Following this morning’s news that Ludi Lin will join the cast as Liu Kang, The Hollywood Reporter brings word that three more have joined the cast of New Line’s Mortal Kombat movie. Supergirl’s Mehcad Brooks will play Jackson ‘Jax’ Briggs, the cyber-enhanced officer of the Special Forces; with newcomer Sisi Stringer as Mileena, the evil clone of Kitana; and Ichi the Killer‘s Tadanobu Asano as Raiden, the immortal god of thunder.
They join a cast that also includes Joe Taslim as Sub-Zero. The film, which will be directed by Simon McQuoid from a script from Greg Russo, will film in Australia near the end of the year.
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The first video game in the series was developed by Midway Games and released in 1992. The storyline sees a diverse range of fighters hailing from eighteen different realms become pitted against one another in an epic tournament. Quite a few sequels followed the original game with the most recent, Mortal Kombat 11, being released earlier this year.
Two Mortal Kombat movies were previously made. The first, simply titled Mortal Kombat, was directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and was released in 1995. It was followed two years later with a sequel, Annihilation, which also paved the way for two television series: the animated Defenders of the Realm and the live-action Konquest. Two web series have been released based on the property as well from director Kevin Tancharoen.
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The new Mortal Kombat movie will follow a male protagonist who becomes drawn into the interdimensional tournament, and who begins to realize his true potential as a result of the experience. James Wan and his Atomic Monster banner will produce along with Todd Garner. Larry Kasanoff, E. Bennett Walsh, Michael Clear, and Sean Robins are executive producing.
The film, which is set to hit theaters on March 5, 2021, will go head-to-head with Sony’s upcoming film adaptation of the classic Mattel toy and cartoon franchise Masters of the Universe, and an untitled Universal Pictures Event Film.
(Photo credit Getty Images; Sisi Stringer photo via CBM Management)
