Variety reports that producer James Wan and New Line Cinema are furiously attempting to input the buttons for “Find New Director” into the long-abandoned Mortal Kombat film franchise. (Their brother’s friend Todd swear’s it’s “Block, hold up, punch, down, call some agents,” but Todd always lies about stuff like that.) Commercial director Simon McQuoid is reportedly in talks to helm a new Mortal Kombat movie for the studio, a reboot of a film franchise which hasn’t had a movie in theaters since the self-inflicted Fatality of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation in 1997.
The original Mortal Kombat was a surprise success—at least, in the low-standards world of video-game-to-movie adaptations—making good money at the box office, and launching director Paul W. S. Anderson into a weirdly durable action movie career. Annihilation was a disappointment, though, and its lackluster results relegated the series to years of appearing as little more than TV shows, webseries, and also a bunch of video games.
Playstation ‘Michael’ from Rogue Films on Vimeo.
Wan—whose’s known for his work on the Saw and The Conjuring franchises—was attached to the project as a producer last year. McQuoid, meanwhile, is no stranger to video game-related work; he recently directed the commercial up above for Playstation, featuring a number of Sony’s notable characters, and another set in the Halo universe. He also helmed this legitimately adorable ad for Duracell, pegged to the upcoming release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story:
He’ll probably have to curtail that urge toward cuteness if Mortal Kombat manages to make it back to theaters again.