Webseries on its Way
Director Kevin Tancharoen's take on the world of Mortal Kombat has just been greenlit by Warner Bros. as a new webseries.
Fans of Mortal Kombat (and Tancharoen) fell in love with Tancharoen's vision of the Mortal Kombat universe last year when the director released a 7min 'concept trailer.' The idea was to show Warner Bros (who own the rights to Mortal Kombat) just what Tancharoen could do with the series. The 'trailer,' which likens more to The Dark Knightthan it does Mortal Kombat, takes the MK characters and pits them in a real-world setting in which backstories are created to flesh out the roles.
Tancharoen, who previously directed the musical Fame, was able to get the keys to the MK universe via an online webseries. While it may not be the theatrical take Tancharoen (and everyone else) was hoping for, it could potentially go that route. Tancharoen will be releasing 10 web-episodes to show his vision of the MK world and rumor has it that if the webseries is popular enough, a full length film would be next.
Michael Jai White (Jackson Briggs in the trailer) will repraise his role, as will Ian Anthony Dale (Scorpion). No other information has been released at this time.
In Feburary of last year, Hollywood production company Threshold Entertainment filed its third lawsuit against Warner Bros in response to WB's action moving forward on a third Mortal Kombat film. The lawsuit claims that Threshold 'has property ownership' in a third film, should a third film be made. The confusion/mixup involves Threshold's ownership movie rights, which it asserts it has. Treshold claims ownership licenses for Mortal Kombat, but Warner Bros. bought Midway Games (creators of Mortal Kombat) out of bankruptcy in 2009 after paying $33 million for the company's assets. According to Warner Bros. lawyers, this gives them the rights to make a MK film.
As of June 2010, no official word had been heard regarding the Treshold lawsuit. As far as we can tell, the lawsuit is still moving forward, which could explain why Warner Bros is releasing this as a webseries rather than a feature length film. All things told, the status of Mortal Kombat itself is quite murky. Midway is releasing a new game this year, for the PS3 and Xbox 360, in which the game goes back to its 2D (and bloody) roots.
The first video below is for the Mortal Kombat trailer Kevin Tancharoen shot last year. The second is a trailer for the upcoming Mortal Kombat game.
Fans of Mortal Kombat (and Tancharoen) fell in love with Tancharoen's vision of the Mortal Kombat universe last year when the director released a 7min 'concept trailer.' The idea was to show Warner Bros (who own the rights to Mortal Kombat) just what Tancharoen could do with the series. The 'trailer,' which likens more to The Dark Knightthan it does Mortal Kombat, takes the MK characters and pits them in a real-world setting in which backstories are created to flesh out the roles.
Tancharoen, who previously directed the musical Fame, was able to get the keys to the MK universe via an online webseries. While it may not be the theatrical take Tancharoen (and everyone else) was hoping for, it could potentially go that route. Tancharoen will be releasing 10 web-episodes to show his vision of the MK world and rumor has it that if the webseries is popular enough, a full length film would be next.
Michael Jai White (Jackson Briggs in the trailer) will repraise his role, as will Ian Anthony Dale (Scorpion). No other information has been released at this time.
In Feburary of last year, Hollywood production company Threshold Entertainment filed its third lawsuit against Warner Bros in response to WB's action moving forward on a third Mortal Kombat film. The lawsuit claims that Threshold 'has property ownership' in a third film, should a third film be made. The confusion/mixup involves Threshold's ownership movie rights, which it asserts it has. Treshold claims ownership licenses for Mortal Kombat, but Warner Bros. bought Midway Games (creators of Mortal Kombat) out of bankruptcy in 2009 after paying $33 million for the company's assets. According to Warner Bros. lawyers, this gives them the rights to make a MK film.
As of June 2010, no official word had been heard regarding the Treshold lawsuit. As far as we can tell, the lawsuit is still moving forward, which could explain why Warner Bros is releasing this as a webseries rather than a feature length film. All things told, the status of Mortal Kombat itself is quite murky. Midway is releasing a new game this year, for the PS3 and Xbox 360, in which the game goes back to its 2D (and bloody) roots.
The first video below is for the Mortal Kombat trailer Kevin Tancharoen shot last year. The second is a trailer for the upcoming Mortal Kombat game.
