Briggs, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, Joe Taslim as Sub-Zero are all returning, and joined by Adeline Rudolph, whose previous credits include Netflix’s Resident Evil series as fan-wielding fan-favorite Kitana, as well as Damon Herriman as Netherrealm demon Quan Chi, Tati Gabrielle as Jade, Ana Thu Nguyen as Queen Sindel, Those About to Die’s Martyn Ford as Outworld overlord Shao Kahn, and some undisclosed "other" characters who will make appearances,. The true Mortal Kombat tournament has arrived, and the stakes are astronomical. If Earthrealm loses against Outworld for what would be the 10th consecutive tournament, then Shao Kahn will invade and conquer Earth. Josh Lawson and Max Huang, whose characters Kano and Kung Lao, died in the previous movie, will be back, and Boon points to existing Mortal Kombat lore from the games that make such returns possible. "We've killed a number of characters who are in Mortal Kombat 1 and our latest games," he says. "So we deal with spirits and the NetherRealm and things like that. There are ways to bring dead characters back."
McQuoid and screenwriter Jeremy Slater also worked to "maximize everything" with Mortal Kombat 2, namely "just build on where we were and then make it significantly more intense, bigger in scale, bigger in variation, bigger across the board really as a cinematic experience. What I realized was go bigger, go bolder, don't hold back, and really feed off the history of Mortal Kombat more. Just let it rip, and that's what we've done." Attendees of CinemaCon, the movie theater trade show based in the Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, got a taste of the experience on Tuesday evening as part of Warner Bros.’s panel. New Line Cinema head Richard Brenner introduced the sizzle reel which featured a clip of Urban saying “I am Johnny fucking Cage. It’s showtime.”
Showtime for Mortal Kombat 2 is October 24, and it is produced by Atomic Monster’s James Wan and Michael Clear, and Broken Road Productions’ Todd Garner. McQuoid and E. Bennett Walsh are also producing.
'Street Fighter', 'Saw XI' Removed From Release Schedule
For you, the day Saw XI and Street Fighter were removed from the schedule was an important day of your life, but for Lionsgate and Sony, it was Monday. And CinemaCon was coming up, so both studios made major shifts in preparation.
Sources: Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter