Update:
Kevin Tancharoen, director of the Mortal Kombat Rebirth viral trailer has revealed the origins of the short film as well as the direction he’d take a feature length version – should he be given the chance. Check out the new details HERE.
Early this morning, a mysterious trailer for an unannounced Mortal Kombat project appeared on YouTube - posted under the title Mortal Kombat Rebirth.
The trailer is over seven minutes long and features high production values - including performances by Michael Jai White as Jackson "Jax" Briggs and Jeri Ryan as Sonya.
It's unclear at this point whether the viral trailer will ultimately lead us to a new Mortal Kombat film or a new video game installment. However, given the real-world spin, I'd say we're looking at a new film.
Check out the Mortal Kombat Rebirth trailer after the jump:
Looks a bit too ambitious for a fan-made trailer, right?
You might that Warner Bros. was moving forward on a Warner Bros. was sued by Threshold Entertainment, who apparently bought the rights to the third Mortal Kombat film installment - before Warner Bros. purchased Midway (and subsequently their IPs).
Either way, it seems clear that someone is making a new Mortal Kombat film. The real-world angle of the trailer (which features Baraka as a self-mutilating serial killer and Reptile suffering from a genetic disorder) fits the recent film-making trend of wooing audiences with less-fantasy driven premises - focusing on grittier, more realistic, interpretations.
In addition, it's difficult to imagine how this "realistic" vision of Mortal Kombat could possibly translate into an enjoyable gameplay experience - given that the franchise was built on bicycles kicks, thunder Gods, fireballs, alternate realms, and over-the-top fatalities. If Mortal Kombat Rebirth points to a video game - how could that video-game capitalize on previous Mortal Kombat games with such a straight-forward approach? Not to mention, how that straight-forward approach would pretty much castrate the game's source mechanics.
Personally, after watching the trailer, I'm really hoping for a new Mortal Kombat film - a strange thing to say, considering the quality of most video game films. The rivalry between Scorpion and Sub-Zero was one of the more compelling aspects of the Mortal Kombat mythology - and the Rebirth plot-line appears to put that rivalry front and center.
Regardless, one thing is clear - given the E3 conference in Los Angeles, we'll certainly have more info soon as to which facet of the Mortal Kombat franchise will be getting a "rebirth."
What do you think Mortal Kombat Rebirth is leading us to? What do you think of the new approach to the franchise?
Source: Kotaku