Press day at the Television Critics Association has given us the first word on the Mortal Kombat movie reboot from high profile producer James Wan!

Speaking to IGN, the Furious 7 and upcoming Aquaman director emphasized his appreciation for the original games and movies, citing the need to "do it right" as the reason production will continue to 'cook away' and take its time.

"The key here is to try and do it right. I don't want to rush into it. So right now, we're just trying to take our time to make sure it's heading in the right direction. I think that's more important than trying to rush through it and pump up something that no one likes."

It's been one year since news of Wan's attachment to the long awaited project originally broke [full story]. It was the first substantial update to the film since 2013, when Legacy director Kevin Tancharoen announced his departure. No new director has replaced him, but James Wan is providing a guiding hand to the Mortal Kombat movie reboot. He explained his appreciation for the core concept:

"I love the characters. I think they're such colorful characters. It's such an amazing take on, basically, Enter the Dragon. It's that fantasy version, the video game version, of Enter the Dragon. And in doing so, they ended up creating such interesting characters and I think that is such a cool world to explore. This really mythical, bigger world that lives on another dimension on top of ours. I think that's really fun to play with and so we'll see."

Star of the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie, Christophe Lambert, recently sparked rumors about the new movie's plot, claiming to have been in talks to reprise his role as Thunder God: Raiden.

Wan may have reason to be thinking carefully about franchise properties rushed into theatres with negative reaction from critics and fans. The Australian is currently penciled in to direct a 2018 Aquaman feature film in follow-up to next year's Justice League ensemble. The DC Comics movie universe expanded to critical derision this month, opening theatrically with Suicide Squad. It's the third film to draw strong controversy, suffering from steep box office drops after initially strong opening.

Deviating interpretations of the classic Mortal Kombat canon proved controversial in Kevin Tancharoen's live-action webseries work. Mortal Kombat: Legacy II maintained strong viewership, but less enthusiasm. Earlier this year, Machinima removed the series from YouTube. A third series, announced as part of Warner Brothers' digital line-up in 2014, has suffered continuing delays since reports of an early 2016 release.

Warner Brothers is notably in search of a strong theatrical franchise. With over five million units of Mortal Kombat X sold in 2015, the potential for repeating or exceeding the multimedia universe created by Threshold Entertainment is tantalizing.

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