🎬 Movies and Games Fight the Future During MKII Week

REEL THOUGHTS

Movies and Games Need to Tag Team the Next Few Rounds

The Hollywood which greeted the second Mortal Kombat movie of the 1990s and the one meeting this weekend’s Mortal Kombat II are realms apart.

When Mortal Kombat: Annihilation opened in ‘97, it did so as the sequel to a popular fantasy-action flick that shamelessly thought it could get away with recasting most of the leads from the 1995 original (it didn’t). Perhaps tellingly, the movie also opened in the same year as legendary comic book adaptation, Batman & Robin. To put it mildly, this was not a time of subtlety or tortured concern for source fidelity.

But then, it was different all around, including for Ed Boon, the co-creator and still supervising benefactor of Mortal Kombat. Twenty-nine years ago, Boon was still a young gun who co-founded an arcade empire with three friends while they were messing around in a midwest garage. Nearly three decades later, he’s both elder statesman and gaming industry royalty when we sit down to discuss Mortal Kombat II in West Hollywood.

Here is the architect of an overarching legacy that’s outlasted arcade cabinets and media-hyped parental bans of his games. There have been 12 mainline Mortal Kombat games to date, plus many more odd spinoffs and offshoots with competing timelines, lore edits, and retcons that outlived Sega’s home consoles and four generations of PlayStation. Even the film industry that Boon once viewed with weariness after Annihilation has changed dramatically in how it courts his ideas.

“I think the advent of some of the big comic book blockbusters that came out made a difference,” Boon tells me. “You can almost categorize games and comic books’ potential in film [as similar]. I don’t know if I was discouraged by Hollywood per se, so much as, you can’t take the license and slap something on it. You got to put together something that is actually entertaining, as opposed to just putting the name Mortal Kombat on it.”

Even filmmakers who worked with reverence alongside Boon, such as director Simon McQuoid, have likewise noticed a recent vibe shift in the industry. Consider that when McQuoid signed on to direct the first Mortal Kombat reboot in 2016, it was years before he would see how the pandemic would complicate the release of that film (it finally reached cinemas on the same day it arrived to HBO Max in 2021). It was also before projects like The Last of Us on HBO broadened minds about what a video game adaptation could be, or 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie and last year’s Minecraft Movie cleared $1 billion each.

“It’s changed massively,” McQuoid says about the film industry’s intersection with games. “I think people realize they’re stories that are built with compelling characters and relationships and if you have that, it’s what really matters—the audience’s connection to the character’s story…. I’ve seen the commitment and just the dedication to doing that [grow]. I feel like people are respecting video games more. It took a while but I feel it happening.”

That even includes the caliber of talent signing up for video game adaptations. While not household names in the States, Japanese thespians Hiroyuki Sanada and Tadanobu Asano—McQuoid’s Scorpion and Raiden, respectively—are now major award winners in the U.S. thanks to Shōgun, a development which leaves McQuoid still beaming: “I watched the acceptance speeches when they won awards like a proud father. It was amazing.” Meanwhile Pedro Pascal is now also an Emmy nominee thanks to The Last of Us, and Jack Black has cornered the market as Gen Alpha’s goofy cinematic uncle thanks to Mario and Minecraft.

It’s a turn in perception, but also arguably a moment of mutual benefit as both industries stare down various levels of upheaval. While the myriad of troubles facing movies are self-evident these days—streaming, shorter theatrical windows, higher prices, and attendance unable to reach pre-pandemic numbers—the gaming industry is also in a slow-moving realignment, with various video game developers shuttering in 2025 and free game-creation-system Roblox accounting for 40 percent of the gaming industry’s growth outside of China. Which is to say, “kids these days” are more inclined to play user-created games on Roblox for free than a PS5 or even Nintendo Switch 2. Meanwhile their 18-35 older siblings are spending their “gaming” cash on things like PolyMarket and FanDuel instead of the newest iteration of FIFA.

Tastes are changing, so movies like Mortal Kombat II or Mario help remind older gamers of what they loved, and perhaps pass it on to their children.

It’s a new world out there, although Boon dismisses the idea that you couldn’t see something like Mortal Kombat happen again where four friends messing around on a low budget could change the gaming industry entirely, spawning even a movie franchise.

“We made this game in eight months in our 20s in the ‘90s, and it just took off and we were fortunate enough to continue making them. I think that’s what’s kept Mortal Kombat in the zeitgeist,” says Boon. “… But four friends can certainly make a video game for sure. I wouldn’t have said that 10 years ago, but with the game engines and what not that are available now, I do feel like four friends could make a game that could [have an impact]. You know that Balatro game was one guy. So I think there is certainly an opportunity to try something huge like that.”

Balatro, an anonymously designed title that essentially reinvents poker, is also a game available to play on your phone. Maybe there’s a movie in that?

— David Crow, Senior Editor

ABSOLUTE NEWS

Beware of Yankees Bearing Gifts (or Online Grifts)

The new full trailer for The Odyssey just dropped, revealing an Ancient Greece where everyone speaks with American accents and says “dad,” “daddy,” and hopefully “daddio.” Peddlers of online outrage and misery (for the viewer) will tell you this is an insult! But please remember, no one in Imperial Rome spoke with Received Pronunciation despite what Gladiator tells you, and 70 years ago, it was considered Oscar caliber when Charlton Heston played a Hebrew opposite fellow Yanks in Ye Ol’ Biblical Times. Twice.

ABSOLUTE RECOMMENDATION

Mortal Kombat Origins

We defer to Ed Boon this week, who has a note for folks who really enjoy Mortal Kombat but maybe are too young to know the influences: “A big inspiration for us was both Enter the Dragon and Bloodsport. Both of those films had huge inspiration on us. We wanted Jean-Claude Van Damme in our original game. I think we got lucky that he didn’t [do it], because we were able to make our own game, but those are two great films to do.”

ABSOLUTE THROWBACKS

Neat-O Madonna!

This week marks the 35th anniversary for Madonna: Truth or Dare. That also means it’s the 35th birthday for the meme where Kevin Costner gets roasted for using the word “neat” to the Material Girl’s face. Which, I dunno, is kind of… neat.

DEN OF GEEK MAGAZINE

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We’re opening up a waitlist to see just how many of our most dedicated readers are ready to go all-in on a print edition. If that sounds like you, hit the button below. You’ll be taken to a form where you can be counted among the fans helping make this happen!

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