As part of James Wan's continued work in the realm of action blockbusters, the SAW / INSIDIOUS / THE CONJURING / FURIOUS 7 filmmaker, who will soon be helming an AQUAMAN movie, will be producing a new live action cinematic adaptation of the video game MORTAL KOMBAT. This seems like a cool project for Wan, as it allows for a mixture of action and monstrous, horrific creatures.
The last update we received on Wan's KOMBAT was that he and fellow producers Michael Clear, Todd Garner, and Jeremy Stein, along with executive producer Lawrence Kasanoff, were taking their time with its development. They didn't want to rush it, they wanted to make sure they were taking it in the right direction.
They have now signed on an important collaborator in this endeavor – the new MORTAL KOMBAT has found its director.
That director is Simon McQuoid, an award-winning commercial director who has helmed ads for the likes of Halo, Duracell, Samsung, PlayStation, Dr. Pepper, Netflix, and Volkswagen. MORTAL KOMBAT will mark his feature directorial debut.
McQuoid and Wan are following in the footsteps of Paul W.S. Anderson, who made the first live action MORTAL KOMBAT movie in 1995. One of the most popular video game adaptations ever made, Anderson's film
revolved around some of the game’s classic characters, like Liu Kang and Johnny Cage, who were invited to a tournament on a mysterious island only to find out that the fate of the world hung in the balance.
That movie has a lot of fans, but I was never really into it – I was disappointed by it during my opening weekend theatrical viewing – so I'm totally on board to see a different, hopefully better version by Wan and McQuoid.
MORTAL KOMBAT 1995