I'm excited about this upcoming mini-series, but I would have liked to have seen it be more connected to the MK: Rebirth short. By having more money and resources, Kevin Tancharoen could make this mini-series into what he would have wanted for his movie idea, which is to add the special powers and mysticism. Either way, I can't wait to see how this turns out.

Still true.

The hell with changes! None of the true MK fans would accept dealing with the idea of stepping out of the MK story. If any future movie of Mortal Kombat is planned to be released, these people should really stick to the story. Not inventing ridiculous things about the characters. Come on people, seriously Baraka being a plastic surgeon? Or Reptile suffering from a rare skin disease? Who's the genius that came up with this idea. Baraka and Reptile are barely even humans at all.

I disagree, a million hits on youtube was because someone came up with an original take on something that would otherwise look cheesy on film. Rebirth made mortal kombat cool again.

Do we really need to be retold the same story from MK 1-3, the Mortal Kombat movie, MK Shaolin Monks amd now MK 9 ?

If these shorts dont follow the rebirth idea, I surely wont be putting my behind it. This is the problem when you get big studios involved, they take a really good idea, and change everything about it according to marketing instead of art, and when its all done its just a shell of what its original concept was.

Rebirth literally blew up the internet, not a plain retelling of the story, so what does WB do ? Lets just do a tie in for the game to try to milk more money out of the franchise .....

You know I was really excited when MK went to WB because I thought they were going to do right by the franchise but so far they just seem like they are fucking it all up.

I want them to continue the MK: Rebirth theme. I don't want a game tie in. That's lame. That's what the game is for!

Let the game tell it's story for the canon, and let the webisodes/movie tell the alternate universe/reimagination.

forreal.

Take a moment to really soak in the irony of that statement.

*groan*


I like MK (ok, MK1, DA and Rebirth) because of it's qualities NOT because it is called MK.

I don't think you actually watched The Journey Begins. It wasn't great. Or good. Or even sorta okay.



So I guess Gold, Special Forces, Advance, Deadly Alliance, Tournament Edition, Deception, Unchained, Shaolin Monks, Armageddon, and VS DCU didn't actually happen?



God forbid someone waste space on a video game message board.



"Well. It looks like Sub-Zero murdered this man in cold blood."

*puts on sunglasses*

YEEEAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

That was terrible. Just terrible.

...You're supposed to say the pun after you put on the sunglasses.

This fuckiing reeks of compromise. Mortal Kombat like any other IP is open to artistic interpretation. The fact they even gave Kevin Tancharoen a job is proof of this, It sucks its at the expense of artistic integrity but its better than nothing I suppose. It bothers me WB will give Chris Nolan free range to do whatever the hell he wants with Batman, but Mortal Kombat of all things is off limits...

There isn't a single sentiment in this post that isn't completely naive.

I don't watch CSI, so I can only go on what people have told me. Just like the Jersey Shore.

Compromise is always a part of the creative process when working with major studios and/or big franchises.



I can't believe that Warner Brothers puts more trust in guy whose made them a zillion dollars than someone who hasn't.

Memento didn't make WB a " zillion" dollars. Chris Nolan had free range with Batman before he ever made them a cent off the Batman IP, Batman Begins was a bigger gamble than people give it credit for. I just wish Warner was willing to take more risks. I understand the Kevin Tancharoen is not same level as Chris Nolan, but I feel his vision deserved an honest shot.

Very interesting news.

I'm happy to hear it.

1.) Sounds to me like they got the director with the idea for the film that we'd like to see, so I'm pleased with that.
2.) We have the actors we liked from the short back for the series, which is also excellent.
3.) It also reads like we'll be getting more, if not new canon information that coincides, and or contributes to the games' material. Which again, is a really wonderful notion.

For all intents and purposes it sounds exactly like what I'd want from something like this. So, so far I'll say this:

Thanks WB, NRS, and Kevin Tancharoen for getting this far. Don't let me down now... the planets seem to have aligned temporarily.

What I want to see from this sort of thing (again):

1.) Use this opportunity to explore a select few characters beyond what the game allows us to know or understand about them.

2.) Use this opportunity to explore the Mortal Kombat contest beyond what the game allows us to know or understand about it.

3.) DO NOT stray from the games content when it comes to character description//origin//persona. I can give a bit when it comes to character portrayals because it's a different medium. However, not very much. So long as they're using what is there about the characters from the games to elaborate, grow//develop, and progress from that, I'm straight. We're golden, it's good.

4.) Use the games canon premise to shape what it is that we experience in the film. I don't care for an alternate universe... I don't care for some new directors idea. I care about how he delivers what I know to be true within the reasonable scope of what the game already offers. I want more of the game, not something totally different.

5.) I will love it if it ties directly in-to what's going on in the game. That's what I want. Makes it a whole subversive experience at that point. That way, I get the game, I can get the mini-series, all the books, the digital graphic novel stuff, every bio, ending, action figures, all the art, etc. Hell, the only thing I haven't seen them offer up is Halloween costumes! HA!

6.) Use some kind of version of that modernized, dirty, gritty, bloody, and brutal style like the Rebirth short had. But, utilize the canon material a lot more religiously. Use what's there, fill the wholes, correct what obviously doesn't make sense for the story the film will tell, and make common sense maneuvers when augmenting, based on what that information should kinda says it should. Limitations like these can be a catalyst for creative liberty too.

--

This is shaping up to be wonderful and I've enjoyed pretty much everything so far, 95% or so. Only things I can really remember that I adamantly don't like are some of the costume designs, and the fact that this game doesn't have a MKD styled Konquest mode in it.

That's all I got for dislikes.

About the "million hits" claim on youtube:

Are any of you geniuses aware that most people on Youtube who receive this number of hits actually paid advertisers and people to watch these videos? Ever wonder why you could upload something MK and it never receives that many hits in its life? Reason well explained... perhaps that's another reason why WB is staying on canon because it wasn't as popular as they wanted people to think since the other people who made it probably paid people to watch it?

To the person who says I don't own The Journey Begins:

I've not only seen it several times but I own both the VHS and Laserdisc versions plus a rare trailer and The Ultimate Guide to Mortal Kombat CD-ROM. As I already agreed the animation was crappy due to the makers' laziness, the video did outline and set up the story for the first movie, as a prequel should. You're probably more akin to a new generation of films and aren't very open-minded about MK's original generation. Tsk tsk.

Sacrificing creativity over marketing:

Where have you been the last 20 years? This is Mortal Kombat, not Art Kombat. Back then the animation and stuff was corny (digitized actors over cartoon scenery). Mortal Kombat depended on a strong storyline, Chinese mysticism, before the violence, let alone the awesome gameplay and juggle combos. MK succeeded not just for the controversy surrounding the violence but for all of these reasons. From an artistic perspective, Mortal Kombat never was creative - it loosely borrowed from several sources that were popular back then, namely Bloodsport and Bruce Lee. The ninja idea was also popular back then with films like "American Ninja" and all of that jazz. Of course, the idea of Raiden was practically stolen verbatim - from his God skill down to the clothes commonly worn in China and especially by guides (Hint: Even Lego toys stole the same idea with Sensei Wu in their new Ninja line. He looks like Raiden and even has the staff despite having a beard). Mortal Kombat was birthed a marketing idea - everything made from it would continue to promote MK. Very little information would be revealed in one medium - you had to buy another for more info. Who could forget the excitement when in 1994 Hasbro released Smoke as an MK1 character in their figurine line - made some of us excited about the possibility he could be in MK1. Even the games with the later Kombat Kodes would promote upcoming MK games and events.

"If it's not like Rebirth I won't support it."

Good riddance. This is Mortal Kombat, forever and for always. If the diehard fans, the ones who actually still buy MK merchandise and still spend hundreds on Ebay, don't like it, well, they're your best supporters when WB is taking a huge risk in introducing MK into a new generation of players. We'll be here to back them up when the MK newbies - or the "nostalgic Deadly Alliance fans" - depart swiftly and go to play God of Wars or Call of Duty or World of Warcraft. Even though some of us die-hard fans didn't like DA and beyond, some of us still bought it because it had "Mortal Kombat" printed on it (I didn't - MK4 ruined my interest in videogaming altogether).

If they still want to make a "Rebirth" concept it should still be made in conjunction with a canon concept. We die-hard fans are growing older and older and we honestly want to see some things come together - and promises made - and MK continue to "copy" Streetfighter's release strategy (MKvsDC came years after Capcom vs Marvel) and pounce them on their movies (it's no secret the first MK movie blew the first SF out of the water, which even had Van Damme in it!!) and release similar versions (SF may be up to 4 but they still have way more games than the MK franchise thanks to their SF2 spinoffs and updates). On that note, SF has more marketed gems than MK - we still don't have a single book that reveals the entire MK universe, canon, and SF has its own encyclopedia!!

Anyway I'm so over this. Now a lot of people on here are picking fights without even reading the other person's posts or completely lack the full understanding of the other person altogether.

Great news!!!

The original concept and story of Mortal Kombat, creatwd by Ed Boon and John Tobias, was ruined by Newline Cinema, who hired screen writers to chamge things so that 13 year old kids could see it and buy Mortal Kombat lunch boxes.

The Rebirth Idea which was a completely PROFIT FREE FAN FILM created by someone who just loved MK and wanted to put a more mature spin on a story that has been retold countless times in other media, was then backed by WB, and apparently will now have nothing to do with that concept, so that they can sell more copies of MK9.

There is no irony in that statement, maybe you could take a moment to really soak in the defination of "irony".

Question time:

OK, MK is a derivative of various kung fu flicks and ninsplotation movies thrown into the blender.

So, why exactly after so many installments do we have to stick to the same stuff? I payed enough attention to the series ever since MK, and frankly, in my perspective it has became trite. To put it simply, MK has NOT AGED WELL imho. It no longer even registers as violent. MK 2011 is not top ultra violence material. The mythology etc. do not mean shit in the long run, aside your personal enjoyment of the background material. And so on.

So what do I do with a series, that imo needs a blood transfusion quite quickly not only in game terms, but stylistically too. We have a side material being developed, what diverges from this and could be something that might put the core concept into another wrapping.

So why exactly does the old material should still ring "truer" or "better" than what I have seen when I clearly do not enjoy most of it's covering (if MK were a cake)? Fine, if you can still enjoy what was cool in the nineties for about ten minutes, that is good. I personally outgrew this, and either MK develops to have more merits or I am simply putting it behind. Why, as a "fan" must I cowtow, and bow down open mouthed to something what the fanbase majority thinks is the only acceptable status quo? Not that the majority opinion was ever relevant to me.

How in the hell a divergent take on MK is harming the original material is beyond me. And to say that it gives a false impression on MK.... consider this: viewers make their own views about something.


But truly, until we see what Rebirth actually produces I can not make a judgement wether the series is still appealing to me. The game looks and played good so far from what have we seen, but since I am not going to play it, moot point.

cant wait to see this

He had free range to make a movie that adhered more strictly to WB's comics than the four preceding films? That is not how free range works.

That must be it. Because word of mouth never spreads on the internet.



Not before you explain the whole "MK 1992-1998. Resurrected 2011" nonsense.

Ok, then I am done... since Deadly Alliance will again be used to counter these facts I have already presented:

MKII sells over $50 million (calculated about 833,000 units if you divide $50 million by $60) in its first week according to Billboard - http://books.google.com/books?id=uAsEAAAAMBAJ&pg;=PA53&dq;=acclaim+mortal+kombat+ii+intitle:billboard&hl;=en&ei;=6lw_TZ_ZFIO78gbctfD7Aw&sa;=X&oi;=book_result&ct;=result&resnum;=2&ved;=0CCwQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q;=acclaim%20mortal%20kombat%20ii%20intitle%3Abillboard&f;=false

MK Deadly Alliance sells $2 million... in its first 6 months - http://games.ign.com/articles/427/427688p1.html

^ That spells just over 33,333 units if you do the math (I used $60 again).

I am done. Goodbye.

I would rather that WB just allows Kevin Tancharoen to do the movie he wants to do. So what if it'll be a departure from what we've seen before? I think he puts a fresh spin on the series. Reptile having harlequin-type ichthyosis is a pretty clever way of fitting him into a more realistic setting. Baraka being a mad surgeon, although kind of silly, sadly gives him more depth as a character than his video game counterpart. If Tancharoen could make his movie, it could be the rebirth of a series of great movies in a similar light to Christopher Nolan's Batman movies.

He made a film that was grounded in reality about character and a city that isn't. There are just as many liberties taken with Nolan's films as the Tim Burton films (Tim Burton's interpretation is actually closer to Bob Kane and Bill Finger's original character.) Chris Nolan made stylistic choices that die hard fan's still bitch about to this day. Just because John Q public wants to believe his films are comic accurate, That doesn't mean they are.