Mortal Kombat: Spinoffs reportedly in development at HBO Max

Mortal Kombat grossed $83.6 million at the global box office just as movie theaters began to reopen back in April. The tally might seem muted but considering theaters weren’t running at 100% capacity at the time, the film actually held its own. Warner Bros. has frequently touted how well the film did on the HBO Max platform, with some even saying it performed a bit better than The Suicide Squad, arguably a more high-profile film. This success on HBO Max has reportedly made Warner Bros. move forward with plans for various Mortal Kombat spinoffs set for the platform.

According to a report in “Variety” that discusses Dune’s potential performance on HBO Max, Mortal Kombat was once again mentioned as a success story of the hybrid release pattern. It’s noted that even if ticket sales at the box office are diminished, success on HBO Max can guarantee further sequels and spinoffs. According to the report, “Warner Bros. is developing other characters in its Mortal Kombat universe.” The plans are described as focusing on “other characters” which indicates spinoff opportunities. This would likely be done to introduce characters who didn’t appear in the first movie or to delve into the backstories of others. The report doesn’t describe a direct sequel which could mean that Warner Bros. wants to flesh out other characters via the spinoffs.

Joe Taslim, who played Sub-Zero in the first film, has stated that he has signed on for multiple movies as the character so these plans could include him in some capacity. There is a slew of other characters that didn’t even appear in the first film including fan-favorite Johnny Cage and Kitana. I would assume that a character like Johnny Cage would be introduced in a theatrical sequel if there is one since his character is so popular but an official sequel announcement has yet to be made.

I honestly don’t think Warner Bros. is pulling our chain about how well Mortal Kombat performed on HBO Max. Back in June, WarnerMedia executive vice Brad Wilson stated, “Mortal Kombat was an interesting title for us, because I will say that while we expected it to do well, we did not expect it to do as well as it did. It’s been one of our top assets on the platform. And those customers are now crossing over into watching all the other great titles that we typically see, but also some of the great library content that we have with Friends, The Big Bang Theory, The Sopranos, etc.” It would make sense that Warner Bros. could see some viability in exploring spinoffs on the platform given the first film’s success.

What Mortal Kombat spinoffs do you want to see?