Mortal Kombat Fights its Way Back to the Big Screen
Steve Barton
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The Hollywood Reporter
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/mortal-kombat-video-game-headed-242218
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The web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy definitely did a lot to wash away the rancid taste left behind by the fighting game franchise’s last feature film foray, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, but it looks as if the slate is now totally ready to be wiped clean.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, New Line is hiring the filmmakers of the popular Mortal Kombat digital series, made earlier this year by corporate sibling Warner Bros. Digital Distribution, to take on a new adaptation of the classic 1990s fighting game.
The movie deal marks the end of a journey for Kevin Tancharoen, who will direct the new film. Tancharoen, a choreographer for Madonna and Britney Spears who directed the 2009 remake of Fame and more recently the Glee concert movie, directed a short film Mortal Kombat: Rebirth as a proof of concept for a Kombat movie he tried to pitch. A huge fan of the video game (and knowing Hollywood wouldn’t give him a shot at the title), he enlisted Oren Uziel to write the short and hired actors such as Michael Jai White and Jeri Ryan.
The short was viewed more than 10 million times on YouTube, and although no movie deal materialized, he was asked to direct the 10-episode web series, which debuted in April, attracting more than 50 million unique visitors.
Off that success, Warners and New Line execs thought it was time to try to revisit a big-screen effort. Uziel is returning to write the new movie, which is still in the development stages. There is no actor attached and the new story will not serve as an extension of the game or digital series. Dave Neustadter and Walter Hamada are overseeing for New Line.
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